Don’t Hit Publish Yet
Rushing your launch can cost you readers, and the window doesn't come back.
Every week I hear from an indie author who did everything right.
They wrote the book. They uploaded it to KDP. They told their friends. They waited.
A year later the sales are flat, the reviews haven’t come, and they’re asking me whether there’s anything that can be done.
There is. But it’s harder than it needed to be. Because the best chance your book will ever have to find readers is launch day. Not a year later. Not once the algorithm has buried it in a category nobody searches. The day your book enters the world is the day you need maximum energy behind visibility, positioning, and reach.
After that window closes, it’s almost impossible to fully reopen it.
That’s why my number one piece of advice to every author I work with is this:
Do not rush to publish. Start marketing your book at least six months before release, earlier if possible.
Why launch day is different from every other day
There’s a reason it’s called news. We are wired to pay attention to what’s new.
Readers, book bloggers, podcasters, journalists, and algorithms all give preferential attention to new releases. That newness is a powerful asset with a short shelf life. Once your book has been quietly sitting on Amazon for three months with no momentum behind it, you are no longer new. You are just another book.
The authors who understand this don’t wait until the book is finished to think about marketing. They make marketing the foundation from day one.
Two authors who found their way to the Substack Bookstore understood this:
Neither of these happened by accident. Both authors had done the pre-launch work that most authors skip.
The single most important thing you can do before you publish
Start building your audience before your book exists.
Not when the manuscript is finished. Not when you’ve chosen a cover. Before any of that.
The authors who launch successfully almost always have one thing in common: they have somewhere to tell people about the book. An email list. A Substack. A community of readers who have been waiting.
If you’re tempted to upload your manuscript tomorrow because you’re impatient, stop. Use that time instead to build the audience your book deserves.
A book without an audience is a tree falling in a forest. A book with even 500 engaged readers waiting for it is a very different proposition.
I know how strong the urge is to hit publish. You’ve worked hard and you want the book out there so you can move on. But that impatience can cost you readers, reviews, and rankings that will be much harder to claw back later.
The specific pre-launch timeline, what to do at six months out, three months out, six weeks out, and launch week, is for paid subscribers.
Below: the exact sequence I use with every author I work with, the assets you need to have ready before you upload anything, and the three things that separate the authors who reach bestseller from the ones who don’t.
If you’re planning a launch in the next six months, this is the post to read before you do anything else.
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