Book Launch: A 3 Month Instagram Marketing Guide
What to do in the three months leading up to pub day on our fav, instagram, in 10,000 short words (lol)
FOREWORD
USING THIS GUIDE
This is a loose, three-month “strategy guide” meant to help you navigate the framework of going from “first post” / book announcement all the way through release day. I’m creating this guide because I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately that fall into this time period or content types - and I want to help!
I am a Marketing Strategist by trade with years of experience at a Fortune 50 company under my belt - but I am not an author. I am also not in publishing! So if anything feels weird, or incongruous with your author-friends’ experiences, please do not hesitate to adjust accordingly.
This is simply what I would do, and a framework meant to help those starting from absolute scratch or those trying to re-center ahead of a new release. I’ll say this again later - but if you have questions, comments, follow-ups thoughts or confusion, even disagreements - please put them in the comments below! I look forward to hearing from you.
Also, because of the above, if I say something here and you’re going “Charlie that is not what I thought” or “that really doesn’t sound right” please feel free to shoot me an email! I am so used to speaking about marketing, posting, etc that it’s very likely I could say something and get my point across incorrectly.
I had a great convo recently with an author who thought that my results analysis from the Reader Survey meant that I thought you couldn’t find new readers on instagram. That couldn’t be further from the truth! And if I really thought that, I would tell you not to listen to a word I have to say!!! That section of the survey results shows how readers spend most of their time on instagram, and I emphasize that it is more likely for you to gain new readers from existing readers sharing your posts. It’s still your posts, but it’s assisted by a chain of increased trust between readers.
All of this to say, if you find yourself confused or unsure, please reach out. I’m always available to clarify.
You’ll also notice, as you read, that I don’t mention integrating backlist at any point for those authors for whom it’s relevant - this is because after observing major authors with backlist and social presence, and talking to author friends of my own, it is my belief that you should shift your focus away from talking about your backlist while you are advertising a new book.
Your backlist will always be findable on your grid and by hashtag - but they have the benefit of existing reader reviews, and this new book doesn’t! I don’t mean to say “stop talking about them entirely” just that those can probably ride through on maintenance as you transition into focusing on your newest release.
If you are reading this with book 2 (or further) in a series in mind for launch, simply add in information about the previous books/series and where to find them as a part of all your background information and blurbs. Hopefully that information slots in quite clearly for you as you read the information ahead.
EXPECTATIONS
I would like to also touch, before we start, on expectations. Unfortunately, this is sort of the “un-fun” part, but it’s important to me that we chat about it, because setting these expectations will help us to have a much better experience with social media marketing!
What I’m giving you in the following pages is a general, adaptable framework to help you make decisions about what you do, how, and when. But it is not a recipe for viral success. There’s no such thing! There’s also so, so many factors that go into what makes a book launch successful - almost all of which hold more weight than a social media strategy. Think name recognition, advertisement strategy & budget, industry connections, all that jazz.
Nobody on earth can hand you a winning social media strategy for you specifically (so be wary of anyone saying they can!).
If this is your first time starting up with consistent and focused posting on social media, you are starting from zero. A post “doing well” is going to mean something different to you month over month as you learn and grow. It’s very possible that early efforts are going to feel very much like shouting into the void. The key is to keep on this! Think of developing and maintaining these launch plans (and pre-work) as an investment - every time you drop these posts into the bank, you’re building something to be proud of.
I desperately don’t want to sound like a debbie downer - but I do want to make sure that we all have realistic expectations going into this. Set your goals as something obtainable and do not move those goal posts on yourself. Don’t compare your success to your friends, colleagues, idols, or enemies - social media & book-selling are not zero sum, and there’s room enough for you to do it in your own way and on your own path. Center on the facts of where you’re starting, and then you can put your optimism hat on :)
MINDSET
BE your customer
One thing I want to really start by touching on is mindset. Marketing is a lot of things - it’s strategy, it’s planning, it’s measurements, it’s iteration. But my guiding principle as a marketer is also what I think makes me such a strong strategist in my day job - I am constantly trying to embody and understand my customer. If you have never done any of this, or haven’t done it in a while, this is your first stop! (AKA - do now)
The first thing you should do ahead of trying to market your book is imagine you’re a reader again. “But I still read!” yes yes, of course you do. But the MINUTE you put your pen to paper (or fingers to keys) you become an author. It’s irrevocable. So we need to situate and ask ourselves what readers want.
The reason for this is because you very likely haven’t sat down with a market analysis and written a book over the course of just a month or two to hit a market trend with readers - you wrote the story in your head or heart. We need to readjust now and look at our work as objectively as possible and measure it against what’s trending.
To this end, we’ll start with some market research to get into the right mindset. We’ll go to tiktok, instagram, etc. and search out keywords like “book reviews” “book recs” “five star reads” and look for common threads.
What kinds of language are the readers using? Are they repeating specific phrases to describe tropes or vibes?
Are they commenting on characters? Spice? Relationship dynamics? Worldbuilding? Magic systems?
What FORMAT are they using? Granted, you’ll mostly be seeing the best performing posts, and most if not all of those are truly reels. But are they showing a static quote even in a video? Are they re-using existing character art?
Further, is there a correlation you can spot? Is a specific focus and content format more common to ultra-spicy romance versus what the worldbuilding, plot heavy romantasy users are employing?
We’ll use the above to inform a lot of the decisions we make as we go forward. This exercise shouldn’t take you more than an hour or two - just swipe through, absorb, take notes, and get inspired.
Now, you’ll do the same sort of exercise, but you’re looking for authors who’ve written comparable works to yours.
What of theirs both does well*, and overlaps with the kinds of posts that you just saw readers making?
