Book Launch Checklist: 30 Tasks for the Month Before and After Your Release

Most self-published authors underplan their launch. They finish the manuscript, format it, upload it, and treat "publish" as the finish line — then wonder why the book barely moves in its first week. The truth is that a launch isn't a single day's event. It's a sequence of tasks spread across roughly two months, and the work that happens before release date determines most of what happens on it.

This checklist gives you a week-by-week structure for the eight weeks before launch through two weeks after, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Why launch timing matters

Amazon's algorithm rewards sales velocity — how quickly a book accumulates orders relative to its age. A new release that sells steadily in its first 30 days climbs and holds category rank in a way that the same total sales spread over six months never will. This is the core reason launch planning matters: it's not just about selling copies, it's about concentrating those sales into the window where they do the most algorithmic work.

This is also why an unplanned, trickle-out launch — publish quietly, mention it once on social media, hope word of mouth happens — almost always underperforms a planned one, even with an identical book and identical total audience size.

8 weeks out

• Finalize and send ARCs. Get advance copies to your review list now — most reviewers need 4–8 weeks of lead time before they'll have read and reviewed by launch. See how to get advance review copies to readers before launch.
• Lock in your final cover. Any last design changes should happen now, not closer to launch when you need the file for marketing assets.
• Finalize your book description/blurb. This needs to be done before you build any marketing assets that quote it.
• Decide on pre-order vs. day-of launch. Pre-orders accumulate sales toward a single release-day spike; day-of launches let the algorithm see sales starting from zero. Both work — decide which fits your list size and strategy now, since it affects your KDP setup timeline.

6 weeks out

• Get your book landing page live. Whether through your author website or a tool like BookFunnel, you need a single place to send traffic that links to all retailers.
• Update your BookBub author profile with the upcoming title so followers see it.
• Notify your email list that a new book is coming, with a tentative date — this is a "mark your calendar" email, not a sales pitch.
• Make sure your Goodreads listing is live so readers can add it to their Want to Read shelf ahead of release. See Goodreads for authors.

4 weeks out

• Announce the release date to your email list with the cover reveal.
• Post the cover reveal on social media across the platforms where your readers are.
• Activate your street team or launch team, if you have one — give them the cover, the blurb, and a content calendar for the weeks ahead. See how to build a book street team.
• Reach out to bookstagrammers and BookTok creators in your genre with ARCs or review requests if you haven't already covered this group in your initial ARC push.

2 weeks out

• Send an ARC follow-up email to reviewers who haven't posted yet, with a gentle reminder of the launch date.
• Schedule your launch week social posts in advance so you're not improvising content under launch-week pressure.
• Set up your Amazon Author Central page if it isn't already current, including any new editorial review quotes you've gathered. See Amazon Author Central setup.
• Add A+ Content to your listing if you're using it, especially series comparison modules if this is a series entry.
• Confirm your pricing and promotional plan for launch week — if you're running a Countdown Deal or a BookBub feature around launch, the timing needs to be locked in now.

Launch week

• Send the launch day email to your list — this is the highest-converting email you'll send for this book, so don't bury the call to action.
• Post daily across social platforms with a mix of content: the announcement, behind-the-scenes, reader reactions as they come in, and direct calls to buy.
• Activate your street team's launch-day push — coordinated posting on launch day has a real visibility effect, particularly on platforms with engagement-based discovery like Instagram and TikTok.
• Run any planned promotion — Countdown Deal, Facebook ads, or a BookBub Featured Deal timed to launch.
• Request reviews directly. Email your ARC readers with a simple, specific ask: post the review now that the book is live. Include the back-matter review request in the book itself for organic readers. See getting reviews for your self-published book.

Week 2 post-launch

• Check rank and sales data daily and adjust any running ads based on early performance rather than waiting until the campaign is over.
• Respond to reviews where appropriate — thank reviewers publicly where the platform allows it, and never respond defensively to a negative review.
• Send a second email to your list highlighting any social proof that's come in — reviews, rank achievements, reader reactions — to extend momentum into people who didn't buy in week one.
• Cross-promote your backlist if this is book 2+ in a series — readers who just bought book one are your highest-probability buyers for the rest of the series.

Weeks 3–4 post-launch

• Pull your sales data and analyze what worked. Which channel drove the most traffic? Which ad creative performed best? See ebook sales reporting for how to consolidate data across platforms if you're wide.
• Decide on your next promotional push — many authors plan a second promotional wave (BookBub application, a price drop, a fresh ad campaign) for 4–8 weeks post-launch once the initial spike has settled.
• Thank your street team and reviewers — a short, genuine thank-you note keeps your launch team engaged for the next release.

Pre-order vs. no pre-order

This decision affects your whole timeline, so it's worth settling early.

Pre-orders let you accumulate sales over weeks before release, all of which land on launch day as a single visible spike — useful if you have a sizable email list or social following that you can convert into pre-order buyers. The risk: a slow pre-order period with few buyers signals weak demand to nobody but you, since the actual rank impact only happens at release.

