Ever thought of self-publishing? It’s a great option for loads of potential authors out there, however the very idea of it can be daunting. Ray, owner of The Ray Journey, has written an excellent guide on how to launch a self-published book for maximum sales and engagement, which takes you step-by-step through the entire process and includes information on Amazon self-publishing and KDP publishing, as well as some really useful book launch ideas.
***AD: This post contains a press sample but all thoughts are my own***
Synopsis
If you’re looking to self-publish your book and wish to reach a wide audience while on a tight budget at the same time, then this guide is for you.
How you prepare for your book promotion will shape the entire performance of your book afterward and whether it ranks on bestsellers charts or not. And the preparation starts long before your actual launch date; especially if this is your first book and you don’t have a huge fanbase/following to instantly support you and your book on launch day.
In this guide, you will:
– Learn how to reach a wide range of audience for free;
– Understand the different and most effective strategies for book promotion;
– Know the exact steps needed to build an interested audience from scratch;
– Learn how, where, and when you should market your book for maximum results.
Included in this guide, a bonus printable 4-page timeline checklist to help you keep organized through this process and to avoid missing any important steps. It will also act as a summary, so you can have a look at the list and know what your next step is, instead of having to go through the guide every time.
This is in addition to 4 lined pages for your notes, to document your plan’s schedule and add any important details regarding your promotion plan. This way you can have everything in one place.
If you are a writer considering self-publishing at some point, this is definitely going to help you do it efficiently and without the need to hire a professional or pay for ads.
The techniques in this guide are also very simple and to the point, so you don’t need to have any background of any type to be able to understand and follow the strategies in there.
(Taken from Amazon)
My Review
Self-publishing has always been a daunting subject to me, but something I knew I’d need to look into eventually as it’s a journey I plan to take with a couple of ebooks I have planned for the future. My knowledge of self-publishing before reading Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch was vague at best, but I didn’t realise quite how much there was for indie authors to think about – for starters, I had no idea just how important a book launch actually is.
The first thing that struck me with Ray’s book is how comprehensive it is, covering such a crazy amount of content for just one book. It’s not overwhelming though, and is written in a simple and coherent way that makes it easy to digest. Each chapter is split up into relevant sub-headings with just the right amount of content for each one – something I already knew Ray was good at from how she formulates her blog posts. At the end of each chapter a “pro-tip” is featured, which can help the reader go above and beyond with their organisation and planning.
The book is written in chronological order of the book publishing process and focuses on three major parts – pre-launch promotion, launch day promotion, and post-launch promotion. I really liked this format as it allows you to visualise the process as it happens, rather than jumping backwards and forwards between things and causing confusion. Each section has so much detail and Ray’s writing style has an authoritative yet easy-going tone that makes it easy to trust what she says and follow her instructions. Links to useful resources are included throughout the book which is great, and bullet points and tables are utilised at points to portray the information in a way that doesn’t feel too dense or hard to digest. The only thing that could have added to this would have been some pictures for us visual people – I appreciate pictures in non-fiction books, even if they are stock photos that don’t necessarily convey much, as they help to break the text up further and give the book a shiny and exciting feel.
Talking of visuals, I absolutely love the cover for Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch, which jumped out at me right away. It’s powerful yet simplistic, and I felt immediately drawn to what was inside.
By buying the book (which is free on Kindle Unlimited, by the way!) you , you don’t just get access to book launch ideas for self-publishing but also two free resources – a printable, four page timeline checklist that allows you to actively use the information within the book as you go through the process yourself, and four pages provided to take notes on. We all love a good checklist so I felt this was a great addition to the book and really helps the reader to take away the information with ease. I also loved the design of the checklist, which like the cover is simple but does exactly what it needs to.
Final Thoughts
Reading Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch was definitely a full-on learning experience, and even though I’m not self-publishing anything as of yet I’ve gained so much knowledge that I can’t wait to utilise. It’s a must-have for anyone looking to self-publish their own book, and takes so much fear and confusion out of the process – once you’ve read this you’ll know exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it by, and what it should all look like. Whether you’re looking at Amazon self-publishing, KDP publishing, or another indie self-publishing method, there is so much to learn from this book.
Purchase Links
If you’d like to purchase a copy of Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch by Ray then you can do so using the following links:
Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch by Ray – Gumroad
Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch by Ray – Amazon UK
Your Ultimate Guide To A Powerful Book Launch by Ray – Amazon US
Author Bio
Ray, the writer behind TRJ, is a telecom engineer-turned-blogger who has an undying passion for research and writing.
And with a dream to become a full-time writer, she decided to break free from the routine of her 9-to-5 job and explore all the different ways she can make a living while enjoying life, doing what she loves.
Ray created TRJ as a way to document her research findings through this journey towards achieving financial freedom, hoping that it will one day become a reference for anyone looking to achieve a similar goal.
In her quest to turn the life of her dreams a reality, she is hoping to inspire others along the way to do the same and pursue their life goals and dreams, no matter how hard they may appear to be.
(Taken from The Ray Journey)
Are you looking to publish a book on Amazon, or are you already a published author? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like and pin! You can read some of my reviews on books by indie authors here:
Beautiful, Complicated Family – Lindsay Coldrick
Plus Ten – Anton Eine
The Year Of Simple Living – Stephanie Parrell
This is an invaluable guide. Thank you Hannah for the share and thank you Ray for the brilliant and crisp writing.
Thank you for commenting – it really is a great book!
This sounds like such a useful book – even bloggers who might be self publishing eBooks and things like that! x
Definitely! I’m so glad I read it for any future ebooks.
How cool that Ray’s come out with her own book! It sounds very helpful as I’m sure many writers struggle with the idea of self-publishing.
Yes, it’s such a daunting prospect so guidance like this really helps to get your head around it all.
So many good tips in here!
Rosie
loverosiee.co.uk
I agree, so useful!
I wouldn’t know where to begin when it comes to self-publishing, and I can imagine it’s very overwhelming trying to do everything by yourself. So it is brilliant that there’s now a really handy resource to help guide you through! I don’t have any plans to self-publish anything (yet) but it’s always good to be prepared so thank you for sharing this!