*”does well” - this can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I mean it in the strictest sense - what’s the engagement like? Is the number of likes at least 4%-ish of their following? Are they getting comments that spark little conversations or at least a complete back and forth? Different types of engagement will cause actual sales for different authors, but we can make a safe assumption that if a post is being highly engaged with, some percentage of those folks already-are or will-be reading.
Conversely, what unique kinds of author content are they creating that performs well?
Think: day in the life, “my writing set-up”, inspiration posts, writing process posts, things that only an author would be able to post about that gives some kind of window into that creative mystique.
To wrap up this section, and to be sure we’ve done our preliminary due diligence, we should now have answers to these questions:
READER
Who is my reader? What books do they like?
What tropes are they chatting about? What features of books excite them?
What kind of content are they making and sharing? What am I seeing a lot of (quotes, aesthetics, art, etc) from reader spaces?
AUTHOR
Remember what I said in the expectations section - and keep that in mind as you look at other authors! They may have started where you are, but if they have any of those major differences that I described, we have to analyze their social media marketing with a grain of salt. So:
Try to dig into 1:1 comps. By that I mean - of course a romantasy with enemies to lovers can comp to one of the Big Names in the industry - but they’re in a much different place than you are (presumably) on social media. They don’t have to work as hard to capture new readers because they’ve got the boon of momentum behind them.
TLDR - look for authors who started publishing around the same time as you, or if you’re new, author’s who’ve started in the last year or two.
What types of posts can I see other authors using to their advantage? Is there a recurring theme of any kind?
What authors write similarly to me, and what do their posts tend to look like? Do they share a lot of quotes? Do they emphasize tropes like readers do?
What parts of our books do we have in common, and how do they talk about those things? How is this received?
With all of the above, we’re looking for baseline similarities between the kinds of visuals and language/word choice that readers are visibly responding to, and how those things can be replicated with specifics to your book - without the expectation that by copying them you can get the same results that they have achieved. We all have to forge our own paths!
Once you have notes on these things, you can pat yourself on the back, because you’ve done some really great market research!! You hopefully have a better feel for what kind of person (audience) is going to connect with your book, and HOW those connection points happen.
AUTHENTICITY
Be yourself!!
I would be absolutely remiss if I did not include an entire pre-work-dedicated-section to authenticity because I truly believe, along with all the other marketing strategists in or adjacent to social media work, that authenticity is the secret sauce in 2024. The age of the True Influencer is in decline, because people feel they cannot trust them the way they used to. They’re overwhelmingly drawn to folks who seem to be their entire messy selves.
For us, this means being exactly who you are and actually letting that personality come through in all of your posts. Don’t let some overly formal tone take over your social copy, and don’t feel like you need to be perfect (or conventionally attractive) to post reels. I am confident that you have at least one peer, or even a bookish content creator friend, who can tell you first hand that their “unhinged, ridiculous” post on XYZ outperformed their expectations by a lot. You likely cannot manufacture that kind of energy (I know I can’t) but you can let it shine where it comes up.
In posts, that means letting your author self shine.
Do you delight in torturing readers with angst?
Do you daydream about their reactions to plot twists? Be maniacal! Let them see that side of you!
Do you carefully cook up cozy scenes and imagine wrapping your readers in a warm blanket and handing them a steaming mug of tea? Tell them that - let them fill the other half of that role with you.
In conclusion to this section, but also honestly to all of the above, please please please try to have fun. This isn’t, and should not be, the bulk of your job. Your writing will always be your priority. BUT!
…Social media can be an incredible, welcoming, comforting, happy corner of the internet where you connect with like-minded peers, enthusiastic readers, and eventually even superfans of your fictional worlds and characters. I truly firmly believe that niche can be carved out for every single person; it’s just that it takes time, patience, and perseverance. You can do it!
NOW we can take a look at what our runway looks like to our own book launch…
MONTH ONE - 3 months from launch date
To state the obvious - I suggest starting up in earnest about three months out from your release. Each section following will focus on messaging (the kinds of things we’re communicating), post specifics, and ancillary time-specific actions and efforts. Each section builds on the last and, again, is only a suggested framework meant to do some up-front brain-power work so that you can focus on communicating (and writing).
Messaging
What’s the message 3 months out? Well, pretty simple! Hey, MY BOOK EXISTS AND IT’S COMING SOON!!
We’re starting with absolute basics. Your posts collectively need to communicate these basic things at a minimum:
Genre & subgenre(s)
Adult or YA, explicit romantic content or not, etc
Comps, if you are including them (optional really) (aka “for fans of”)
Tropes or major themes (what to expect)
Timing of release and where you can pre-order/purchase (if known) (if you haven’t picked an exact date, stick to Season Year, like Fall 2024)
Standalone, new series, completion of a series, etc.
Brand - this is also where you’re solidifying the look and feel of the marketing around your book.
Work with fonts, color schemes, and visual elements that emulate your cover, and try to be cohesive and legible. Simple but clean will always win over complex but messy. Canva is your bestie!
Cover reveal & Dates
Right at the beginning of this 3 month sprint is where you either A) are an established author with some kind of reader team or B) can mobilize interested readers, friends, etc. to help you reveal the cover.
More is more with this - give whoever is helping you as much information as humanly possible.
Cover images, 3D renders, any art you have, the blurb, tropes, anything they can use creatively to help you do YOUR thing while they do THEIR thing.
The more they can get the post to look like what they usually publish, the more likely their followings are to engage with them!
*I would strongly caution against pre-made graphics for the reason above, as well as because instagram said (heavy skepticism at this point) that they will no longer be promoting “reposts”, and will instead locate and promote the original post. Honestly that’s not horrible for you, but it won’t be fun at all for your team.
