A New Hurdle

I’m still waiting on Createspace, to okay the cover and let me order a proof copy of the paperback. After that, the paperback should finally go live.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking ahead to when the full novel is released.

I’ve heard about {from other authors} and read a lot of marketing strategies over the past few days. All of them have several things in common, but one in particular stands out to me.

A press release.

It’s basically a public announcement that the product {is this case the book} is available, what it is, and what it’s about. In the case of books, it includes the different formats {e-book, paperback, hardback, ect} that it will be released in, your name, ect.

I’ve asked a lot of questions and gained a lot of knowledge from traditionally published Authors and other self published Authors. Traditionally published Authors don’t have to worry about the press release, because their publishers or agents handle those details.

Self publishing, means I’ll have to handle that myself. Now that I know what to put in the press release, I just need to research where to send it to get it into the mainstream media.

My self publishing journey never seems to end. Despite a few bumps in the road, it’s been an exciting, and enlightening experience so far. I never even thought about a press release when I wrote out my marketing plan. {I’ve noted to myself to include that for the next book’s marketing plan. Live and learn.} So now I’m working on the press release and then I’ll set it aside so that I’ll have it ready for the full length novel release.

Personally, I like to be prepared ahead of time. So, the more prep work I do when I can’t write, or get it critiqued, the more productive I feel. Plus, I’ll be less stressed when the time comes to launch the full novel. Since the prep work is broken up over a lengthy period, as opposed to being left till the last minute, I won’t feel so overwhelmed either.

What about you? Do you like to leave everything till the last minute and do a last minute rush? Or, do you like to spread it out over time so that it will be all ready when it’s time to launch?