It's been a week since I launched The Purple Door District. It's hard to believe that it's over already after so many months of work. I've had people ask what went well, what didn't, what would I like to change, and so on and so forth. After some reflection, I thought I'd share a few tidbits for anyone else who's preparing to launch their book. As I say in many of my posts, these are just ideas and not the true method. What works for me may not work for you, but it may give you a place to start.

To make this a little easier, I'm going to divide this into three sections: what I did, what worked and didn't work, and what I'd do next time.

Warning: This is going to be a long one!

What I did:

Indie Publishing: I gave myself 6 months to launch my book so I could build up an audience and get my social media platforms off the ground. Keep in mind, I was mostly starting from scratch. I had Facebook and Wattpad, and I had just started on patreon, but that was about it. I decided to go the indie publishing route, which meant I had to do all my marketing by myself, hence the six months of preparation.
Cover reveal: I revealed the cover of the book about a month in so that it, and the title, could get out and attract attention.
Social Media: I started building up my social media. Twitter and Facebook brought the most people to my website (according to the analytics). I also created an Instagram account. I bounced back and forth between these three, and featured special topics on Instagram like my Book Love Tour, author interviews, and blog entries. I created a schedule for myself to write a blog post every week, which I've managed for a few months now. When I got closer to the book release, I created a Goodreads and Bookbub account, per the suggestions of other authors. Through all the social media sites, I worked to build my audience and find fellow writers who might be interested in the book, and who I could help.
Website: I developed my own author website to host information about my books, author interviews, my literary projects, details about the community, my volunteer work, etc. Basically my website is a one-stop shop for anyone who wants to know about me and my work. You can find all my social media through it.
Patreon: In December 2017, before I even decided to publish PDD, I started posting a chapter or two every month. This meant I had early readers and got a few people interested in the book. I intend to do the same thing with PDD 2.
Interviews: Through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, I found people willing to do interviews with me to help promote my book. I worked to space them out over the months so there was always something fresh for people to read. In the same vein, I interviewed other authors to show them support. It's been a lot of fun getting to meet so many different people.
Libraries/bookstores: I started contacting libraries and bookstores who might be interested in carrying my book. In the end, I had three bookstores in the local area who wanted them, and another in the works. Libraries are a little more reluctant to take in indie-published books, but I did manage to get a couple to agree to carry the novel.
Press: I wrote press releases for my book launch in hopes that it would help bring more people to the event and also share the news about the novel to more people.
Swag: I developed some of my own swag and also brought on people to create art, necklaces, and sand bottles for my book. My intent was to give them support while also helping to promote PDD. It was a lot of money, but the results spoke volumes.
Indiegogo Campaign: Indie publishing is not easy, as many of you probably already know. I started up an Indiegogo Campaign to try to offset some of the costs. I spread it out over a month, aiming to gain $4,000.
Book Launch Location: I picked a special location for my book launch. The Makers' Loft seemed like a fitting place because it is all about representing indie artists. It has a great space, and it is still new and starting out, so I wanted to bring publicity there as well. Plus, their marketing team is really good. I'm really glad I chose it.
Giveaways: I did several giveaways over the course of the 6 months. In the beginning, I was just offering swag as gifts (necklaces, posters, etc) because the book wasn't done. Then I started giving away the e-book, and finally I offered up the published book in bigger contests that ended up helping me build my newsletter.
Newsletter: I developed a newsletter to keep people updated on what I'm working on. It helped me keep people interested and connected me with my readers more.
ARC: I gave out advanced reader copies to people I knew would finish the book and provide reviews on Goodreads, and later Amazon. I hoped that the numbers would get me closer to the 50 count which triggers Amazon to start promoting your book.
Paid Ads: I spent a little money on ads for the newspaper, Facebook, Bookbub, and I think a couple of other places to garner attention.
Connections: I worked with my author connections to gain more information about how to launch my book. I also got PDD out word-of-mouth and developed a street team to help me share information about the book around social media platforms.
Signings: I set up two signings on the day of the book launch, as well as several others in the future so people would know right away where to find me if they couldn't make it to the actual launch.

