Self-Publishing a Novel – Page 2 – Read First Chapter.com

Category: Self-Publishing a Novel

Book Launch – Early Market Research – Part 3

***    EARLY MARKET RESEARCH   ***

While your book is still being edited, you can do early market research.  Begin by going to Amazon.com and searching out your main category.  Record the names of the authors, the name of the books, and any series names.  These will come into play later on when I tell you about two YouTubers you should watch and subscribe to.

Below are two videos from these two YouTubers who really helped me the most when it came to marketing eBooks on KDP and also researching eBooks with marketing in mind.  You should watch these videos and comb their video library for other helpful advice.   The only additional thing I will mention is that I also scroll down the book pages on Amazon and notice what other categories my competition is listed in.  Write the category names down.  You will get many more categories this way as Amazon is adding new ones all the time!

PICKING THE BEST CATEGORIES FOR YOUR BOOK LAUNCH:

Below is the video from Self Publishing Titans.  He offers a free tool that I have used and it is great for picking the best categories for your eBooks.  The tool is free and it's a cinch to install.  He goes over the tool and what it can do in the video below.  I would also recommend that you subscribe to his YouTube channel as he has amazing insights and his videos are straight to the point.



I learned from Self Publishing Titans about doing my pre-launch research.  I found many more categories that I never knew existed.  By doing this early research, I was ready with my 7 keywords and 10 book categories that I would need when it came time to upload my eBook.  So have a look see at his video.

THE BEST LAUNCH STRATEGY VIDEO:

Below is a Best Book Launch Strategy video that I found amazingly helpful as a beginner.  He also has wonderful insights into how the algorithms work, etc.  Be sure to watch the video and subscribe to Dane's channel as he has a lot of great information.

This could take several days, but your eBook is with the editor anyway,  so you should have the time!

Book Launch – Writing Descriptions and Blurbs – Part 2

***    WRITE DESCRIPTIONS & BLURBS   ***

I start by writing a rather long (350 to 450 word) description.  This is good for Amazon and the paperback cover.  To be honest, I’m not that great at blurbs and descriptions, so I find someone on Fiverr and have them write a blurb and description.  I paid about $25.00 a piece for two blurbs.

From the larger description, I keep reducing the description down to one or two lines.  I do this because if you run ads on Amazon, you only have a couple of sentences.  Same with Bookbub and some other websites.  So it’s a good idea to do this when you have the time.  I get antsy when my book is being edited so this is a good way to spend my time!

I also begin work on 3 new possible stories for new novels to get my juices going.

***   CREATE A LAUNCH CALENDAR   ***

I don't pick a launch date until my book is back from the editor and ready to upload.  I prefer stress-free writing and launching, so I wait until I'm ready to go.   Once the book is done, I pick a date 2 months away.  This gives me a chance to get Advance Review Readers and some feedback from at least some people.

book-launch-calendar

You can create a separate Google calendar for this.  I use an Excel sheet, as shown above, and fill in the dates and what is going on at that time.  This allows me to keep adding and removing things.



Book Launch – From Proofreading to Editor – Part 1

***    FROM PROOFREADING TO EDITOR    ***

Book-Launch-Front-page

Go over your proofreading check list and make all the changes.  Read it on NaturalReader.com or use Microsoft Word to read it aloud to yourself.  Then hand it off to an Editor.   They will take a minimum of one month to do a line edit.

Once the Editor has the book, I usually rewrite the first chapter to see if I can improve upon it.  And often, I do the same for the last chapter.

***   BEGIN ON YOUR BOOKCOVERS   ***

If you do your own creative work, make at least one eBook cover.  The template for Amazon KDP is 1600 pixels wide x 2560 pixels tall.  Make the front cover using the template and a back cover using the same template.

If you do not do graphics, find a eBook cover maker on Fiverr or somewhere on YouTube.  Copy about 5 book covers from your genre to show to the eBook  creator.  Tell him/her that you want yours to “fit on the shelf with these”.

The Paperback cover will need to know the page count in order to get the proper template from KDP.  When you have a page number for the paperback, go to the KDP Paperback Calculator:  https://kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator  Once you have your template, you can add the front eBook cover and the back eBook cover that you made and blend them.