Now I know a lot of y’all get to advertising the book before you have the cover and date. It is my personal opinion that most marketing campaigns would be more effective if they can be tied from the start to a cover.
This also picks at one of the “pet peeves” we heard a lot about in the ‘24 Reader Survey - they don’t particularly enjoy the slow reveal of the books.
If you set a cover reveal for week two or three of your first month of marketing the book, you should keep the teasing and the countdown to your stories.
Release date - again, I know this is sometimes very fluid for indies. Try and pin it down as best you can! If you can only say “Spring 2025” (or even early/late) for a little while, I think that’s okay - but you want to be clear with this.
Content types & ideas
First note ahead of actual content types / ideas - you should prepare a pre-written blurb ready to paste into every single caption. My opinion, but yeah - every single one. Something along the lines of “Book Title, by Author Name, a new Fantasy Romance novel about female rage and bloodthirsty fae, coming via major book retailers Late Fall 2024. Pre-orders coming soon.” or similar.
You know yourself best, but even if this blurb repeats anything else in the caption, the repetition is worth it. You want your info EASY TO FIND at all times.
Second note - you should also work to craft a pinned post or two.
The first (required) should have the book cover and all the information in the caption blurb above, pinned right to the top.
The second (optional) could be an “about the author” and feature who you are IRL, your own favorite books and inspirations, your long term plans, and your backlist if you have one.
Some authors choose to do a third pinned post exclusively for their backlist if they have multiple completed series or standalones already published.
Third & final note - as always, I recommend finding a sustainable and consistent - to the minute - posting schedule that you will set now - and ride out until the book is out, or until you next need to disappear into the writing cave. I would say a minimum of 3 feed posts a week, and a story every day would be lovely.
Posts themselves
Remember our market research before? Don’t try to reinvent the wheel! I’m going to give you THEMES I think you should be hitting at this point - it’s up to you to hop on and get inspiration from what others are already doing.
We don’t want to get too repetitive and over-replicative (is that a word?) so where you can inject your own flavor, take, or even methodology - go nuts. Maybe you start the next trend - who knows!
(as an aside - I do think a fully fledged, professional content strategy would still offer a totally perfect mix of trend/remix-of-popular-post type work and novel concepts. I emphasize using trends and existing posts as inspo because assuming you’re newer to this, you probably don’t have a lot of new ideas right out the gate, and that’s okay. You’ll get there!)
QUOTES
Quotes at this time should focus on:
introducing your world
your main character
and your romance or major plot (or both).
Think of month one content as the exposition - you’re doing the same work you did at the beginning of your book to convince readers to keep on reading.
Some notes on the types above:
I find that for female main characters, people seem to connect especially well with quotes about her personality or shortcomings - truly!
Imagine that line you wrote about how FMC is plucky and capable, but her temper could burn down the village. Some amount of people will see & put the book on their TBR, and another amount will share on the basis of it just being relatable. You’re aiming for reach, so this double duty is great.
For the major plot, keep it as mysterious and spoiler free as possible.
We want to show the MC at their Call to Action - and the readers are supposed to wonder if they’re going to answer!!
Generally, the quotes should be no longer than a short paragraph or two. People have short attention spans and we want to hook them in and then get out of their hair. People generally will not stop to read a wall of text.
CHARACTER ART
First, a caution to you. To be transparent, I am staunchly, staunchly anti-generative AI. But I can also say this: not only is the prevailing reader attitude that they will not support authors who use it, but also, studies are beginning to show that the general population perceives AI generated images in ads to be a sign of being cheap. We don’t want that right! Hire human artists :)
I should also say, I understand how expensive art is. But if you have any capital at all to invest in this, I would work to find artists in our community and within your budget to bring those characters to life.
Now! Many, many readers reported in my survey that art does a HUGE amount of the work in convincing them to read a book. So we should:
Focus on character portraits or smaller scenes captured - something that either shows off your stunning little characters or that provides a vibe and visual story that aligns with your work.
If working on an extremely limited budget: ask around with author friends for vetted artists who are newer or starting out - they usually charge less as they build their talent and portfolios.
You can ALSO spend time (and therefore, less money!) to locate photography that works for your characters, your setting, etc. I’ve seen many authors use this to augment where they don’t have art and it’s really compelling, especially when it’s used artfully!
Make sure you’re only using stock photo websites, paying for licensing to use it, and avoiding AI. The easiest way to stay out of trouble is to only use photos you have a license for (or that have open use flagged) - Pinterest photos, or photos containing the intellectual property of others, are a one-way ticket to eventual trouble.
TROPE MAPS
Somehow divisive on Threads, I do think the reality is that many readers view trope maps or trope-based-posts like a menu board. It’s visual, easy to create, and shows them what they’re in for at a glance.
These can be great for re-using art if your contract with your artist allows for it (and if that’s important to you, make sure to bring it up to your artist up-front!), and you can iterate and do “character tropes” for the personalities of your main characters as well, to iterate.
INSPIRATION
Talk about what got you writing! Books you loved as a kid, movies that influenced you, or the song that brought this book storming into your head.
It’s another way to niche into tangential interests while also signaling to potential readers that you are alike. They’ll be much more interested to read if they know you’re a die-hard Howl’s Moving Castle fan too.
Paired with multiple slides, and clearly showing your book cover on the first slide (so it’s clear what you’re talking about) or having your cover superimposed on a reel is the way to go.
~YOU~
Yes, you!! You don’t HAVE to, so take this all with a grain of salt, but I do recommend it. They don’t ALL want to know who you are, but it is social media, so we can safely assume some of them want to connect with you.
Introduce yourself multiple times if you’re a debut! You can put a spin on it, but they will need to be reminded at first.
Use trending audios and reel formats that feature you speaking (or not) to the camera so they can see your shining face.
