No Hurry to Publish

In today's guest post Marika Flatt, founder of PR by the Book, shares her wisdom about choosing your pub date and planning ahead for publicity.

This blog post is for all you authors out there who are self-publishing, now or in the future! Let’s start with the big picture. There is a reason why it takes so long for the publishing process to roll out with publishing houses. It’s not unusual for there to be an 18-month window (or longer) between a publisher accepting a manuscript and the publication date. There are a myriad of reasons why this is. So much has to be done: editing, cover design, more editing, seeding the distribution pipeline, sales meetings, more editing, printing galleys (also called ARCs/ advanced review copies), etc.

The publicity department starts working on a title approximately six months prior to the pub date. The reason for this is because they want to send galleys to publications that are book review publications, industry publications (for that topic, such as education magazines) and national media outlets (such as national TV programs). This process takes time. And, for six months leading up to pub date, the publicists are pitching, pitching, pitching (and lunching with producers for national TV shows).

So, self-published authors . . . what’s the big hurry? I talk to one or two authors per week who tell me that their pub (publication) date is this month or next month and what can we do?? First of all, you don’t want your pub date to ever be in November or December (unless it’s a holiday book).  Don’t get me wrong. Publicists stay busy during November and December, but not on books that are releasing those months. So, why?

The publishing industry has two big time frames for releasing books: the Fall (primarily September and October) and the Spring (primarily March and April). There are a few other months that are popular for releasing books, depending on genres/ topics: January for New Year’s resolution-oriented titles: February for relationship books and books from African-American authors since it’s Black History Month; May and June for beach reads, etc.

But, bottom line—the year of pub date matters most (the year is more important than the month)! I had four authors tell me this month that they were self-publishing and were planning to put a November or Dececember  2011 pub date on it, and they’d done no publicity to date. WHY? When January 1^st, 2012 gets here, your book is automatically “old” in the book sellers’ and book buyers’ eyes. If you just pushed it one or two months later, it would have a 2012 copyright date and be current for another whole year. Yes, a few months makes a big difference! You want, and need, a 2012 pub date.

Now, on to the publicity end of things.  You want to give your book adequate lead time with your publicist. We need two to six months prior to pub date to lay the proper foundation for your book. Depending on how much time we have, we can “seed the media” in various ways and have media starting to hit during your pub date month. But, wait! What else must be done before that happens?

We must thoroughly research and read up on your materials and set you up in our system. Then we write a full set of press materials (multiple press releases, Sample Interview Questions, author bio, etc.). Then we must build our media lists: we use two separate databases. Then, and only then, can we even start pitching you to the media. The outlets must get our pitch, decide they are interested, obtain materials from us, sometimes read the book and/or press materials, decide to use it, write up their review/ feature, submit it to their publication (and if they’re a monthly, that all has to be finished at least one month prior to their issue date).

So, we could talk all day about publicity timelines and lead times, but you get the picture. Don’t rush it! One of the biggest advantages you have in self-publishing is that you get to designate your release date. Use that to your full advantage. Take your time! It’s going to benefit you in the long run to do it the right way and give your book the best chance for life.

About the Author

Marika Flatt is the owner of PR by the Book, www.prbythebook.com, an Austin-based publicity firm dedicated to helping authors and publishers achieve quality media exposure.  Their clients include New York publishing houses down to self-published authors, spanning most genres. For more information, email info@prbythebook.com. 

 

Comments

[Silver Bowen]

Actually, putting an ebook out before X-mas (say December 24) is a really good idea. Especially on Amazon. Doing so assures your book will be listed as a new release for an entire month after the largest gift giving day (read--new kindle giving day) in the history of mankind. Tons of empty ereaders and new buyers dying to load up there devices. next year (December 2012) may be a whole different story, but this year self-pubbing near the end of December is really really smart.

[Marika Flatt]

Maybe for strictly ebook sales, but not if you want media attention for it and that's where I come from as a publicist. If you want media attention, you need a running leap to get their attention, which typically is 1-2 months time and if you are pitching a book to the media in January with a 2011 pub date, it's old news to them. So it just depends on what your goals are for the book.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Silver, thanks for your note. You make a valid point about publishing Kindle books before Christmas - Kindles and iPads will certainly be hot gift items and it's good to have your ebook available for them before Christmas. Marika was speaking from the perspective of a professional publicist seeking to get media attention for new books. Pub dates also matter to bookstores and some types of reviewers. The decision when to publish depends in part of the type of book, the distribution channels and your publishing/marketing strategies.

[Jim Kukral]

I think your argument makes sense in the old legacy model of publishing where you have a publisher and they were pitching to book buyers. But that's pretty much gone. Sure, it happens for a few top sellers, but we all know the truth, and that is that bookstores pick the books that they know are going to sell, regardless of the "influence" a publisher has with them.

Why the rush? Because we can. I get that as a PR person you need lead time. But the truth is that most authors who self-publish won't be able to afford a big PR campaign. They're doing it themselves through social media. So for those people, yes, why not rush it out.

For the select few who can hire you... it makes sense to slow it down, I suppose.