Preparing for Release Day + August Question of the Month

Preparing for the release of your book can be stressful. I’m going to give you a small checklist to help you prepare the best you can:

1. Create a Goodreads page for your book.

You’ll need to already have an account on Goodreads to do this. Here is the link with the form you have to fill out in order to create a page for your book: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/new

You’ll need to know the ISBN or ASIN number, release date, and number of pages. It’s always a good idea to include the blurb in the description. But you don’t need the cover to create the page. You can always add the cover later.

2. Create a Goodreads Author profile.

If you’re already signed up with Goodreads you’re halfway there. All you have to do is search for your author name, which is located under the book you just added, click on it, scroll down, and then click “Is this you?” Doing this will send a request. Once your request is accepted, your profile will be upgraded to an author profile.

For more info on this go here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/program

3. Tell everyone you know about your book and let them know they can add it to their TBR list on Goodreads.

4. Create an Amazon author page. If you plan on selling your books on Amazon, and you’d be crazy not to, it would be wise to add an author page for readers to learn more about you. You will need to sign up for Author Central in order to create an author page. Add as much information about yourself as you can such as your bio, picture, and blog.

For more information go here: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help

5. Either your publisher will add your book to Amazon for you, or you will if you self-publish, either way make sure to include everything about your book as possible such as the blurb, your bio, interesting tidbits about the story in the “From the Author” section, and reviews from credible sources.

6. Plan your blog tour the moment you know the release date for your book. You’ll need to find blogs in your niche to contact. Make a list of the blog’s name, URL, the blogger’s email address, and what type of guest posts they accept. Keep this for later!

Stay tuned for my post next Monday: BLOG TOURS

7. Create buzz!

On your blog, share short excerpts of your book and create posts fashioned toward your book’s themes. For example: My story Witch of Death is of course about witches, so I wrote a post about witches tailored toward writers.

On Facebook and/or Twitter, share interesting tidbits (How you got the idea for your book, 5 facts about your hero/heroine, talk about the setting/time period, etc.) Get creative!

8. Set up an event on Goodreads about a week before your release date.

On your GR Author Page, scroll down and click “Add an Event” in the “Upcoming Events” section just above your recent updates. Fill in all the information. Include the blurb for your book and the buy links. Choose the date for your event, which should be the actual date of your release. Pick a title. For Example “30 Seconds Is Coming!” Then set a reminder for the day before and invite every one of your friends on Goodreads.

9. You can also create an event on Facebook and invite everyone you know. The important thing is to be present that day, share fun tidbits, ask questions, offer giveaways, and have guests.

See: Create an Author Facebook Page

10. When release day comes, make the announcement EVERYWHERE! Post a status on Facebook, send out a tweet, publish a blog post, email your Yahoo loops, and ask your friends to do the same.

Best of luck!

QUESTION: Authors: How do you prepare for release day?

****

To join this monthly blog hop visit Michael G D'Agostino's blog.

August Question of the Month: 
If your parent or child committed a major crime, would you turn them in?

That is a tough question. I’m not sure anyone would truly know what they’d do in a situation like that unless they were in it, and even then you probably wouldn’t know. It would also depend on the “major” crime. If it were murder, I like to think I’d do the right, but if it were something else like grand theft auto or drug trafficking, I think I would try to talk my loved one out of doing it. For the sake of a fun answer though, let’s say that I would help my loved one cover up his/her crime and we’d go into hiding together. ;P

See you on Wednesday for IWSG day. I'm co-hosting! :)