This may primarily happen in stories for many of you - but don’t shy away from using those same stories to share your favorite drink, the sunset, your pets - all different inroads for readers to connect with you, thereby improving their affiliation with you and their likelihood of picking up your book.
A word of strong caution though - be careful what you do share. You are officially a public figure now, and we cannot account for what people might take and run away with in either direction. Not to be a hag, but we do need to be aware of both budding parasocial relationships as well as haters who will react poorly regardless of what you say. These things will not happen right away, but I honestly cannot think of an author friend it hasn’t eventually happened to. Just be mindful and make sure whatever you put out there is something you’re comfy with the world knowing.
TRENDS
Honestly, whatever fits…you will start to know it when you see it! It just takes practice.
When I was posting a lot to grow my account, I would spend 10 or 15 minutes in the reels tab hunting for trends that I could shift or wiggle to fit my niches. It’s surprisingly easy! Do it whenever you’ve got your hair washed if you need to, so you can just rip the bandaid off and get it done lol.
Unfortunately (lol), trends really work. The algorithm is primed to push it because it’s “60%” (or whatever individual calculation) similar to what it already knows that specific person likes and interacts with. So use it like a weapon - to get you and your new book in front of people’s eyeballs.
NEWSLETTER
This is also the point at which I’m going to ask you about the health of your newsletter :) I know I’m sorry. But email is king!!
Don’t be intimidated if you don’t have one! I’m signed up for god knows how many author newsletters and many, many of them only send an email maybe once a quarter or as books release.
Marketing experts, and especially newsletter experts, will recommend sending newsletters as often as once or twice a week. If you want more information on that, I’ve had Newsletter Ninja recommended to me multiple times as a source of more information.
From me though - a non-expert on newsletters - I would personally recommend starting where you’re comfy, and then investing the time and resources into learning more about newsletters, how to use them, and all the intricacy that an actual newsletter-specific-expert can teach you.
Email is king, and always will be, because it’s a permission audience - they have explicitly opted in to receiving marketing from you.
It’s also not going anywhere - meanwhile instagram goes down and out once a year along with every other platform, and places like Twitter can crash and burn in unexpected ways by just a change of ownership.
The reason WHY I’m saying this is hopefully pretty self evident. Imagine it’s the day your pre-orders open, and look at these two paths.
Your instagram and/or tiktok audiences MIGHT see your post in their feed announcing pre-orders are open. IF they linger with it long enough to understand what you’re saying, they MIGHT go look for the link to do so. That link MIGHT load in instagram’s built-in web window, but it also might take too long, and they might click out. They also might say “oh I’ll come back to this later” and totally forget.
Your email audience, however, get’s an email delivered to the inbox they check with modern frequency, and it’s got a nice neat little link right there in line to pre-order the book. It opens in their browser of choice. And if they choose to come back to it, or forget, well, it’s right there in their inbox, nestled between bills and promotional emails from Old Navy. Much less noise, and much more pleasant to boot!
Now if you’re starting from scratch, there are a handful of free programs (though the best things of course are paid) that’ll help you to send really professional looking emails en mass as you build your newsletter (MailChimp, MailerLite, & Constant Contact are all known and oft-recommended. Look for a YouTube vid on “how to use XYZ” before you buy it though, as those tech influencers usually have discount codes affiliated with their instructional vids!!)
And finally, whether you’re starting from scratch or have an existing newsletter, you’ll want to post that link to your stories at least once a week, and also have your bio linked easily to sign up for your newsletter. Most authors phrase that it’s the first place to get info, cover reveals, bonus chapters, etc - whatever you think you can offer to tempt them in. The repetition of “sign up here” will not bother them, I promise! :)
MONTH TWO
Messaging
Congrats, you made it through your first month of advertising your new/est book! The only reason our messaging can or should change at all at this point is because you spent the first month building an incredible base. You should be very proud of all you’ve done once you get here!!
Some notes:
A lot of the basics I covered above are not going to change much. You should still have those pinned posts, and still be including that important blurb on all your posts.
You will have hopefully built a following now though, however small, that will react with posts early and often, to help get you boosted further into the algorithm.
As you’re within two months now, you can start to focus a little bit more heavily on the “urgency” of prepping for this book.
We want readers excited and ready! We want to be counting down the days in our stories here and there if we can!
We’re almost trying to elicit FOMO now - like you don’t want to miss out on downloading this right away on release day.
We’re also going to start teasing ARC’s, which I’ll expand on a little bit more later, which will help make the book feel like it’s closer than it is for many.
ARC Advertisement
ARCs are a point of contention at this point, and there are many, many tips that actual authors with real-life experience can give you that will do a lot more than I can. So check your author circles and see what people say about how many to send, physical or digital only, PR boxes, low-rating rules, all that jazz.
Just keep in mind that no matter who’s giving you the info, your mileage may (and probably will) vary!
ARC advertisement however, is somewhere I can help. You should build a second sub-set content strategy (for all post types) wherein you’re introducing your book again, nailing hard on the hooks (tropes! familiarity sells within most genres) and the call-to-action becomes “sign up to apply for an ARC here!!” — and have that form linked in your bio.
Whatever you can do to sweeten the pot for ARC readers, the more you’ll get - but I’m not always sure it’s worth it!
Sometimes a physical copy and a PR box does a lot of work - but we can look at massively popular authors and see those who never send a single ARC, versus others who send out massive PR campaigns with beautiful ARC editions, and know that it doesn’t always reflect whether or not the book is expected to sell. If it’s not comfortably in budget, don’t put yourself out!!
To that end, MORE is not as good as BETTER in most cases. You’ll want to focus on attracting the same readers you looked at in your market research as a likely audience and craft your posts and reels to land on their feeds.
