When you’ve spent months writing your book, release day can feel like the finish line. But for a self-published book, release day is really the start of a new season, and the authors who enjoy that season the most are the ones who walk into it with a plan. A simple book launch plan for self-published authors doesn’t need a big budget or a big following. It needs a calendar, a few clear goals, and a little bit of work each week.

When I work with authors on their launches, the question I hear most is, “Where do I even start?” So in this post, I’m going to give you the same kind of week-by-week plan I’d walk you through if we were working together, starting about three months before your release date and going through the first month after your book is live.

If you’d like the bigger picture first, my book marketing strategy guide explains how your audience, your visibility and your messaging all work together. This post zooms in on the launch itself so you know exactly what to do and when.

What a Book Launch Plan for Self-Published Authors Includes

A launch plan is simply a list of tasks with dates attached. It answers three questions:

• What needs to be ready before release day? Your book files, your Amazon listing, and the people who’ve agreed to read early.
• Who are you telling, and when? Your email list, your social media followers, your early readers, and anyone else in your circle.
• What happens after launch week? The steady, gentle marketing that keeps your book in front of readers once the excitement settles.

When you’re self-publishing, you’re the one holding all three of these pieces. That might sound like a lot, but it also means you get to decide what fits your life, your book and your readers.

Before You Plan: Make Sure Your Book Is Ready to Launch

A launch brings people to your book’s page, so it helps to make sure that page is ready to welcome them. Before you put dates on a calendar, check these four things:

• Your book description. This is your sales page on Amazon. My post on how to write a book description that sells walks you through it.
• Your categories. These decide which shelves and bestseller lists your book appears on. Here’s my step-by-step guide on how to choose Amazon book categories.
• Your keywords. These help Amazon show your book to the right readers when they search. I cover them in my Amazon book SEO guide.
• Your cover. Readers see your cover as a small thumbnail first, so make sure your title is easy to read at that size.

If you haven’t set up your book on KDP yet, my guide on how to publish a book on Amazon KDP takes you through every screen.

Your Book Launch Plan, Week by Week

The timeline below assumes about 12 weeks between the day you start planning and your release date. If you have more time, wonderful. Spread the tasks out. If you have less, don’t worry. Start with the steps that matter most for your book and give yourself grace on the rest.

12 Weeks Out: Choose Your Release Date and Your Goals

Pick a release date you feel calm about, not one that has you racing. Then write down two or three goals for your launch. Your goals might be a number of early reviews, a number of new email subscribers, or simply reaching the readers who’ve been waiting for your book. Clear goals make every other decision easier, because you can ask, “Does this help me reach my goal?”

This is also a good week to make a list of everyone who might want to know about your book: your email subscribers, clients, colleagues, friends, family, groups you belong to, and people who’ve asked you about your topic over the years.

8 to 10 Weeks Out: Gather Your Early Readers

Early readers (sometimes called a launch team or advance readers) are people who read your book before release day and are happy to share honest thoughts once it’s live. For a nonfiction book, your best early readers are people from your target audience, not only friends and family.

Invite them personally, let them know when you’ll send the book, and share the date you’d love for them to post their honest review. Amazon has community guidelines that cover reviews, so please read them before you reach out, and never offer payment or anything else in exchange for a review. Ask for honesty, not five stars. Genuine reviews are the ones that help future readers decide.

6 Weeks Out: Set Up Your Pre-Order

If you’re publishing an ebook, a pre-order is a lovely way to give your launch a head start. According to KDP’s pre-order guidelines, your book’s page goes live as soon as you set up the pre-order, readers can order before release day, and those pre-orders count toward your sales rank before your release. A few details to know:

• Pre-orders are available for ebooks only. For a paperback, you can schedule a release date instead.
• You don’t need your final file right away, but you must upload your final manuscript at least 72 hours before your release date. If you miss that deadline, KDP cancels the pre-order, so put that date on your calendar with a reminder.
• You can still update your title, description, categories and keywords up until that 72-hour deadline.

Once your pre-order is live, you have a real link to share, which makes every step from here easier.

