The glory of working in retail is that you always need to think six months ahead of when your product is going to be ready. Books are products and you want to have an opportunity to make noise leading up to the holiday shopping season. Here is a list of things you should be doing right now to promote your Fall 2021 book.
Digital Platform
Is your social media strategy and online profile up to date? To promote your Fall 2021 release, you should have a plan to market yourself and your work on your social channels. Create or polish a content calendar, and make sure you have a clear schedule of how you are going to market your content and when, leading up to the publication.
If you are not subscribed to a scheduling platform like Hootsuite, now would be a good time to set that up. On Hootsuite you can schedule content in advance so you can make sure you are keeping to your calendar.
Review Copies for Publicity
Are you going to use digital galleys or print review copies, or both? I recommend printing some review copies for people who still like to have a physical book. Physical copies of the book are great for Instagram influencers. They will often take a picture of your book when they receive it and tag you in the post. Now you have a new, original image to use on your own digital platforms.
Lead-Time to Publicize your Fall 2021 Book
If you want reviewers and other media entities to cover your book, you need to allow four to six weeks for pitching and follow up. When you are asked for a review copy, you need to prepare to be patient. It can take up to three months for the book to be read and reviewed. Sometimes you can get faster results, but in general the lead time for books is three to four months at minimum.
Interviews for online publications, radio, podcasts, and television can be pitched with a shorter amount of lead time. But if you want to feel confident about the amount of coverage you are going to get, it is still a good idea to allow up to two months to get responses and schedule interviews.
For more information on when to publish check out our blog including this infographic on when to publish your book: