Marathons, Sprints, and Pounces: 3-Tiered Approach to Book Launches

Image: three runners

Nearly three months after the launch of my debut novel, I’m reflecting on what I’ve learned. Clearly, some lessons will take more than a few months to work their way through all those layers of hope, frustration, weirdness, exhaustion, and joy. But other lessons have coalesced, and I’d like to share one of them with you today.

Before I embarked on this process, I saw it as one big amorphous here’s my book, everyone! But it’s not. Promotion happens at different times and on different scales. Or, I should say, authors do things at different times and on different scales, apart from what publishers or publicists do. I’m calling these launch-related activities marathons, sprints, and pounces—long-lead strategies, mid-range tasks, and sudden opportunities.

Navigating these three distinct realms requires availability, adaptability, and a flexible responsiveness—that is, the ability to manage the spectrum from delayed gratification of long-term plans to that impulsive oh, what the heck? when an opening arises that you never expected. You need all three. At least I did.

Marathons

Marathons are the strategies, relationships, and connections that are built over time in the hope of an eventual payoff. They require a prolonged investment of energy, as well as patience and tolerance for delayed gratification—or no gratification at all, because the context can change in ways that might have nothing to do with you, your book, or anything you did.

We all saw that this spring. In my own case, I had spent months building a relationship with the marketing director at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived and worked, since Queen of the Owls is framed about O’Keeffe’s life and art. I’d hoped that the gift shop might carry the book or allow me to offer promotional material in the Welcome Center. Neither idea worked out, for reasons unrelated to my book, and I resigned myself to “a great idea that didn’t happen—but then, to my astonishment, the marketing director suggested that I do a special event on-site that would be promoted through all their outreach channels and open to the entire city of Santa Fe. I had a radio interview lined up, a podcast, a bookstore. As you can imagine, it was a dream come true. And then—#pandemic. At best, this endeavor will come to fruition six or seven months later than expected, or in a different way; at worst, never. Either way, I’m certain that I was right to pursue it, because not pursuing it would have been, for me, a huge what-if regret.

Another long-term strategy I undertook was to build a presence on the Georgia O’Keeffe Facebook group, which has over 3,000 members. I spent months sharing images, links, and information—creating a friendly and generous presence—before I even mentioned Queen of the Owls. This seemed to be the perfect market! To my surprise, it wasn’t. I did sell a dozen or so books, but the payoff was hardly in proportion to the amount of time I invested.

As with Ghost Ranch, I would have regretted not doing it, because you never know where the finish line actually is. It could be waiting in the future—one key person who thinks of me when an O’Keeffe-related opportunity arises (i.e., a potential “pounce” that was only possible because of the prior “marathon” I’d run; more about that below).

Marathons also include platform-building and friend-making through Instagram, Twitter, email newsletters, cross-marketing with other authors, and participation in groups of writers and readers. They’re long-term strategies that may have a delayed result or a result that can never be measured, because you can’t tease out the specific effect of any single strategy. Often, it’s the cumulative effect, the repeated exposure across a variety of formats.

Are marathons worthwhile, given their inherent uncertainty? To me, they are. After all, how many strategies truly have a guaranteed, time-stamped payoff? Launching a book is a risk. So are relationships, new jobs, and just about everything that makes life interesting!

Sprints

Sprints are launch-specific, short-term activities, although they can certainly be planned in advance. They’re the promotional ideas that we keep on our laptops, the “to do” list we’ve culled.

Sprints include cover reveals, contests and giveaways, interviews and chats, podcasts, blog tours, and events at bookstores and book fairs (yes, we will have those again, one day). There’s a lead-up, but it’s shorter than for a marathon, and the sprint itself covers a shorter period of time. To a degree, the payoff can be measured—for example, by the number of books sold at an event.

The specific things you do in the weeks before and after your launch will depend on your personal style, budget, locale, genre, audience, and overall goals. No one can do everything. Trying to manage ten or twelve sprints at once is unrealistic, so you might want to prioritize and/or space them out so you’re engaged in only one or two at a time. Some sprints are free, and some cost money. It helps to ask others who’ve gone before, although everyone’s experience is likely to be different.

If something is in the marathon category, it might also include a sprint or two. For example, if you’ve been devoting a lot of time to building a network on Instagram, at launch time you can also do something specific there—but only if you’ve done the marathon work first. I speak from experience! A mistake I made was trying to promote a sprint on Instagram when I hadn’t put in the long-term effort to build a presence there. I had an idea for an Instagram Countdown to Publication of Queen of the Owls that would involve my posting a new O’Keeffe painting each day, with a quote from the page in the book where the painting was mentioned. It seemed like a great idea (to me)—but no one cared. I hadn’t done the groundwork of creating engagement and community on that platform, so my countdown didn’t generate any interest.

Pounces

Pounces are the unforeseen opportunities that arise and require an immediate and spontaneous yes—or no. They were my favorite part of the launch process, actually. “Would you be interested in …?”