4 Weeks Out: Write Your Launch Emails and Posts

This is the week to write, so launch week can be about connecting instead of scrambling. I’d suggest drafting:

• Three or four launch emails: one sharing the release date and why you wrote the book, one on release day, and one or two in the week after with a helpful idea from the book and a gentle reminder.
• A handful of social posts for your one main platform, such as a short story behind the book, a favorite idea from a chapter, and a release day post.
• A short message for your early readers with the date their review can go live and a direct link to your book page.

If your email list is small right now, that’s completely okay. A small list of people who care about your topic is worth more than a big list who doesn’t. Write to them like friends.

2 Weeks Out: Do Your Final Checks

Order a proof copy if you’re publishing in print, and look through it page by page. Preview your ebook. Reread your book description one more time. Make sure your author bio is up to date so readers can learn about you on Amazon. Then send your early readers a friendly reminder of the release date.

Launch Week: Celebrate and Share

This is the week to show up, share and say thank you. Send your release day email, post on your main platform, and personally reach out to people on your list who’ve asked about your book. Remind your early readers that their honest review can now go live, and thank everyone who shares or buys a copy.

Try not to refresh your sales rank all day. It changes often and doesn’t tell the whole story. Your launch goals from week 12 are a much kinder measure of how things are going.

The First 30 Days After Launch: Keep the Momentum Going

This is the part of a launch that many authors skip, and it’s where so much good happens. Keep sharing helpful ideas from your book in your emails and posts. Say yes to podcast interviews, guest posts and speaking opportunities that fit your topic. Read your early reviews to see which parts of your book resonate most, and use that language in your future marketing.

If you enrolled your ebook in KDP Select, the KDP pre-order page notes that promotions like Kindle Countdown Deals and Free Book Promotions can only be scheduled after your book is released, so this is a good time to look at whether one fits your plan.

And at the end of the month, take a moment to look back at your goals. Celebrate what went well, notice what you’d do differently, and keep going. A book can keep finding readers for years.

Want My Full Launch Strategy?

If you’d like more detail than one blog post can hold, my Book Launch Strategy guide walks you through the pre-launch, launch and post-launch stages step by step, including how to keep sales coming after release day and what to do if your book slows down or stops selling. It works for launching on Amazon, on your own website, or anywhere else you sell your book.

Get the Book Launch Strategy for $17

What If You Don’t Have an Audience Yet?

This is one of the most common worries I hear, and I want you to know you can still have a meaningful launch. Start with the people you already know who care about your topic. Join one or two communities where your readers spend time, and be helpful there before you ever mention your book. Begin your email list now, even if it starts with ten people. Every launch builds on the one before it, and the readers you gather this time will be there for your next book too.

Common Book Launch Mistakes (and Gentle Fixes)

• Starting the week before release. Even three or four weeks of planning makes launch week feel calmer. If you’re short on time, focus on your book page, your early readers, and one release day email.
• Trying to be on every platform. Choose one place where your readers already spend time and show up there consistently.
• Only talking about the book. Share helpful ideas from inside it. People buy books from authors who’ve already helped them.
• Stopping after launch week. Plan at least 30 days of gentle, steady sharing after release day.
• Measuring only by sales rank. Reviews, new subscribers, and new conversations with readers are all signs your launch is working.

Would You Like Help Building Your Launch Plan?

If you’d love to build your launch plan with someone who’s guided other first-time authors through theirs, my Book Marketing Consultation is two one-hour Zoom sessions where we look at your book, your audience and your resources, and create a prioritized plan together. It works best one to three months before your release date, which makes it a natural fit if you’re reading this post while planning your launch.

Apply for a Book Marketing Consultation

Grab the Free Amazon Publishing Checklist

If your book is headed to Amazon, my free Amazon Publishing Checklist helps you make sure everything is in place before you hit publish, so your launch starts on solid ground.

Download the Free Amazon Publishing Checklist

When is your book launching? Share your release date in the comments. I read every one, and I’d love to cheer you on.