What Worked/ What Didn't

Indie Publishing: I'm actually really glad I went this route. I've learned a lot about indie publishing over the past six months, and I now have a better idea of what I'd do in the future. It costs a lot, I'm not going to lie, but you have a lot of freedom that you may not have with publishers.
Cover reveal: This was a great way to gain attention. I found an amazing artist who really hit the nail on the head. People loved the cover, and that kept bringing an audience back to me. Or at least made people pause when they scrolled through it. Cover reveals are great media pieces, especially if you have an incredible artist. Start it early, and get your name out there.
Social Media: I probably made my social media life a lot harder than it needed to be. Facebook and Twitter both brought people over to my website. Whether that will lead to sales remains to be seen at this point. It's something you definitely need to do to keep up your audience, but the amount of social media presence is really up to you. I think Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram get me my best audience. Wattpad and patreon fall a bit more to the wayside. At the very least, this is a great way to gain connections and find out about other signings, and bond with writers and readers. Recently, my blog posts have started to gain more attention.
Website: A must have. I spent more on this than I had anticipated, but it's worth the cost. I have a store where I can sell my books. And it's a one-stop-shop for everyone. If I only have one piece of social media to offer up, this is definitely the one I give. I update it every week, too, and that seems to keep the numbers up.
Patreon: To be honest, Patreon is not one of my successes. It's gone well for other writers, but I've really struggled with gaining an audience. I'm hoping that now PDD 1 is out, that'll bring more people in for PDD 2. Part of me wants to give it up completely, but I still think there's worth in it. If anything, it keeps me on task because I have to post something every 15th of the month.
Interviews: This was a big help. Interviews introduced me to new readers and audiences. They made people see that I'm very much a human, and they got to know me and my view of working as a community. I would say get as many interviews as possible, and research if there's a good response turn out for that interviewer's blog.
Libraries/bookstores: I didn't have as much success as I would have liked, but I don't think I tried as hard as I could have. I'm still reaching out to bookstores and libraries, but I'm finding that they prefer to agree to carry your book once it's printed. That being said, I did just receive my first paycheck from one of the bookstores!
Press: This was a dud, but that was my fault. I did reach out to newspapers, but I neglected to reach out to tv and radio stations. I think I just ran out of time, which was an issue. I sent press releases to four local papers and only had one respond.
Swag: While this turned out to be a lot of money, the swag really caught people's attention. When I couldn't give out the book because it was still in progress, I could at least offer bookmarks, jewelry, and other items. They were all very eye catching, and they've served to help bolster the world of PDD alongside the book.
Indiegogo Campaign: The campaign enabled me to pay for my first shipment of books, but it definitely didn't land where I expected. There are a lot of ways in which I would improve on it (more below).
Book Launch Location: The location was really great. The only downside is the website has slightly confusing directions, so some people got lost, but they still managed to show up. I had at least 30 people stop by in a 2-hour time frame.
Giveaways: On one hand, not many people participated in the giveaways. It almost felt like, what was the point? On the other hand, the people who won were ecstatic and let me know about it, and that felt wonderful.
Newsletter: I suck at newsletters, hah! This is still a work in progress! Now that I have about 250 people, I'm hoping that will lead to some sales.
ARC: Definitely glad I did this. My ARC folks came through for me and helped me get several reviews both on amazon and goodreads. I'm talking with even more people about doing reviews, so I hope my #questto50 makes it on amazon.
Paid Ads: Honestly, I don't think these were worth the money. Unless you're willing to spend $100s of dollars, I don't think they give you much turn out.
Connections/Signings: Personal connections with people and in-person signings definitely were great successes. I've met so many incredible people over the last six months, and many also ended up buying my book to show their support. I did the same for their books as well. The biggest success came from working with the community. They always say you should build an audience, but I'd much rather build up true connections with people and have us help each other. Rising Tide, as Brian K Morris says.

What I'd Do Differently

Press: I would reach out to more press outlets about my book. One suggestion an author made to me was to send formal invitations to newspapers, tv, and radio stations. If you can get a big star to come, that's something you can talk about and attract more people. I'd also write more press releases to introduce my book.
Indiegogo Campaign: If I did this again, I'd give myself two months instead of one to raise the money. One month wasn't enough. I would also promote it more, and likely do that through press news. My tiers would be more reasonable as well. I wish I could have given out more stuff to people, but I was still in the early stages.
Relevant Signings: I'm working on this now, but I would have set up a signing in Chicago right off the bat. The book is set in Chicago, after all. I should have reached out to Chicago bookstores and media as well.
ARC: I would find more ARC readers for the book. I've received many incredible reviews (thank you, everyone!) But getting more reviews right away would be helpful.
Time/Self-Care: Give myself more time to breathe. During the six months, I thought I was going to lose my mind. There were plenty of tears and nights where I felt like I couldn't do this, and that I'd turn into a failure. It was because I wasn't taking care of myself. I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't eating well. There were other factors that made self-care difficult, but the book launch was one of those major stresses in my life that I'm both happy and sad is over. I'd definitely give myself a day (at least) every week where I didn't work on anything.

I told you, this was going to be a long one. Overall, I think the book launch was a big success. In 7 days, I sold about 70 books, and I have interviews and signings coming up over the next few months. I'm working to attend bigger conventions that might bring more attention to my book, and to me as an author. Maybe I'll even find an agent to represent me for the other stacks of books I have waiting in the wings.

As a final note, I want to again thank everyone who has supported me through this journey. You all are incredible and I can't thank you enough.

As always, if you have a topic you'd like me to discuss, post it below!

Happy writing!