Checklist for Publishing My Legal Thriller Sequel on Amazon

[Gregg Bell]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to publish my legal thriller sequel on Amazon and was wondering if anyone could provide a checklist of things I should do before pressing the 'publish' button. I want to ensure I've covered all my bases and maximize the visibility of my book.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Bill Hiatt]

I think you probably already know the important stuff about making sure everything is fully editing, proofed etc. before being published. It's always better to catch issues before the book goes live.

It's also important to decide whether or not you want the book in KU. It's easy to change that later, though it sometimes takes longer than the original setup for the change to become effective.

I have no really earthshaking suggestions.

[alhawke]

Marketing involves tools. Here's a brainstorm of some I do. I don't do this at every release, but here's 10:
1) Reach out for ARC reviews
2) Consider editorial reviews
3) Consider advertising or promotion pushes of the earlier books in series via Written Word Media NewinBooks or BookBub New Release for Less
4) Add A+content grouping it together as a series on Amazon
5) Group it as a series in all retailers
6) Post on BookBub, Goodreads, AllAuthor & Library Things
7) Announce on all social media channels
8) Consider Blog tours for more media exposure
9) Release different versions: paperback, hardcover, audio, etc
10) Announce to readers in your newsletter, of course (should be at top)

[Anarchist]

It will depend on your process and the scope of your release.

My checklist tells me what to do and who to contact and for what purpose, categorized by when to do these things (6 weeks before launch, 3 weeks before launch, 2 weeks after launch, etc.). Items are related to ARC management, Facebook ads, AMS (which types of ads to launch and when to launch them), audio production, writing/scheduling emails, and so much more.

I have it stored in UpNote with checkboxes for all items. Each one is checked off when it's completed. I recommend creating a checklist you can refer to and update as your process changes.

[Bill Hiatt]

Marketing involves tools. Here's a brainstorm of some I do. I don't do this at every release, but here's 10:
1) Reach out for ARC reviews
2) Consider editorial reviews
3) Consider advertising or promotion pushes of the earlier books in series via Written Word Media NewinBooks or BookBub New Release for Less
4) Add A+content grouping it together as a series on Amazon
5) Group it as a series in all retailers
6) Post on BookBub, Goodreads, AllAuthor & Library Things
7) Announce on all social media channels
8) Consider Blog tours for more media exposure
9) Release different versions: paperback, hardcover, audio, etc
10) Announce to readers in your newsletter, of course (should be at top)

I'm curious if you've found that editorial reviews drive sales. My experience was that they were good for my ego (and actually kept me going when my first book seemed headed for oblivion by reassuring me that it was good), but that customers couldn't care less about them. Since they were expensive, I just stopped after my seventh book.

Ditto for blog tours. To be fair, though, I didn't try every company. The ones I did try were largely smoke and mirrors. Posts did go up on blogs just as they claimed would happen. But then I started looking more closely at the blogs and realized that they all posting only promos from the company in question. In other words, they weren't organic blogs with an audience of their own. They were blogs that existed only for the purpose of blog tours. So I strongly recommend that anyone considering that approach should vet the blogs the service uses to see if they post varied content and appear to have an actual audience.

[alhawke]

I'm curious if you've found that editorial reviews drive sales.
Ditto for blog tours.

That list was just a catch-all at the top of my head . I could have included press release too, I suppose (that'd go at the very very bottom). They're all things I think about on a marketing launch--and all things that a trad publisher with a big release would be doing.

I do believe editorial reviews add clout but I can't attribute them directly to sales. My editorial reviews are reputable, some even negative. I really like Midwest Book Review. I've stayed clear of Publisher Weekly and Kirkus as I've heard you can pay a bundle for nasty results and could hurt a launch. I've also stayed clear of Readers Favorite because they only publish a review if it's a good review--always seemed like a red flag to me. I look at editorial reviews as something akin to the A+ content on Amazon. It boosts the general appearance book. I like to get them for standalones or for one book in a start of a series.

