The Launch Guide
本の出版は、{WBR}一日限りのイベントではなく、{WBR}一つの「シーズン」です。
The launches that work start about twelve weeks out and follow the same shape. Here is that shape, step by step, with the Amazon details that trip most authors up.
土台を築く
- ✓Lock your cover and blurb. Everything downstream reuses them.
- ✓Decide: Kindle Unlimited (exclusive to Amazon, paid per page read) or wide (every store). This changes your links and your advance copy format, so decide early.
- ✓Set up your Amazon pre-order. Your book gets a real store page up to a year before release, and every click you earn from now on can land somewhere.
- ✓Claim your Amazon Author Central profile and get the book listed on Goodreads.
- ✓Add your book on IndieLift and start boosting other authors. Your click balance builds now, so the community owes you at launch, when it matters.
Get it read early
- ✓Open advance copies to early readers. Reading takes weeks, so late copies mean no launch reviews.
- ✓In Kindle Unlimited? Share the sample version. The exclusivity contract makes full-copy sharing risky, and the sample keeps you safe.
- ✓Keep boosting a few books a week. Small and steady beats a panic burst at launch.
Build the material
- ✓Make your promo images and captions, one set per platform size.
- ✓Update the back matter of your previous books to point at the new one. Your own backlist is your best ad space.
- ✓Tell your mailing list the date. One clear email beats five vague ones.
- ✓Nudge early readers who have not finished. A kind reminder now saves a missed review later.
Line everything up
- ✓Start your IndieLift campaign so other authors see your book in their stack.
- ✓Consider a launch price promotion. A lower first-week price plus concentrated attention moves rank.
- ✓Early readers can post Goodreads reviews now. Goodreads accepts reviews before release day.
- ✓Queue your own posts with your tracked link so every click is counted.
Open the gates
- ✓Amazon reviews open today, and not a day before. Remind every early reader that finished: this is the moment to post.
- ✓Reviewers should mention the advance copy plainly: "I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy." Honest disclosure protects everyone.
- ✓Share your own tracked link everywhere your readers are.
- ✓Thank every author who boosts you. It costs nothing and builds the relationships that carry your next launch.
Keep it moving
- ✓Keep your campaign live. Steady clicks over weeks beat one spike.
- ✓Keep boosting others. Your next launch starts with the balance you build now.
- ✓Watch your dashboard: which channels sent real clicks tells you where your readers actually are.
- ✓When the next book opens for pre-order, point your back matter and your bio link at it. The cycle restarts.
The Amazon details that matter
Pre-orders
Kindle pre-orders can run up to a year before release. The book gets a real store page immediately, pre-order sales count toward release day rank, and your promotion has a destination months early.
Reviews open on release day
Amazon does not accept reviews before publication. No platform can change this. The winning pattern: readers finish the book early, post on Goodreads while they wait, then post on Amazon the day the book goes live.
Kindle Unlimited is a trade
KDP Select pays per page read and boosts visibility, but requires Amazon exclusivity. Sharing full advance copies while exclusive is a contract risk, which is why samples exist. Wide distribution trades that visibility for freedom.
Reviews must stay voluntary
A free advance copy is allowed. Requiring, rewarding, or trading reviews is not, and Amazon removes reviews and suspends accounts over it. IndieLift never credits reviews for exactly this reason.
Start building your balance now.
The best launch prep is giving early. Boost other authors today and the community returns it when your book needs it most.