Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Offset Releases

A friend of mine is struggling with the release of his first book.  As he and I are just beginning this journey, I found his dilemma relevant to my path.

He has finished his book and has both the ebook for Kindle and the hardcover formatted.  However, that means that the ebook is ready to be uploaded while the hardcover still has to go through production.  His struggle is over whether or not to go ahead and release the ebook or wait for both to be ready for a simultaneous release.

I see the advantages and disadvantages of both.  By releasing his ebook now, he can go ahead and generate buzz that might lead to greater sales.  Plus, I imagine that there's no feeling quite like the one of having your work out in the public square.  At the same time, what if the ebook bombs or finds all of its audience online?  Could that hurt the hardcover sales and make his effort tank?

There's not a right or wrong answer here, as I see it, nor an easy one.  I think it's a matter of figuring out the marketing scheme and how your target audience gets its information.  An ebook reviewed by someone from the right site could help get things started, but what if that person likes to hold a physical book(like I do)?  That could create an offset in how audiences hear about the work, and you need as much momentum as you can get right out of the gate.

What are your thoughts?  Should my friend release in Kindle first and wait to release hardcovers, or should he wait until both are ready?  I promised him an answer on my thoughts by next week, and as of now, I have no thoughts - I need yours.

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