I can’t recall ever saying no. No matter how small the opportunity, assuming that the only cost was my time, I figured why not? A Zoom interview on a site that typically had two dozen viewers? Sure! That meant two dozen people who might hear about my book for the first time. An interview for someone’s blog, a chance to do an “author hour” on a Facebook group, a few paragraphs for inclusion in an article? All yes. My mantra was: You never know.

Because of the pandemic, the last-minute opportunities that I encountered were mostly virtual, but I’m sure the in-person ones will return—e.g., a sudden opening for a spot at a book fair table or a place on a panel.

Putting it all together

There are a few key principles that apply at all three levels:

Manage expectations. Formulate—and adapt—your goals. Let go if something doesn’t work out and move on. Book promotion is a journey into the unknown; effort invested and results obtained are rarely a perfect match. Learn to be nimble and relaxed.

Diversify. Use a variety of elements, from wild and creative to tried-and-true. Keep many irons in the fire, so you aren’t investing or expecting too much from any one endeavor. Disappointment is inevitable, but if you’re ten or twenty percent disappointed when that book club opportunity falls through, it’s a lot easier to rebound than if you’re ninety-five percent disappointed. 

Focus on the present. While it’s important to maintain a “big picture” perspective, even the longest marathon is really just the accumulation of small steps—small acts, small moments of now. Each email, each Facebook comment, each thank you

A book launch requires stamina, resilience, flexibility, and generosity. Most of all, it requires a deep and abiding belief that you have something to offer. The only way I could handle the buy my book message—especially now, during a time like none we’ve ever experienced—was to hold fast to my conviction that stories help. Throughout history, they’ve been sources of healing and renewal and growth, just as interacting with readers is a chance for connection. There’s no need to apologize for that.

This post isn’t intended to be yet another essay about “writing in a time of COVID-19.” Some of my examples relate to the pandemic, because it’s the context in which my own novel launched. Yet the need for long-term, time-sensitive, and spontaneous elements is not COVID-specific. I’d like to think it’s the hallmark of a savvy author.

What about you? Do you gravitate toward one of these approaches more than the others Does one of them sound as if it might be a challenge for you? How does your own experience map onto this way of looking at a book launch? Let us know in the comments.

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M.K. Tod

Excellent advice at just the right time. Many thanks, Barbara.

BarbaraLinnProbst

You’re so very welcome! Best of luck to you!

Cindy Rasicot

I felt my virtual launch was an unexpected gift. 115 people registered for the event a good sign. Many people who wouldn’t have been able to attend an in person event because they lived too far away, showed up. I learned that even though the pandemic dashed my hopes for a live book store launch, my virtual launch was quite a success. There is hope in unforeseen opportunities. I think virtual launches are here to stay.

BarbaraLinnProbst

Cindy, I had exactly the same experience! I didn’t include it here because I already had plenty of good examples, but mine came about because the cancellation of a smallish live event led to an opportunity for a much larger virtual event. Virtual events allow people to participate who live far away, might not be able to arrange child care, might have a physical condition that would prevent them from attending, etc. They are often taped and uploaded onto youtube, allowing others to watch later. So many benefits! “Hope in unforeseen opportunities” for sure! Thanks for sharing yours!

Gretchen Cherington

Cindy, I agree on this. While I longed dreamed of in person readings/launches I’ve seen the power of zoom! More people from more places and younger/more diverse overall. Creating good content/conversation attracts people for an hour with real enthusiasm!

BarbaraLinnProbst

So true, Gretchen! Virtual events also allow people who wouldn’t be able to attend a live event due to a lack of child care (and /or its cost), mobility issues, disabilities, geographical dispersion, etc. What a boom for ALL of us!

Gladys Strickland

Thank you for sharing these thoughts. I’m currently revising my first novel, which is taking longer than I anticipated. I am, however, using the time to try to build up a presence online to begin to connect with people. Definitely in the marathon phase right now, and looking forward to sprinting and maybe a pounce or two!

BarbaraLinnProbst

One of the interesting things about marathons is that we don’t always know which will end up yielding “results” and which won’t, since the context of our world can change in unexpected ways (as we’ve all seen this spring). So it’s good to have a number of long-lead efforts underway and to stay alert for when one needs to adapt. Good luck to you on the journey!

Renee

Appreciate you sharing your perspective.

My first book officially launched this past Sunday, June 28th.Though its a very important topic and I’ve had a decent following, nothing went the way I had planned.
I had to change dates a couple of times. Some great ‘sprint’ ideas weren’t exactly how I pictured and because I’m writing the course and dealing with the backend of things, I didn’t have the capacity for some of what I’d have liked.

I really like what you said about managing your expectations. That’s what I, feel I’ve done well. When something picks up, great! When it does go well, drop it! It’s helped me keep my sanity and enjoy the process.

Congrats, on your new novel, and this excellent post!

BarbaraLinnProbst

I’m right with you, Renee. We rarely know, in advance, what’s going to work out—and even when something does work out, it’s never as we envisioned it. When we get too invested in our image of how things “ought” to be and disappointment outweighs enjoyment, it’s time to take a breath and remember why we wanted to do this in the first place! For me, it’s the sense of being summoned to the story. Balance, humor, sanity—yep. We’re humans as well as authors! And good luck with your novel!

