Did Your Book Launch Go as Planned?

I once saw an Instagram video with an author who was almost inconsolable. Her book launch had not gone to plan and she was devastated because she was running out of time to make the bestseller lists. 

Did I mention she was one week into her launch? 

Oh, and by the way, she was wrong. Utterly and completely wrong. She was making the classic mistake of believing that she had a mere 90 days to launch her book successfully.

3 measly months!

And she is not alone. Most nonfiction authors I talk to think the same thing. If they don’t make a splash in the first 90 days, it’s time to give up.

That’s because they are looking at time all wrong. 

Your book launch is not a timer, with the clock running out as each day goes by. Your book launch is a stopwatch, with time beginning on the day of your release (or heck, even in pre sales!) and then counting up, with no limits.

Think about that for a minute. You have plenty of time!

Case in point. My book became an organic Amazon bestseller after 4 months, reaching the coveted #1 spot in a huge category, Parenting, and even climbing into the top 100 overall books on Amazon.

My “book launch” period was over, right? Nope. I did a wide reaching media interview and my ranking catapulted from roughly #650,000 to #97 about twelve hours after the interview went live.

And it could have been 8 months after my book came out. Or a year. Or more.

Why? Because Media doesn’t care about your book launch. Sorry to be so direct but it’s true. Unless you’re already a celebrity we are not concerned with helping you launch your book. And that my friends, is a very good thing.

Media is a business. Businesses need profit in order to exist. Media profit comes from tuning into what the audience wants and needs. If your content fits that bill, you can get publicity.

It’s that simple.

So don’t visualize your book launch as a timer. Your book launch is a stopwatch. You can and should promote it as long as the content is relevant and you still talk about it.

You as the author decide how long you want that book to be out there making an impact.

So if your book hasn’t launched yet, you have plenty of time. If it launched a few months ago, you have plenty of time. If it launched last year, yep – still plenty of time to talk about it and keep making an impact and making sales.

The stopwatch starts now.