You can post about ARC sign-ups probably up to 2-3 times a week (spaced out with other content in between, if you’re doing it that often) and definitely with story reminders for a couple of weeks.
Leave yourself time to wade through the applications though, so you don’t stress yourself out!
Influencers
For influencer marketing, if you choose to reach out, make sure you’re selecting vetted influencers who visibly read and review indie books that are in the same genre as yours.
I cannot tell you how many DMs I’ve gotten asking me to review a book that couldn’t be further from every other book on my feed. Just be sure to be SURE - so you don’t waste your time or theirs.
Don’t always shoot for the BIGGEST accounts, but instead look for those with really tight followings and high engagements.
A micro-influencer with a couple thousand truly dedicated and trusting followers is worth their weight in gold.
If and when you reach out, I recommend saying something like this.
Hi (name), I hope you’re doing well! I’m reaching out because I’m looking for people who might be interested in receiving a (physical, digital) ARC of my upcoming book, Title Here. I’ll drop the blurb below, but it’s a <genre> <series or standalone> with <2-3 tropes>, for fans of <comp or comp title>. I hope you’ll consider - please let me know if you’re interested, and thanks so much for reading my message! Best, Author <<insert blurb here>>
Cover Reveal (if needed)
Go back and reference month one for the cover reveal specifics - again, I really, really highly recommend doing this as early as humanly possible…but shit happens!
IF we need to do it now, though, we want to focus our messaging around how it connects to: the ARC opportunity, pre-order information if you have it…basically, we’re closer to the sale now. So we want to point our fingers that way!
If you can: I recently had an author friend of mine reveal a cover alongside some character art, which was also going to be the laminate special cover, BUT I think it was a really interesting dual-reveal that helped people connect the characters directly to the cover! People had as much to say about the art as they did the cover.
I’m going to say this here, and I don’t really know why I didn’t say it before, except that maybe I feel I have more of your trust and respect at this point.
Cover reveals, I think, generally, do not do super well on social media. Especially for debuts, new books in a series, or for anyone who’s not viral (RIP to the 99% of us haha).
I’m not sure precisely what it is or how to crack it (yet) but…just keep this in mind. Don’t expect the world to shift around this point - you’ll get your beautiful cover out into the world, those close to you will celebrate with you, your cover-reveal-team (if you have one) will generate buzz, and it’ll be a great day. But it’s not going to MAKE your release unless you have something super unique on your hands.
(I would also tentatively, and with much trepidation because I am confident people have very strong opinions about this, suggest that it’s unnecessary to pay a tour or PR company for the cover reveal specifically when you’re starting out. If covers become a huge part of your strategy later on & that’s what you want to do, I support it fully. But for now, reveal the cover and keep moving.)
CONTENT TYPES
TAKE IT BACK NOW Y’ALL 🎶
No but seriously, we’ve laid a lot of content groundwork in month one. You should be pretty comfy making graphics, reels, etc for your book. BUT ~ things will shift a little (or at least, I think they should) so let me touch back on these categories and explain.
Please also keep in mind TWO things.
We should always be iterating. Take stock of the last month. What stood out in a good way - and in a bad way? What got a surprising amount of reach? Did you stick to your posting schedule? Try to look objectively at how it’s been going.
After month two changes, the final third month will be mostly the same - so keep on with the methods set out here!
Now on to the posting:
QUOTES
Where before we were doing a lot of introducing and exposition, we’re sort of in “act two” now. We need people gasping “THEN WHAT”
Also - notice how in month one I did not say spicy quotes! If you have a super spicy romance, you’ll have integrated them naturally in month one, because that’ll be where a lot of your great hooky quotes are, and also you’re more likely to have early-book smut.
BUT. If you have a “medium” spice book…somewhere around Fourth Wing, A Court of Silver Flames, etc - or even a no-spice book - you don’t want to lead with that. You need to attract the right readers with like… proportionate spice teasing.
As an aside, I’ve noticed the spicy scenes that seem to do the best as quote posts leave quite a bit to the imagination. I think those who are less forward with their reading feel more comfortable sharing these.
This also extends to spice-adjacent foreplay type quotes. The lead up, the banter, the panting in anticipation - that gets people just riled enough for a random encounter with a reel on a tuesday in the workplace breakroom. Lol
I would also start looking for quotes around the main conflict at this point in a more in-situ sense.
This is good for a few reasons - the first is that this is new and fresh content for existing followers! They’ll be so excited to have more, and to mentally build it upon what they’ve already learned.
The second is that this will still find the eyeballs of people who aren’t following you yet, but now that you have a whole month of high level content filling your grid, they can very easily go find a wealth of other entry points if they’re interested but not yet convinced.
GRAPHICS
This section was previously called tropes, but again, now that we have a whole kit and kaboodle of info out there, we can niche down a little too.
I think a lot of authors right now are finding some success by making all kinds of secondary graphics - what my characters would have worn to the VMAs or MET Gala, what my characters morning routines are like, all this kind of stuff that makes your world and characters feel lived in.
Again, this kind of content begins to reward your existing followers for sticking around, while creating new in-roads to your content for potential followers.
This is also a SPECTACULAR WAY to bring in keywords outside the book niche. Of course, you’ll hit on keywords the algo know means “show this to the readers” but if you’re plugging along on what Chappel Roan song your characters would scream to in the shower, you’re going to catch people on the fringes who might be interested too (but found you because of this new angle…maybe they’re not on bookstagram!)
(There are SO MANY readers who are not on bookstagram! Don’t forget about them!!)
ART
I don’t have much new to say here from last time. As much art as you can manage lol.
Check out authors who post a ton of art too and see what works! It does NOT need to be NSFW to work!
