The No-Man’s Land: Between Finished Editing and Launch Preparation
- by Veronica Di Dato
- Jun 10, 2018
- 3 min read
There’s a strange feeling when you’ve finished the manuscript you’ve been working on for a few years. You’ve done your own edits, you’ve sent it to the magical creature that is your editor, you’ve gone through it once or twice again just to double check things. Now what?
Arguably, now the heavy lifting begins. Every author is different of course, but in general, the promotion of your work is where most of us have to do, well, the most. We know how to write but hyping other people up enough for them to buy our books is another thing altogether.
I’m currently in this position of “aaaaah what am I doing?!”. My manuscript is done, my cover is mostly done (and it will be amazeballs!), and now I’m on to attempting to spread the word. So how do we go about this mysterious (not really) thing? Below are some things from my launch preparation plan, which I hope will help you get a better grasp of what to expect.
Interacting with your target audience. Don’t talk to people with the purpose of selling your book! Talk to them about things you have in common, that you both find interesting, or that you want to discuss. Let the topic of your upcoming book appear naturally, or they’ll be put off. Don’t stop talking to them after you’ve gotten there either.
Highlighting parts of the book. Quotes and excerpts are a great way to promote your book, especially if you do it in a good way. By that, I mean make sure it looks good. You don’t want your potential reader’s first impression of your book to be sloppy so make sure to put extra attention on details and presentation. Spread out the posting process of it as well, so you don’t post 50 photos all over your social media in one week.
Social media presence. You should already have a presence on the platforms you like the best, but if you don’t, get to it. Now. It doesn’t matter if you have 5 followers on Instagram, or 5000 on Twitter, as long as you post regularly and offer something of value. What do I mean by “value”? For example, I focus most of my attention on Instagram because that’s my favourite platform. However, instead of only talking about my own life and screaming “buy my book”, I provide tips about writing, things to think about when crafting your work. That way I offer something for people to follow me, and in the long run, they might become interested in buying my works. Which is what we want.
Plan your launch week(s). Will you do pre-order? How long in advance? What date and time will your book be released? Make sure to plan this ahead of time, at least 2 months in advance. The more details you got down, the easier it will become when you have to begin. I recommend writing down a list of all the things you have to do, then take a calendar and write down as much as you can in detail. That gives you a nice overview, and you can make sure you don’t overwork yourself by putting it all in one week.
Don’t get stuck with perfection. Perfection is a myth you should avoid like the plague. You can edit that manuscript forever and it will always get better. Why? Because you get better at writing. There is no perfect book. Don’t say “I’ll just edit a little bit more before I publish it” because then you’ll be stuck there forever. If you think it’s good enough with the skills you have today, then put it out there and move on to the next story. That’s how you reach perfection: by writing more, by putting yourself out there, and learning.
I hope this gives you some ideas about what to expect/do when it’s your time to release your precious book. If you want more tips about writing and the business, feel free to follow me on Instagram (@veronicadidato). I post writing prompts, some tips about worldbuilding, mixed with some life posts and cats. See you there!
I'm Veronica Di Dato and I'm a fantasy author who specialises in worldbuilding. Dragons, magic, battles, and all those goodies you can find in my stories. Here are some places you can stalk me on:
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