Fearless Author

Start building your email list long before you plan on launching your book. Ideally you will want at least 100 people on your list because you will be asking them to be on your launch team, and only a fraction of them will follow through and review your book. (Location 219)

Your launch date is the date you pick to start promoting your book after you upload and publish it on Amazon. I recommend choosing this date AFTER your book is completely ready to publish. (Location 223)

Beta readers are people who read your book and give you feedback before it is published. Once you have some people on your email list, send out an email asking if anyone wants to be a beta reader for your new book, and in exchange they get the book for free before anyone else. (Location 486)

Make it easy for your beta readers. If they can’t read the whole book, let them know they can just read a few chapters if that is all they have time for. Then they can still write a review even if they can’t read the whole book. (Location 489)

It’s crucial to send your manuscript to them AT LEAST eight weeks before your launch date if you have picked one, and that is really rushing it if your book hasn’t been edited (Location 496)

You can ask anyone to be a beta reader, but be sure to take everyone’s suggestions with a grain of salt, especially grammar corrections. (Location 507)

Make it EASY and simple for them, and make them feel like they are getting a behind-the-scenes experience! (Location 516)

Make sure you send your book to beta readers in batches. For example, I sent it to five or ten out of my fifty beta readers, then put in their corrections before moving on to the next five or ten readers. This way, they are not all correcting the same errors and they can focus more on the big-picture content of the book. (Location 522)

Your launch date should be a week or two after you publish so you can take advantage of the Hot New Releases list, if your book makes it onto it, but this time also allows people to leave reviews before the launch. (Location 613)

Use the first week or two after publishing to get reviews, then launch it while it is still on the Hot New Releases list. So, before you do publish your book, make sure you will have time over the next week or two to get reviews and market your book before it launches. (Location 617)

I do not know many other authors who do this, but I always make my book free on Amazon and send the link to my email list that day, asking for reviews. (Location 635)

However you choose to get reviews, just make sure you do it according to Amazon’s rules. Try not to ask everyone all at once so you get a trickle of steady reviews instead of a whole flood at once, which could seem suspicious and manipulated, especially for a new author’s first book. (Location 638)

Warning: Tell family and close friends that they should not leave reviews because Amazon will delete them or threaten to take other actions. It’s against the rules to have family members and close friends leave reviews. (Location 647)

Whenever you do send someone your free copy, just let them know that reviews are not required in exchange because that would be against Amazon’s rules, but reviews are appreciated. (Location 654)

Try to get AT LEAST 5-7 reviews before launching. (Location 666)

Also, do not ask for more than one or two things at once (like asking for a review and also asking them to join your email list) or people will get overwhelmed and not do it at all. (Location 673)

Make sure you tell people they don't need a Kindle to read your eBook and explain how to download it on the free Kindle app on their phone or tablet. (Location 675)

Writing a book can be such a lonely journey and your friends and family might not really understand why you are so passionate about your book. (Location 898)

Let’s face it. You’re probably going to get some negative reviews on your book, and sooner than you might think. Expect them. Most authors get them, even the famous ones. And you know what? It’s okay! Not everyone will love your work. (Location 921)

Actually, people in my group of authors say that you should celebrate when you get your first negative review because it is a sign that you are a true author. (Location 924)

Don’t take mean or negative reviews personally. I know it may seem like they are directly insulting you and your precious masterpiece that you spent so much time on, but usually reviewers are reviewing the book as a product they purchased, not you personally. (Location 926)

Just don’t take it personally! Using (Location 947)

Make sure you proofread your manuscript very well or hire an editor. If you put out a less than quality eBook, readers won’t want to check out your other books and will probably leave you bad reviews. (Location 981)

Just beware that some publishers will not accept books that have already been self-published if you plan on trying traditional publishing down the road. Some publishers want brand new material that has never been published before, unless your self-published book has a very good sales record. (Location 1082)

She recommends Draft2Digital, a service that publishes your book to several sites at once. (Location 1179)