I forgot to say this before so I’ll say it here assuming you’re still muddling through this Crime and Punishment of a marketing document - if you can’t tell if it’s AI, DM me @charliesbookrecs I am always here to help you. If I can’t tell, I can contact the council of bookish artists and we will come to a deliberation for you. lol
INSPO
I think this is one area that will be more effected by what you saw as a result in month one. Did people like these posts? Did they interact with them? How’d it go?
If they weren’t getting great engagement, try a totally new angle before giving up. It could be the delivery mechanism!
But if after trying a few new things, if it’s still getting below average engagement, put this content type to the side until after your book is published and you’ve gained a readership more likely to be interested in you as an author.
YOUUUU
Same as last month. Get ready for next month though because I have thoughts and you may not like it! 😇
TRENDS
This will always remain because we do unfortunately always need to be playing the trend game. I’m just going to reiterate that this should always be your easiest content type. Don’t over think it!
Scroll, see a trend, recognize how you can stick your book in it, film it quickly, trim it up in-app, and ta-da. You’ll get quicker and better at it the more you do it!
If you’re really riding the struggle bus:
imagine that you’re your main character and you’re scrolling IG reels. Scroll AS your character.
As soon as you see something they would share or relate to, there you go. Take that trend, make your version, and caption on the reel like “Character Name - Book Title” (you know, as if you’re them, or they’re the one posting).
I hope this explanation makes sense - because I’ve seen it done, and it’s always very cute and compelling!!
MONTH THREE - FOUR WEEKS OUT
It’s release month - WAHOO!! You’re almost there! You now have TWO MONTHS of really great content, thoughtfully planned and executed, building the platform you need to launch this book.
You’re doing amazing, and now your little blurb attached to every single post is focused firmly on pre-order here, available on XX/XX (date). We’re getting close!
From here out, we’ll have week-by-week instructions that should build on the foundation of what you’ve set as HABIT in months one and two.
Timing notes..
At exactly four weeks out, ideally, ARCs are sent out - four weeks is where I feel like it makes good sense, especially assuming your sign-up/application said “ARCs will go out this date and I’d love a review before or especially ON release day!” but I’m not an author so check with your author friends on what feels good to them.
I think it would benefit you to send out the ARCs with some kind of media kit, so to speak. Basically exactly what you did (or would have) give(n) a cover reveal team as illustrated in the month one section.
Basically, give them everything they need to post and wax poetic about your wonderful book.
This is where you’ll also hopefully have a pre-order situation going on - so make sure you give them that info to share if they end up getting a review up before pub day!
ARC Giveaway
After your ARC team has their copies, I would run an ARC giveaway, especially if you have physical copies.
Even if it’s “only” digital, there’s a draw - the opportunity to receive an ARC the traditional way is gone (FOMO) and we’re acting like (and it may be true that) this is a highly coveted piece of literature that they’re going to want early!
Don’t forget too - even an ARC giveaway is still technically covering the cost of the finished book for the winner/reader. They don’t “need” to buy it to read it now. That’s not nothing!
Pre-order campaign information - if applicable
This is another place where I’m going to say - check in with your peers. They know the business side of this WAY way way better than I do or could. I’m just advising on the marketing surrounding it.
Ideally (to me) you have, at least, some ability to preorder the book, and most ideally, to pre-order physical copies. This is your new call-to-action at the end of everything for the next four-ish weeks. PRE-ORDER HERE >>> link link link
This is now accompanying your little blurb at the end of every post
You’re posting the pre-order link in every story about your book, no matter what, because the link is unobtrusive.
You have promptly emailed the link to your newsletter list (that we have been growing with a call out a few times a week all through months one and two, riiiight?)
Pre-order incentives are another area where I’m not sure if I’ve made up my mind. The cost-benefit analysis is sort of impossible - there’s authors like JLA that always have a pre-order incentive, but I’m not sure how many she would get if she didn’t do that, you know what I mean?
I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to connect a little more with your potential readers, and it’s probably good marketing to get some art and a branded bookmark physically into their hands, but it’s truly up to you.
If you have a larger following, I would consider throwing up a story poll or question box to ask your followers what kind of pre-order incentives they like best! I feel like I most often see a small art print or two & a bookmark, but signed book plates might work too!
THREE WEEKS OUT
Counting Down & Going Live
At this point, I think we could do a very gentle sort of week-by-week countdown, but, attach it to the kinds of posts you’ve already been making. Think of it like a formula now.
One part catchy or on trend - the content itself
One part informational - your book is prominent, the info is in the caption
One part countdown - maybe the “three weeks away!” is on the graphic or the reel itself, or the first part of the caption, but it’s secondary to the value of the content.
I recommend this because, again, the reader survey found that readers don’t really like the repetitive nature of the bit-by-bit reveal, or day-after-day countdown with “just a number”
We want to make sure people are WELL aware the book is coming & soon, so we’ll do it, but attach it to posts that would have stood on their own!
It is also at this point that I recommend going live. This one I think you should advertise and do by yourself, but here’s how to format it so you don’t feel awkward!
Step one - be completely prepped physically. The very first thing on the screen is what becomes the cover photo for the video, and we want to post this to our grid when we’re done, so be ready!
Step two - recognize that dead air in a live is okay, but can be a little funny in a recording!
Be prepared with an opening right away - Hi, I’m Name, author of Book, coming out in X days! Can’t wait to hang with you guys and answer questions! And then get right into it.
Don’t wait for participants - people who watch or find it later won’t be able to tell if anyone was in there!
Step three (which is really step 0) - have tons of “questions” prepped! There’s a number of buckets to pull this from. You can either literally repeat the questions and answer them, or use them as a guide to talk!
