by Katherine Reay, @Katherine_Reay
APRIL: LAUNCHING A BOOK
While it’s only April, November is right around the corner. For me, that means the release of The London House. I am so excited about this book and want to “launch” it into the world well. Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at some of my plans. I hope you can find an idea or two within them that will help as you launch your next project.
Nine Months to Publication: Last month I had a “cover reveal” moment on Instagram. I asked some friends and readers to join me in getting the word out just as the cover was approved and the book hit the online distributors. This early moment of interest helps set the stage for everything to build from this moment until November.
Six Months to Publication: During this next month, I will update all my social media profiles and my website to include The London House. That said… I will mention it in social media headers, but I won’t change them. You may feel this is too soon to shout too loudly and I believe a bigger splash might be made by holding off on changing those headers to closer to publication.
This is also a good time to start chatting, every couple weeks, about the behind-the-scenes fun involved with your story. I am planning that work right now.
THREE MONTHS: If you are with a traditional publisher, ARCs may be ready at this time. Giving a few away is a wonderful way to promote visibility. If you are independently publishing, giving away a few ebooks, if paper isn’t quite ready, can accomplish the same goal of creating good chatter. Creating additional bonus content too (such as your inspiration, research, writing process, etc) is also a fun way to connect to readers. Be sure to reach out to bloggers and local online media to submit interviews and articles at this time as well. While these may not directly relate to your novel, they do get your name out there and your novel can be included in your byline.
TWO MONTHS: Employ some of those lovely graphics you created, enlist fans to help generate a little noise, promote your Pinterest board, and give other glimpses into the story and into your author life. This is when I start being more thoughtful about when and how I talk about the story. While I want to direct readers to it with more frequency, I also want to make sure I am serving their interests and being organic in how I discuss it. Just as I believe reading books is about relationships, social media is too. Be sure to be authentic and continue to share all facets about your life and your interests, participating in others’ lives and interests as well, as you share about your story.
LAUNCH DAY: Send out a newsletter and be available on social media. A Facebook Party can be wonderful fun and then you’ll have some celebratory pictures to post. After all, this is a huge day for you and your community wants to celebrate with you. Savor it.
POST LAUNCH DAY: Be sure not to disappear. We authors put so much effort into launching a book that we often want to go right back to writing (our first love) once it’s hit the shelves, but our jobs aren’t done when the book reaches our readers. It’s beginning…Make sure you reply on social media to those who are chatting about your novel, join with other authors to promote your book — and their books too — and thank people who support you. Engage with readers, perhaps run a giveaway, and continue to reach out to local bookstores for signings.
It’s a lot to do, I know. But writing took a lot of time too and this is as much a part of the book journey as writing. Be sure to give it the time it deserves.
Have fun!
And if you are curious about The London House…
An uncovered family secret sets one woman on the journey of a lifetime through the history of Britain’s WWII spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris in an effort to understand her past, save her family, and claim her future.
One call could bring ruin to her family name.
Caroline Payne thinks it is just another day at work when she receives a call from Mat Hammond, a doctoral candidate, who has uncovered a dark and scandalous family secret: her British great-aunt defected to the Nazis to marry her German lover.
The letters tell a different story.
In search of answers, Caroline flies to London to search her grandmother’s diaries and her aunt’s letters. In them she discovers the “Waite girls” and a time of peace and luxury in the interwar years that is beyond anything she ever imagined. But the buoyant tone quickly changes as the sisters grow older, fall in love with the same man, and one leaves home to join the glamorous art scene of 1930s Paris—all amid the rumblings of war.
But history won’t let its secrets go so easily.
The more Caroline learns, the more questions she has. Together Caroline and Mat work to dig out answers, uncovering stories of spies and love, of family rifts, and of one fateful evening in 1941. Will the truth they uncover heal the decades-old family wounds, or will they tear the family even further apart?
An uncovered family secret sets one woman on the journey of a lifetime through the history of Britain’s WWII spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris in an effort to understand her past, save her family, and claim her future.
One call could bring ruin to her family name.
The letters tell a different story.
But history won’t let its secrets go so easily.
Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author of several novels, including Dear Mr. Knightley, The Printed Letter Bookshop and the upcoming The London House. She has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books and brings that love to her stories. Katherine has also written one full-length nonfiction work, Awful Beautiful Life. She holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University and currently lives outside Chicago, IL. Publishing credits also include Redbook, USAToday, Christianity Today and FamilyFiction. You can meet Katherine at www.katherinereay.com or on Facebook: KatherineReayBooks, Twitter: @katherine_reay and Instagram: @katherinereay.