Jay Artale

I think you have to approach a marathon knowing that you may never recoup books sales for the level of effort you put in. Creating a community around you and your writing requires that you do these marathon activities, and that we put in the time and investment into them. This is the difference between authors who broadcast their book and come across as sales-fiends… intent on the sell, rather than an author who is hoping to enrich a reader’s life in some way – whether for entertainment in the fiction niche, or education in the nonfiction niche, or inspiration from both. I host an author interview series for authors who have written travel related books, and one commonality is that the majority of them struggle with marketing and sales. But once authors switch to community building, book marketing suddenly becomes more palatable.

Gretchen Cherington

I like this. I feel the community is a key aspect of long term author enjoyment AND potential for ultimate sales. I have a generous list of blurbers for my memoir that came about from long term relationship building with writers and critics I admire. I didn’t do it did the blurbs but they cake easily from that long term writing community. Will check out your travel books!

Debbie Burke

What an excellent summation, Barbara. Your three-tiered approach makes so much sense.

Prior to the recent release of my fourth novel, Dead Man’s Bluff, I had book club appearances lined up that all went kapooey with Covid. Many were people who’d read my previous books and were waiting (eagerly, I hope) for the next one. Those are readers I’ve built over several years, cultivated with my marathon strategy. Thankfully, many bought the book even w/o the appearance.

Another significant part of marathon effort is being a regular contributor to the crime-writing blog, The Kill Zone, where sales often result from my posts.

Love your term, “pounce” b/c that’s exactly what I try to do when an unexpected opportunity comes my way. Serendipity has played a significant role in my marketing. These chances are never predictable, coming from out of the blue, and often have a wider reach than more conventional marketing efforts. If only I could hunt down more serendipity…

With this release, I tried Twitter blasts through a promo company, a new venue for me. Results have been disappointing but that’s partly my fault–I’m not active enough on social media b/c I hate it.

In the olden days, bookstores did “hand-selling”, where they recommended books to readers who liked a particular genre or an author with a similar style. I have better results and am far more comfortable with the more personal approach.

Mass blanketing with ads just isn’t for me. Fewer sales, yes. But I’d rather have a real connection with my readers.

BarbaraLinnProbst

Great examples, Debbie. As you note, there is a balance between the “mass blanketing” approach through social media and the more satisfying personal connection through book stores, book clubs, and individual encounters. Ideally, we can do both. Finding that balance is an individual matter, and what works (or feels right ) for one author won’t to another. I think that our best bet is to continue to explore and experiment, since context changes and we ourselves may change! Good luck to you!

K.M. del Mara

Aside from the content you share, which is always worth reading, Barbara, the way you say it manages to be frank (you dare to mention the word “disappointment”) and inspiring at the same time. Thanks! I’m going to check out your book. This particular pounce of yours, therefore, may bear fruit.

BarbaraLinnProbst

Thank you so much! Frank and inspiring shouldn’t be contradictory, right? And what a thrill to know that my posts have resonated with you and promoted you to (hopefully) purchase Queen of the Owls!

Alana White

This is wonderful! Thank you so much, Barbara & Jane.

BarbaraLinnProbst

I’m so glad you found this useful, Alana! It helped me to write it, because it opened up a fresh way of thinking about a complex process 🙂

Ellen Hawley

I’ve seen a fair number of people doing cover reveals and wondered (cynic that I am) if anyone cared other than the author. I can’t say any of them made me want to track down the book. Do you think they generate any interest?

BarbaraLinnProbst

Hi Ellen, My personal feeling is that people are interested in a cove reveal if they already know and like the author—if there is “name recognition” because of the author’s previous books, or because of a personal connection. Otherwise, I tend to agree with you that a cover, as a stand-alone item, doesn’t seem sufficient, especially since these “reveals” are usually months prior to publication. Personally, I think I focused too much on trying to generate pre-orders, which don’t especially benefit the reader. If anything, it’s better for a reader to wait for the price drop that almost always comes on Amazon. That said, a book’s cover is one of its most powerful selling points. I did a survey of what makes sometone give a debut author a chance (see: ( https://janefriedman.com/give-unknown-author-chance/) and the cover is one of the key elements. A good cover (including title) will make someone stop and look. It’s the cover itself (on an actual book), however, not the drama of a “reveal,” In my humble opinion!

Haley Shapley

I did a cover reveal for my book, Strong Like Her, and it did a pretty good job of generating interest and preorders. It was helped by amplification on social media — my book contains portraits of 23 athletes, and many of them posted the photo of the cover and revealed their inclusion in the book, all on the same day. That helped get some buzz going in the fitness community. If I had just revealed it on my own, I don’t think it would’ve made much of a splash — but I also don’t think there would’ve been much of a downside to it.

Jemima Pett

Thanks for that, Barbara, I hope things go even better when we come out of pandemiclands.

It was a useful reminder to me of the long lead to the launch of the tenth and last book in my first series. You’ve given me an idea for those loyal fans who have bought every one so far, with a long time for them to enter, and others who might have picked it up (Yea, start with the last one, why not?) might get interested enough to read the others too.

And now is the time for me to set these things up. Thanks and good luck with your next book!