Book Launch and Author Platform Template

Put the publication date at the top of the plan. List the outlets you want, find the lead time each one asks for, and count back from that date. When an outlet gives a range, such as four to six months, plan for the longer one. Self-publishing? Kirkus and Publishers Weekly take your book by a separate route, so read the self-publishing section first.

Two details catch people out. Publishers Weekly counts from the first day of the publication month, so a June 28 book has the same deadline as a June 1 book. And the earliest row sets everything upstream: the galley, the cover and the book's details must all be ready by then.

Each outlet wants galleys, the advance copies of your book, in its own format. Booklist prefers PDFs by email, Kirkus usually asks for a NetGalley or Edelweiss download link plus a PDF, and Publishers Weekly takes digital galleys only through its own GalleyTracker system.

Publishers Weekly wants the book's facts on the galley cover⁴: title, author, price, publisher and imprint, format, page count, 13-digit ISBN, publication date, distribution arrangements and a publicity contact. Its cover letter should flag signs of demand, such as a tour of five or more cities or a print run above 10,000. Since March 2025 it also charges $25 per book submitted, unless the publisher has a site license.

Then write the pieces every pitch reuses:

• A short description and a few comparable titles
• An author bio under 100 words, and a headshot
• The final cover in high resolution
• A one-page summary for media and booksellers

An author bio template gives you jacket, website and speaker versions to start from. For the description, a book blurb generator drafts back-cover copy from your synopsis.

Publishing commentator Jane Friedman defines author platform as an ability to sell books because of who you are or who you can reach⁵. Bought followers and email addresses don't count, she adds, because those people don't care about you or your work.

For a launch, platform means names: newsletter subscribers, colleagues, local bookstores and libraries, and the hosts and writers who already cover your subject. Log one row per contact, not one per channel. "Podcasts" is a channel; a host's name, show and email address is a contact.

Give each row a status (confirmed, pending, declined or no reply) and a follow-up date, so silence gets noticed. For the press, a media list and pitch template ties each pitch to what that journalist has recently covered.

Bookstores rarely invite a new author. In a 2016 Authors Guild article on book events⁶, author Jeffrey Copeland advises writing to the store's events coordinator. Name the kind of event you want, say why it would help the store or its community, and follow up if you hear nothing within a few weeks.

Timing matters as much as the pitch. In the same article, Gretchen Treu of A Room of One's Own, a Madison, Wisconsin, bookstore, advises contacting stores at least two or three months before release. If your publisher is very small, or you publish yourself, she adds, be ready to sell on consignment (the store pays only for copies that sell).

Pitch podcasts and newsletters once galleys exist, so hosts have time to read. Send a short note to a named person, with an angle that fits what they cover.

Self-published books take different routes into these outlets. Publishers Weekly takes them through BookLife, where it also sells paid reviews. Kirkus leaves them out of its main program and points to Kirkus Indie. Booklist considers self-published titles that meet its criteria and points to its partner BlueInk Review, a fee-based service².

On Amazon's KDP, ebook preorders can open up to 18 months before release⁷. Upload the final file at least 72 hours before release, or KDP cancels the preorder. Paperbacks can't take preorders there, but you can schedule their release date.

The KDP publishing pack drafts the description, keywords and categories KDP asks for, from your manuscript.

Your main job before an event is the audience. Jeremy Garber of Powell's Books, quoted in the same Authors Guild article, calls securing one the number one thing an author can do. Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books in St. Louis says authors with successful events invite local friends and family early and link to the store's website, not to Amazon.

Spread events and interviews across the first two weeks, and ask everyone who helped to share on publication day. Afterward, send one follow-up to anyone who never replied, with something new: a review, a second event or the finished book. Don't chase trade reviews now. Library Journal, for one, generally avoids reviewing books after their publication date¹.

The template at the top of this page holds the timeline, asset checklist, outreach register and pitch templates. Open it with Edit with AI, and River counts every deadline back from your publication date.