Book Launch Highs and Lows

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A book launch is a lot of work. There’s speaking engagements, there’s events, there’s media and so much more. It can be exciting and exhausting to prepare.

I learned so much from writing and launching Listful Thinking and Listful Living. And from keeping the book in the media long afterwards. (My first book came out almost a decade ago and I’m still talking about it in the media!)

And I love sharing my knowledge with authors to get them ready for their big launches. In fact, I just lead a group training called Media-Ready Author to help authors get ready to launch their books in the media. You can check out the replay here.

On a recent episode of Inside Scoop I brought one of my media-training clients, Chelsea Conaboy, on to share her experience launching her new book, Mother Brain.

Here are three lessons Chelsea learned from the book-launch process.

1) Writing is different from promoting.

Chelsea’s background is in journalism so writing was more in her comfort zone. But as I tell all my clients, a successful author is more than just a writer.

They are a speaker and an expert on their book. They can succinctly articulate concepts and points from their book in understandable soundbites to the general public who might buy it. And for Chelsea, that was no small feat.

“Mother Brain is neuroscience and cultural history of motherhood and big, nuanced ideas.I needed to prepare myself to be the expert sharing what I know in front of people, which is just a very different practice than journalism,” Chelsea said.

And that can be scary! But you don’t have to do it alone.

“I had done all of the research and I have a really strong understanding of these topics and just feeling good in that knowledge. And then from there, it was just about preparation. I just wrote out my answers and practiced. I spent hours at my desk recording myself,” she added.

And Chelsea worked so hard that she was actually booked on Good Morning America! Unfortunately, because of breaking news when the Queen died her segment was canceled. This happens in the news business all the time and you need to go with the flow. In our conversation we talked about what she did instead.

Which leads us to the next major lesson from Chelsea’s launch experience.

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2) Handling book launch lows.

Authors dream about being booked on Good Morning America. But getting booked doesn’t mean you’ll definitely be on the show. Unfortunately, because of breaking news when the Queen died her segment was canceled.

“I practiced what I wanted to say. I got my outfit ready. And my best friend was coming with me. I got on the plane and heard that the Queen died while I was on the plane. When I landed, I got an email from my publisher saying that GMA has canceled to do wall-to-wall coverage on the Queen’s death,” Chelsea explained.

This happens in the news business all the time and you need to go with the flow. You can’t let it break your spirit.

“It definitely helped me to think about this as a long game. There’s the rush of the launch. But then there’s the work that I carry forward. The next steps that I started with you and my agent. So I had this framework of ‘this is a big disappointment and there will be lots of other opportunities I can’t even imagine yet.’ That was really helpful,” Chelsea added.

It can take a long time for a book to catch on and get going. And when things do get going, disappointments will happen. But if you put too much stock in any one opportunity, your launch and long-term promotion process will be much, much harder. Try to stay positive and remember that another opportunity will come your way, just like this one did.

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3) You will be promoting yourself alongside your team.

A good publicist, editor, and agent are integral to a book launch. But they won’t be the only ones doing the work. You’ll be doing pieces of your own outreach as well. Chelsea had a piece placed in The New York Times.

“The New York Times piece happened because I know the editor of the Opinion Section. I sent her a note sort of saying ‘I’d love for you to consider this.’ And then my publisher immediately followed up and built off the momentum to set up the contract,” Chelsea said.

Editors, like TV producers, get more emails than you can imagine. Many things go unanswered because it’s almost impossible to keep up with the influx of communication.

So personalized outreach is key.

“I’m doing that now with podcasts. My publisher will send a note. And then I’ll send a note saying, ‘Here’s why I think it’s a great fit for you and I love your show.’ And try to show them I know what they do and that I can see how I fit,” she explained.

It’s a lot of work to narrow your pitch and find the list of shows, podcasts, and publications that your work is the right fit for, and reach out to them. But it’s worth doing that work and doing it right.

For more tips from Chelsea, check out her free newsletter and listen to our entire conversation here.