Advertise this live with a post at least one week in advance, and share it to your stories with a reminder and a questions box.
Ask your friends (nicely, and only once) to consider throwing a question in there. That’ll help get you started, and get the story engagement so it’ll push out to others.
Google “panel interview questions for authors” or something similar and see what kinds of questions are often asked!
Grab every one of these you’d feel like answering, but try not to prep answers TOO much - we want this to feel really natural and fun.
Sit and think about what parts of your book you’re most excited or proud about and reverse engineer questions to answer that get you there lol. No shame in that!! This is your space to brag and entice readers!
Remember that it’s very likely questions will come through in the chat too - make sure to answer those quickly! People LOVE to feel that live interaction, so those are a priority throughout your live.
Timing wise, shoot for between 30 minutes and an hour. Take it from me - I have 46,000+ followers and I only get about 20-30 steady watchers when I go live (though, I do a bad job advertising them). There are a TON of people though who will drop in for a while, drop out, pass through, whatever - just be yourself and relax and don’t worry about the numbers here! This is all just part of the journey.
It is also at this point - three weeks out - that I would suggest, optionally and based on your capacity, to start increasing the number of posts you’re making, especially reels. If you double your output of on-trend reels, it will pay dividends!
(that being said - you do NOT have to do this. Do not let your writing suffer for your social media. The book always comes first. If you’re deep in another deadline, focus on writing! You have my permission lmao. Though, if you’re here reading and studying this, I suppose you’re prioritizing your social media strategy ahead of release so… just keep this in mind.)
TWO WEEKS OUT
Creator Collabs
The broken record says: keep up with all of the above! Not much is changing - we’re just ramping up.
Two weeks out is the ideal timing to add in creator collaboration posts, though!! I am going to urge extreme caution - you must make sure you’re working with the right people - but this is an optional add to your strategy that can help a lot!
First, see if you can go live again. It does not matter if the questions are repeated - the likelihood of people having seen the last one, when you introduce the follower overlap of another person, are low.
Find a reader who’d be willing to go live with you! It should be somebody who’s read your arc (or at least started it) and who liked it.
This means you’re either relying on them to have tagged you in a positive review, or you have a friend or family member digging through tags to check on your behalf (and protect you from negative reviews).
This does not need to be an influencer. You can do this with an account of almost any size - what you’re doing by going live with another person is not just sharing audiences, but also giving yourself a sort of human credibility. It can even be an author friend!! I fell in love with Clare Sager from watching a live she did with Carissa Broadbent, and I had never read Clare - but knowing I loved Carissa’s books, that implicit cosign was enough for me. (and for the record, this is from before CB blew up!)
The second kind of collab to look for is secondary content that your ARC readers may have or may be willing to make. All you can do here is attract it - so make it clear in your stories, and in your follow up email to arc readers (including the release date reminder, and a gentle reminder to please post reviews when they’re ready) that you’d love to do collab posts on any non-reviews they feel like posting, especially reels, cosplays, reactions, etc!
This one IS kind of a hot take, I think. Some authors will warn you against this strongly for many reasons that are all probably valid. I think if you’re not sure, chat with your peers! This is just my opinion as a reader and marketer at sure-fire ways to connect with your audience and increase your reach. No part of social media comes without risk.
WEEK OF RELEASE
It’s release week - YEEHAW!!! I am so proud of you. Look at this - nearly three months of incredible content. You are a STAR. Now let’s get down to brass tacks.
CHARACTER ART
It is imperative that we share whatever we’ve got again - new and creative ways if possible (new framing, with a quote or trope above it, whatever) but get those hotties in front of people’s eyeballs again.
If you can, have new art - or a few pieces - to share at this point. Feel free to mix up styles, especially on a budget! A moody sketchy piece, a cute chibi art, and a fully rendered portrait or scene all do their own kind of work.
Regardless of how much you have, or if it’s new, I hope I’ve impressed how much it means to readers to see your character art. That is the crux of my insistence.
And finally, if I HAD to answer the “how many pieces total” question, I would say that I would feel most comfortable with 6 different pieces of art. I would personally want rendered bust portraits of my main couple (or top two characters if non-romantic) and then 4+ that can fill any space - animal companion, cute chibi doodle versions, a total scene, etc.
Quotes & Hooks
Since it’s release week, I free you to be a little cruel now!! Mwa ha ha
If in month one we’re posting exposition and The Call, and in month two we’re posting the lead up to the big bad, month three is about punishing our readers with the fear of that final confrontation, whatever it is.
I think this is also a space to be cheeky - leave in just enough to show it’s an incredibly tense scene, but redact names! Redact verbs! Do whatever feels fun to obscure spoilers (AT ALL COSTS) but give a little bit more meat to those who’ve been following along and waiting for the book.
The key to upping the ante on these quotes is that you’re pairing it with “7 DAYS” (or less!) until they can see what’s really going on. We’re trying to incrementally increase FOMO here and this will do it.
I think this is the point at which you can be sure to focus on relationship conflict really strongly too.
Again, redact things, get cute with it, see if you can even trick them into assuming the wrong context. This should be fun for you too, lol
This could also be a point to engage your existing “from jump” followers with even more juicy tidbits by giving the start of a scene or bit of dialogue and asking them to “fill in the blanks”.
People love a chance to show off how funny they are, and knowing bookish people, some of them will even try really hard to apply what they’ve learned so far to get it “right”. Make it fun!
Hooks really aren’t any different from quotes, but I think you can actually go back to some of the types of quotes you used in month one - first sentence, first dialogue, etc - and turn them into a hook by way of “Read what happens next in X days”.
you have a much higher chance of catching people’s attention with that same info when they’re just a few days from getting to read it.