Regarding blog tours, I'm working with Silver Dagger blog tours for my xmas novel right now. My idea was to push the holiday market. Am I seeing sales? Not many. But it's helping build my social media platforms and getting me some readers for my newsletter. I like the press for my brand in general. But I rarely do them when considering cost to benefit.

Press releases do next to nothing, imo, unless you're an influencer--and then you don't need it so much. WrittenWord Media used to run those with their NewInBooks feature. It was nice to see my book mentioned on a major news channel, but it didn't do anything as far as I know. They don't do it anymore in the package, so they probably felt the same.

[Gregg Bell]

Marketing involves tools. Here's a brainstorm of some I do. I don't do this at every release, but here's 10:
1) Reach out for ARC reviews
2) Consider editorial reviews
3) Consider advertising or promotion pushes of the earlier books in series via Written Word Media NewinBooks or BookBub New Release for Less
4) Add A+content grouping it together as a series on Amazon
5) Group it as a series in all retailers
6) Post on BookBub, Goodreads, AllAuthor & Library Things
7) Announce on all social media channels
8) Consider Blog tours for more media exposure
9) Release different versions: paperback, hardcover, audio, etc
10) Announce to readers in your newsletter, of course (should be at top)

Thanks A.L. for the great suggestions. (I especially like linking the A+ content to show that the books are a series.) I've never done anything in Editorial Reviews. A legal thriller writer friend offered to give me a quote for it. I'm wondering if just the one quote will be enough or look lonely there and I should add some reviews from authoritative sources (if I can get them)?

[Gregg Bell]

It will depend on your process and the scope of your release.

My checklist tells me what to do and who to contact and for what purpose, categorized by when to do these things (6 weeks before launch, 3 weeks before launch, 2 weeks after launch, etc.). Items are related to ARC management, Facebook ads, AMS (which types of ads to launch and when to launch them), audio production, writing/scheduling emails, and so much more.

I have it stored in UpNote with checkboxes for all items. Each one is checked off when it's completed. I recommend creating a checklist you can refer to and update as your process changes.

Thanks Anarchist. I'm getting more organized with this release. Definitely coming up with a checklist. Will work on the time/staggering factor for various release-related actions.

[LilyBLily]

I use the Editorial Reviews section for posting pull quotes from beta readers or lengthier pieces from reviewers who posted on Goodreads but who can't/won't post on Amazon. With permission, of course.

I've done various guest blog posts and they haven't moved the needle in terms of sales, but they do show up in a Google search on my name, so that's something.

I've used Xpresso Book Tours for reasonably priced access to NetGalley reviews of my women's fiction. Got some decent quality reviews, not vague one-liners, maybe around seven each time. NetGalley, like PW and Kirkus, also is kind of famous for negative reviews, and some that my books received were relatively negative, but that's okay with me. 

[Bill Hiatt]

I've stayed clear of Publisher Weekly and Kirkus as I've heard you can pay a bundle for nasty results and could hurt a launch. I've also stayed clear of Readers Favorite because they only publish a review if it's a good review--always seemed like a red flag to me.

So, Kirkus is bad because it might publish a negative review, and Readers Favorite is bad because it won't?  (Sorry, I'm in a mischievous mood this morning.)

Personally, I took the fact that Kirkus sometimes published negative reviews as a demonstration that its editorial review service was ethical. (People used to complain about negative reviews from them a lot.) Also, Kirkus was the one that kept me writing when I was down. I had no idea what I was doing, and so sales were in the mid single digits every month. But in the spirit of trying everything available, I paid for some editorial reviews, and Kirkus was the first to come in--glowing, except for a reference to typographical errors that was a fair statement at that point. It was that review that renewed my faith in my own writing. Had I quit then, I would never have realized my full potential.

The only company I ever had truly negative experience with was Foreword Reviews. (The first book did get a four-star review from them, but everything thereafter got a two-star until I gave up on Foreword.)

