Members of the Writing.ie Writers Ink group have had a series of book launches recently (go Michelle McDonagh, Sharon Black, Ruth O’Leary, Lucy O’Callaghan and Anne Hamilton!) – and we have more to come. The group is all about providing information and support and bestselling crime writer Sam Blake recently shared her tips for a successful book launch – we thought it would be useful for Writing.ie visitors too. There is a bit of a science behind the perfect launch! Here are Sam’s thoughts:
Firstly congratulations! Your launch – particularly your debut launch – should be a joyous occasion whatever happens, it’s a massive bonus if you can get all the stars to align.
Once you have your publication date, consider what the objective of your launch is – is it purely to celebrate getting a book out (YAY!), or do you want to use it as part of a strategy to try and get the book into the bestseller lists? Obviously it can be both, but if it’s the latter then there are a few things that need to happen to enable the launch sales really count.
I’ll preface this by saying that there is an element of luck/management involved in the perfect launch, and at the core of that is the book arriving in book stores on time or a bit early (not too early!) You might need to get assurances from your publisher that your books are going to be delivered when you expect, allowing time for them to be unboxed and put on the shop floor.
The Irish Bestseller Lists
Pre-orders are becoming more important this digital world – bookstores and Amazon etc get a sense of how successful a book might be via those pre orders. This can then impact how your book is presented on their website/whether it goes into newsletters and how much stock they order. Depending when the stock arrives in the shops, pre-orders are charged to the customer when they are despatched, so if that’s in launch week, those sales will go into your launch week figures.
To see what the typical sales are in your launch week, go to the Writing.ie bestseller lists and find the same week for last year and you’ll get a feel for the number of books you need to sell to get into the original fiction top 10 – it varies a LOT depending on the time of year. Original fiction is the trade paperback – the large (airport) size book – that is usually published first. Often six months later it’s followed up by a smaller mass market paperback. Not everyone publishes in Trade paperback, sometimes books go straight to mass market, and sometimes books come out in hardback. Generally, in Ireland, hardback and trade paperback figures are combined to give one total for sales in any week.
The bestseller figures are compiled by Nielsen Bookscan based on sales through shops in Ireland – however not all bookshops are on their system (some smaller independent shops might not be) so if the bestseller list is your goal, do make sure that the bookshop handling your sales is on the Nielsen register. Your launch doesn’t have to be IN a bookshop, but a bookseller needs to sell the stock for it to go through their till. Obviously if it’s in a bookshop it’s easier for everyone as no one is lugging stock around.
Most books are released on a Thursday, but the charts are calculated Saturday midnight to Saturday midnight, so your first week of sales might only be a half week. If the book can be delivered earlier that week, or the previous week, it will be in shops and picking up some organic sales in the few days before publication date. In an ideal world, if you can combine preorders + launch sales + organic sales into one weeks sales, you have the best chance of selling as many books as you can and hopefully charting. However MANY books are published each week and they don’t all chart, so don’t be disappointed if yours doesn’t – enjoy the moment!
Early reviews help drive pre-orders, social media engagement (not just ‘buy my book’ posts!) and even your own emails (add your book to the footer) all help. Building a newsletter mailing list is invaluable – if you have a newsletter or blog, make sure there’s a preorder link with every post. Many authors are using Substack now to build community – it’s never too early to start thinking about engagement and connecting with the type of people who might enjoy your book.
(c) Sam Blake
Part 2 of this article to follow.
Sam Blake’s latest YA thriller Something’s About to Blow Up is the Eason teen choice for June, and is in shops now!
If you feel you need support, coaching and mentoring on your writing journey, check out Writers Ink!
Writers’ Ink Online Writing Group
Something’s About to Blow Up by Sam Blake
When an explosion rips through the chemistry lab at Dublin’s Raven’s Hill School and six girls are injured, the first thought is that it’s an experiment gone wrong. Then the Gardaí start investigating and declare it a potential bomb attack. But – if so – who was it targeting, and why?
Ella, Becky, Maeve and Mackenzie are rushed to hospital, along with the injured Frankie and Sorcha, who team up with Jess to figure out what actually happened. But what they discover is something more sinister than even they could have imagined …
Order your copy online here.