I would also like to just quickly remind you that these are great spaces to make sure you’re catching other keywords where possible, using trending audio, anything to get it into the algo’s grubby little hands.
2x the posts
First - this is NOT a requirement. This is a suggestion! During release week, I think it would behoove an author to post more than normal - to ensure you’re getting in front of maximum eyeballs.
If you’re already posting 3-5 times a week, I think the minimum is a seven day countdown (so every day now) but make sure that countdown is attached to posts that already have unique and specific value outside of the day-by-day mention.
I’m sure you sort of understand why - more posts means more chances to catch different audiences! You don’t want to be posting the same or even very similar things back to back - but again, don’t reinvent the wheel.
For all of your “extra” posts, I would work to ensure that you’re leaning heavily on the work that’s already been done by trends. I’ve said it a few times already, but truly, the more comfortable you get with quickly finding those - getting into the mindset of the reels tab as a sort of menu of content for you to choose from and rebuild to suit your needs - you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor! It only gets easier.
And as a final reminder - make sure every post is ending with our small “about” blurb with the direction to pre-order, alongside the date of release.
DAY OF RELEASE - WOOHOO!!!!
Engagement, Engagement, Engagement
This is a bit blue sky - because I know how exhausting it is to finally get to launch. As always, I’m giving you my ideal situation, and you’re going to adjust it to fit your energy, capacity, and ability.
I think you should post twice, minimum, on release day. Recently, an author friend posted both a reel and a static post for her cover reveal - and I think that would make a lot of sense to do this on release day too with your great big “NOW AVAILABLE” graphics.
For the static post, make it a carousel! Include trope graphics you’ve already made, character art - it doesn’t need to be new, because this might be your most widely shared or seen posts yet, and new eyes will want everything they need to make a decision right there.
Otherwise, if you can, do your best to be totally present.
Go interact with your ARC reviewers.
If you can safely navigate posts you’re tagged in, make sure to give them love.
If people tag you in their stories, heart that sucker and respond with your thanks (no need to share to your story).
Post stories throughout the day with what you’re up to - let people see you again, especially as new eyes come in!
Respond to every comment if you can, too. Instagram tends to prioritize conversation, so it’ll do well for your engagement to be reciprocal in that way.
Release Day Live
If you can, & your schedule allows, I think it would be really fun for you to do a release day live - but feel free to push this to the following week if you want more people to have read it, and simply advertise it on release day.
Focus on everything from the previous two lives - touch on what you’re excited for readers to react to, what the process of writing the book was like, and now most excitingly for many readers - what’s next!
If you can do this as a collab with another author, I highly recommend! Again, I’ve attended a lot of lives like that, and it helps me to navigate author similarity.
I’m pretty sure most of my favorite indie authors at this point are friends, and I found most of them through each other - just be sure to offer to do the same for them on their next release day. It takes a village!
Release Day Giveaway
As always, giveaways can be a source of a lot of excitement - and engagement - for readers. Physical copies, goodies to go with it, one winner, three winners - you really cannot go wrong!
If you do a single big winner, I would also consider doing digital copies for a handful of second place winners - people are more likely to enter when they know their chances are better.
If you’re publishing in Kindle Unlimited:
I’ve had a few authors try my little scheme (yet unproven, honestly) of making one of the requirements to enter the giveaway being “tag me in a story showing Book Title downloaded on your kindle!”.
I think this COULD prove out to be a really interesting way to motivate mood readers to pick it up right now especially if the grand prize is the book, some cute goodies from TJ Maxx on theme, something like that.
We’re always looking for new ways to motivate people, and you’ve gotten them pretty far down the road towards reading it for those who participate.
End of day
I’m dead serious: log off by dinner time. Everything will wait for you tomorrow. Celebrate with loved ones IRL - have your favorite drink or sweet treat - and understand you have beaten INCREDIBLE odds to have even started writing the book, let alone finishing it, publishing yourself, and spending three months posting about it online. It is truly something you should be so, so proud of, and I hope you take a minute to bask in that, whether it’s your first or 50th title.
Natural Continuations
To note about the weeks following release - hopefully you can see how everything can sort of build upon what you’ve done.
You can treat new posts like your ARC readers - carefully (or with the help of a friend) find positive content to engage with. Readers do love it when it’s a positive review, overwhelmingly, and according to real data!
Keep posting as we have been, and keep that blurb - but switch it all over to “now available on XYZ platforms / retailers”. The first month (give or take) published will be a huge part of the book’s traction, so we want to try and keep up.
You can, of course, come back down to your old 3-5 post a week cadence as you’d set up in months one and two.
And if you find yourself with more questions - curiosities around anything specific, or specifics around anything in here - you can come find me on substack and, free of charge, submit questions to my weekly Q&A. I’m always happy to give you my two cents on social media marketing lol. https://charliesbookrecs.substack.com/
Please let me know if this was helpful, if you have follow up questions, thoughts, reactions, seriously - anything - in the comments here. I look forward to hearing from you!!
xoxo, Charlie
Hi Charlie! Thanks so much for this; the timing is really helpful as I'm about to gear up to launch my next series in 2025 (yes, I mentioned this on Threads but am repeating myself for context! 🙈)
I only have one complete series at this point. Given I’m likely doing a Q2 (mid-May?) launch for my new series, do you think it's worth sprinkling in some "WIP" or "upcoming series" posts into my content calendar *before* the more intense launch period you laid out in your guide? Almost treating it as one of my content buckets, if that makes sense? I know readers do like hearing some news about WIPs, but I also don’t want to lead into it too early… but I’m also really excited to talk about this new world! The struggle, haha. Like, is there a time that's TOO early to talk about your series? 🤷♀️
Thank you for all you do! 💜
This is incresibly helpful, charlie, thank you! ❤️❤️