That said, I stopped getting editorial reviews after 2016. Even when the reviews were exceptional, it didn't appear to me that consumers noticed the difference. (I never got a starred review from them, but I did get a featured review. The book in question sells OK now but initially face-planted despite the Kirkus review.)

All of that said, I think that someone trying for library placement might want some editorial reviews. Librarians are gradually becoming accustomed to the idea that self-published material might not all be garbage. However, they make most purchases based on trusted review sources. So if you gave a glowing editorial review to point to, that might help.

For newbies on tight budgets, I would generally recommend editorial reviews only if they've been able to fund all the necessary stuff.   

[LilyBLily]

Back in 2014, when I started, there were long lists of individuals who would review. But by then, they were jammed with material. Within a year, bloggers reviewing one's book became a dinosaur of early self-publishing, never to return.

[alhawke]

I've stayed clear of Publisher Weekly and Kirkus as I've heard you can pay a bundle for nasty results and could hurt a launch. I've also stayed clear of Readers Favorite because they only publish a review if it's a good review--always seemed like a red flag to me.

So, Kirkus is bad because it might publish a negative review, and Readers Favorite is bad because it won't? 

But you do kinda want the goldilock's bear approach here. Not too hot and not too cold. There's been rumors that Publisher Weekly & Kirkus's, and Netgalley too, are biased against Indie writers. Not sure if that's the case... but they definitely want a large breadth of negative reviews with the positives and they won't shy away from zingers. That's why I stopped using Netgalley. You don't really want to be slammed in vitriol when releasing a book--particularly your average Indie writer launching with just a handful of reviews. Not to mention, these services are very pricey.

The argument about libraries is something I never thought of. And I could see an argument for using Publisher Weekly, Kirkus & Netgalley for that... I never really thought about that??

I use the Editorial Reviews section for posting pull quotes from beta readers or lengthier pieces from reviewers who posted on Goodreads but who can't/won't post on Amazon. With permission, of course.

I like this suggestion. I've thought about it in the past but never got around to it.

[Bill Hiatt]

I suppose one could go through Kirkus's website and check all the reviews listed as Kirkus Indie to see how many of them were negative.

Out of the seven books I had reviewed by Kirkus, none of them got slammed. Reviews were either highly positive, a little more guardedly positive, or in one case, hard to figure out. (They lost the reviewer who'd read the earlier books in the series. Even though I sent the the reviewer a summary of the previous five books at his request, he still kind of whined in the review about it being book 6--something I expect more from ARC readers than from editorial reviewers. Anyway, that's the only one that didn't have a money quote, though it wasn't really negative, either. It was just kind of there.)

The question in my mind is, if Kirkus has an anti-indie bias, why bother doing indie reviews at all? Even if a company just wants the money, I'd hope it wouldn't go easy on the reviews in the hopes of getting more clients. But it wouldn't make financial sense to deliberately go hard on them.

[alhawke]

The question in my mind is, if Kirkus has an anti-indie bias, why bother doing indie reviews at all? Even if a company just wants the money, I'd hope it wouldn't go easy on the reviews in the hopes of getting more clients. But it wouldn't make financial sense to deliberately go hard on them.

My info on Kirkus completely stems from reading other Indie author's opinions from the past. Never tried them--I just avoided them after what I read from other forums. Your comments actually make me want to consider using them in the future.

[Bill Hiatt]

Yeah, I can't vouch for what they've been up to recently, but they generally delivered when I used them.

You might check some recent Kirkus Indie reviews to see how they look.

For people who might be considering trying trad publishing, it used to be said that a good review from a recognized provider like Kirkus opened doors. I remember people saying that they got a really good review (in one case, a starred one) and agents started contacting them. That was in 2012 and 2013, so that may no longer happen. But I think it is true that the publishing industry is still more attuned to editorial reviews than most consumers are.

