How Did the Book Launch Do?

As my first novel journey comes to an end, I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who bought, read, reviewed and/or promoted my book, “To Rescue a Witch“. Your support has meant so much to me and I appreciate the goodwill. A special shout out to my husband, Henri, who called all his friends and convinced them to buy one…or five…of my books, lol. I’ve always felt a little weird about selling my own stories, so it helps to be married to someone who’s good at it! Below I’m giving some information about my book launch for anyone who might be interested in publishing their own books.

What is a Book Launch?

A book launch celebrates the day an author publishes her book and invites readers to buy a copy (or five). My book launch for “To Rescue a Witch” was March 4, 2024.

What Defines a Successful Book Launch?

That depends on the author. When I published my first book, “Mind Your Manners Minnie Monster” I was so excited to see my story in an actual book, I forgot that I was supposed to sell it. Or figure out how to do that. For that one I defined success as just getting it done. It also won a silver Mom’s Choice Award, which made me feel validated because someone other than my mom thought it was good. Some people define success as being #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List. According to extensive research on my part (Google search) to be on this list you must sell 5,000 – 10,000 books in one week. Also, most authors (but not all) on this list are traditionally published.

As I am independently published, the list I’m looking at is the Amazon Top 100 Seller List. They break book sales down into genres and unlike the NYT, they calculate your rank based on ONE DAY. What qualifies as a best seller really depends on your category and how many other books in that category launch on the same day. This is where indie authors have to do our homework.

For example, the reason why my book launched on a Monday is because the traditional publishers (Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins, etc.) release their new books on Tuesdays. There’s no way I can release my debut historical fiction and hope to compete with a well established author with an entire PR campaign behind it.

Also, some categories are easier to score higher than others. My book, “To Rescue a Witch” is a historical fiction, but there are literally thousands of historical fictions to compete with: World War II, Tudor Romance, anything Viking. When you publish on KDP (Amazon’s publishing platform) you get to choose which category your book sells under. It worked out!

#11 in Witch & Wizard Thrillers
#12 in British & Irish Literature
#56 in Historical British & Irish Literature

What Are People Saying?

Book reviews are the life blood of authors. In my case, I’ve been working on this book for three years, so it’s great to see that people actually like it! As of today, 3/31/24, I have 32 reviews on Amazon (4.8/5 stars), 24 reviews on Goodreads (4.8/5 stars) and other 5 star revies on sites like BookBub and individual blogs. My goal is to get 100 reviews. Why? Because once you get 100 reviews your book will move up in the Amazon algorithm. We are social creatures and many people buy books based on the customer reviews. Here are a sampling of customer reviews from different sites:

Next Steps

My goal is to do an Audible version. I plan to play the parts of all the female characters (because, of course I do) and will hire an actor to read all the male characters. But Lisa, you say, don’t all the female characters speak with Southern, Scottish, English and/or French accents? And aren’t you from New Jersey? Why yes, you would be correct. Which is why I’ve purchased “Acting with an Accent” audiobooks to teach myself this special skill. If I really suck, I can always hire someone else and rerecord it, but these characters are my brainchildren and I can’t wait to express their thoughts through an audio version.

I’m in the very beginning phases. Beyond learning multiple accents, I have to create a budget for hiring the other actor, perhaps a director, find a recording studio for my parts and hire a sound mixer. My goal is to get everything recorded in time for Halloween because…witch story.

Final Thoughts on My First Novel

What a wild ride! Thank you so much for your support, kind words and buying and reading my book! If you have a free moment, please post a review on Amazon. I’m already working on the next book and can’t wait to share more about it in future posts.

Lisa 😉