The Similarities Between a Book Release and a Product Launch
Our book widgets are especially popular with authors who are releasing a book due to the ability of the widget to offer a single promotion and transaction point. We’re constantly in communication with these authors and a recent email from Laurel Snyder had me thinking that the release of a book is similar to a product launch.
Here are some similarities that I noted:
1) Hard work and perseverance are required to reach the release date.
Laurel spent eight years “writing and revising and submitting and re-revising and workshopping and copyediting and agonizing.” Good things take time to create and hard work to polish. Transitioning from idea to release date requires a deep passion for realizing the outcome.
2) The work before the release expands beyond the core task.
Hard and required: writing the book or coding the program. Also hard and also required: editing, securing a publisher, marketing plans, tour itinerary, jacket art, … and debugging, marketing plans, UI designing, testing, …
3) The release date is only the start of the hustle.
The NextNY mailing list is constantly discussing best practices on landing press coverage, collecting end-user feedback, and any number of other data points following the launch of a product. There are bugs to correct, features to implement, and a business to be built. There are just as lively mailing lists for authors that offer advice on a wide range of tasks that need to be completed after the book’s released. The release date is simply a milestone and much work remains.
4) There’s an overwhelming sense of joy the moment it’s released.
The release date brings a joyous feeling that, as Laurel says, has you “dancing around in pajamas.”
[note: we’re still working towards the release and are happy for more individuals who want to see a preview of the product. If you want to, drop me a line fraser@ourcompanyname.com]