Day-of launch (no pre-order) means your book starts accumulating sales and rank from zero on release day, with no historical pre-order data to either help or hurt. For authors without a large existing list, day-of often performs comparably to a thin pre-order period, with less complexity in the lead-up.

If you don't have an email list of at least a few hundred engaged subscribers, day-of launch is usually the simpler and equally effective choice.

The tools you need

• An email service provider for the announcement, ARC, and launch sequences.
• A delivery tool for ARCs — BookFunnel or similar — so you're not manually emailing files to dozens of reviewers. See BookFunnel for authors.
• An ads account (Amazon, Facebook, or both) if you're running paid promotion around launch.
• A simple project tracker — even a basic spreadsheet with the checklist above and dates assigned keeps a solo author from losing track of what's due when.

Adjusting the checklist for nonfiction launches

Nonfiction launches share most of the same structure as fiction launches, but a few elements shift in emphasis:

• Media and podcast outreach replaces some of the influencer outreach. Nonfiction authors often get more traction pitching themselves as podcast guests in their niche than seeking Bookstagram or BookTok coverage, which skews heavily fiction-focused. Start podcast pitching 8–10 weeks out, since booking lead times for established shows often run longer than book launch timelines.
• Lead magnets matter more. A nonfiction launch is a strong moment to offer a related lead magnet — a worksheet, checklist, or bonus chapter — that captures emails from people who hear about the book but aren't ready to buy immediately.
• Reviews carry more credibility weight relative to volume. A handful of substantive, specific nonfiction reviews from readers who clearly applied the book's content often matters more than a large volume of short reviews, since nonfiction buyers are evaluating credibility and applicability more than entertainment value.
• Speaking engagements and webinars can substitute for some social media promotion, particularly for authors with an existing professional audience.

Adjusting the checklist for series fiction

If you're launching book two or later in a series, your checklist shifts slightly:

• Cross-promotion to existing readers becomes your highest-leverage task. Readers of book one are dramatically more likely to buy book two than any new reader you reach through ads or outreach — make sure your back matter in book one links directly to pre-order or purchase of the new release well before launch.
• Series-wide promotions become available. Once two or more books exist, you can run a discounted first-book promotion timed to the new release, using the lower price as a funnel into the rest of the series.
• ARC volume can often be smaller, since your existing reader base already trusts the series and converts to reviews more reliably than cold ARC outreach for a debut.

What to do if your launch underperforms

Not every launch lands the way you hoped, and a quiet launch week isn't a verdict on the book — it's a data point. If your numbers are soft by the end of week one:

• Check your metadata first. Confirm your categories, keywords, and description are live and correct — a surprising number of "failed launches" trace back to a simple setup error rather than the book itself.
• Look at your conversion funnel, not just total reach. If your email open rates and social engagement look normal but sales are low, the issue is likely your sales copy or pricing, not your audience size.
• Resist the urge to panic-discount immediately. A premature price drop in week one can undercut the data you need to diagnose what's actually going wrong, and trains early readers to expect discounts on your next release too.
• Plan a second wave rather than abandoning the title. Many successful books had unremarkable launch weeks and found their audience through a later BookBub feature, a price promotion once reviews had accumulated, or word-of-mouth that took months to build momentum.

Launch timeline at a glance

Frequently asked questions

How far in advance should I really start planning? Eight weeks is a comfortable runway for most indie authors. If you have a large ARC team or are pursuing a BookBub Featured Deal (which has its own lead time for applications), start closer to ten to twelve weeks out.

What if I don't have a street team or email list yet? You can still launch effectively — focus your energy on ARC reviewers, organic social posts, and any paid advertising you're willing to run. A launch team and list are accelerants, not requirements.

Should I launch on a specific day of the week? Tuesday is a commonly cited "best day" in publishing generally, though the evidence for indie ebook launches specifically is mixed. Consistency in your own promotional execution matters more than the specific weekday.

Is it too late to do any of this if my book already launched without a plan? No — you can run a "relaunch" using this same checklist: a price promotion, a fresh round of ARCs for a updated edition, or a renewed marketing push. The algorithm rewards renewed sales velocity at any point, not just at the original release.

How many of these tasks can I realistically do alone? Most of this checklist is solo-author-executable. The street team activation and influencer outreach are the most time-intensive; everything else is primarily about timing emails and posts correctly rather than needing additional people.

The bottom line

A successful launch is less about any single tactic and more about sequencing — getting ARCs out early enough to have reviews ready, building anticipation before the release date, and concentrating your promotional effort into the week that the algorithm weighs most heavily. Work backward from your release date using this checklist, and you'll arrive at launch week with everything in place instead of improvising under pressure.

LiberScript helps you finalize your manuscript and produce print- and ebook-ready files quickly, so formatting never becomes the bottleneck holding up your launch timeline. Get started with a Day pass to format your manuscript today.