[Gregg Bell]

Thanks everyone for bring me up to speed about editorial reviews. What I'm still wondering about though is: I've never done anything in Editorial Reviews. A legal thriller writer friend offered to give me a quote for it. I'm wondering if just the one quote will be enough or look lonely there? I could also ask a friend who won a Nebula award to write one and he probably would. People won't know him by name. (It's not Neil Gaiman!) But if they Google him they'll see. Or I could put his name and Nebula award winner next to it. Which might be kind of tacky. Also not everyone is going to know my legal thriller friend writer's name (It's not John Grisham!) so maybe put "legal thriller writer" after his name? Also regarding the Nebula guy, will legal thriller readers even know what the Nebula award is? What do you guys think?

[alhawke]

I think you should use writer connections and their reviews when they're available. I believe it adds clout, particularly if it's a popular writer in your genre. It also could help at the front of the book when readers are reviewing the sample.

[Bill Hiatt]

A lot of people include quotes from other writers in the editorial section. Trad publishers even do that. As far as I can tell, it's an accepted industry practice.

If the name doesn't have immediate recognition, it's fine to put descriptions under the name. I see things like, "John Smith, bestselling author of..." and "Jane Doe, Nebula award-winning author of..." all the time.

[Gregg Bell]

I think you should use writer connections and their reviews when they're available. I believe it adds clout, particularly if it's a popular writer in your genre. It also could help at the front of the book when readers are reviewing the sample.

Thanks A.L. Kind of like the A+ content--if it's available, why not use it?

[Gregg Bell]

A lot of people include quotes from other writers in the editorial section. Trad publishers even do that. As far as I can tell, it's an accepted industry practice.

If the name doesn't have immediate recognition, it's fine to put descriptions under the name. I see things like, "John Smith, bestselling author of..." and "Jane Doe, Nebula award-winning author of..." all the time.

Thanks Bill. Appreciate you sharing that. And the writer-friend author offered and he's really pretty successful. I'm sure it'll be fine.

[Bill Hiatt]

Interesting anecdote about endorsements from other authors:

When I first started out, I knew an author who had plays produced off-Broadway but self published books. If I recall correctly, he had just completed a book on Hans Christian Andersen. (I forget whether it was analysis of his works, biography, or some combination.)

Anyway, he was in New York attending a party related to one of his plays. He ran into someone who was very much a fan of that book. A strange coincidence--which became even stranger when the fan introduced himself. He was a Danish prince. Being gutsier than I would have been, the author asked for and got a quote he could use. Apparently, the endorsement of His Royal Highness produced some sales.

On a slightly more down-to-earth note, Soman Chainani, the author of the School of Good and Evil series, wrote a post on Substack about how a last-minute endorsement from R.L. Stine saved his first novel. Apparently, in the trad universe, getting a nice cover quote from a well-known author is a very good thing for a debut novel. For instance, bookstores consider it in making order decisions. Anyway, trads send out copies of books to genre-related big names to ask them to read and hopefully rave about them.  Soman's debut wasn't getting any such reaction until R.L. Stine swooped in and saved the day. You can read the full story here: https://somanchainani.substack.com/p/no-21-god-bless-rl-stine

Of course, that strategy really only works for trads unless you already know an author. And most of us won't run into a European prince who loved our book. But these examples do suggest that there can be power in the endorsement of others, particularly if they are more popular at the moment than we are.

[Gregg Bell]

Yep. Don't know any princes. But you never know. I could run into one. And I wouldn't expect my Nebula friend to read the book. Just hopefully make something up like: "Move over John Grisham! Gregg Bell is taking over!" Hopefully he would give me something like that.

[Jeff Tanyard]

...He was a Danish prince. Being gutsier than I would have been, the author asked for and got a quote he could use. Apparently, the endorsement of His Royal Highness produced some sales...

I hope the author's name was Horatio and they parted ways with a "Good night, sweet prince."