I was recently asked over on Threads if I could provide a how-to for a new author to launch themselves. While, I’m not a sage about this, and Your Mileage May Vary, it’s the distillation of a lot of things I’ve seen said since my first novel was released.

It goes something like this:

+ Decide on your target audience. You will not be able to write to style or market effectively if you cannot articulate who this is.

+ Write your story.

+ Read your story.

+ Decide how to explain the core focus of your story in 3 sentences.

+ Ask your friends who are part of your target audience “Do you like books (where|that) are like (your three sentences)”

+ The ones that say yes, ask them if they’d read your story and “just me know what you think? I’ve got a deadline around (ten days from now), so that would help.“

+ Think about the feedback. You’re allowed to disagree with it, but think about it.

+ Go re-Read your story.

+ Make whatever changes you think you need to do.

+ Change your three sentences, if you need to.

+ Come here (Threads), and post “I am looking for ARC* readers who (your target audience) and would be interested by (your three sentences). Use the BookThreads hashtag.”

+ Tell everyone who answers “Thanks so much. Here is your signed ARC. I have a deadline in (13 days from now) so if you could let me know what you loved, liked, wished, and didn’t groove on, that would be so helpful.”

+ Half of them you won’t hear from again until you look for more ARC readers. That’s okay. Half you DID hear from. Focus on that.

+ Think about the feedback. You’re allowed to disagree with it, but think about it.

+ Go re-Read your story.

+ Make whatever changes you think you need to do.

+ Change your three sentences, if you need to.

+ Go to draft2digital.com/Miche… **, sign up, read all the information, upload your manuscript, fill in the online forms, press “publish”.

…. so that’s it. I hope someone out there find this useful. Any other suggestions you think I missed. Let me know in the comments below!