What Authors Should Be Doing BEFORE They Publish (That Most Don’t)

Most authors think publishing a book is the finish line.

It’s not.

Publishing is the starting line.

And if you don’t prepare before that moment, you’ll feel it after—when the book is live, and nothing really happens.

I’ve seen this play out over and over again.

So before you publish, here are the things that actually matter.

1. Get Clear on What You Actually Want

Before you worry about publishing, ask yourself:

• Do I want control, or do I want to hand things off?

• Do I want a higher royalty percentage or support from a publisher?

• Am I okay investing upfront, or do I want to avoid that and give up control?

There’s no right answer here.

But there is a wrong approach: Not thinking about it at all.

A lot of frustration in publishing comes from people choosing a path that doesn’t match what they actually wanted.

2. Understand How Publishing Actually Works

Take a little time to understand the process.

Ask questions like:

• How long does editing take?

• What does formatting actually involve?

• How is the cover created?

• How long until the book is published?

For example, traditional publishing timelines can often take 9 months to 2 years from acceptance to release.

If you don’t understand the process, you won’t know what’s normal—and everything will feel confusing or frustrating.

3. Don’t Assume Your Book Is Ready

One of the biggest mistakes I see:

“It’s been edited once, so it’s good.”

That’s usually not true.

Either:

• get your book professionally edited before publishing, or

• work with a publisher who has a real process to get it there

But don’t assume it’s ready just because you’ve looked at it a few times or had one pass done.

You need real feedback from someone who knows what they’re doing.

4. Get Honest Feedback (From the Right People)

Not friends. Not family.

You need:

• people who will actually read your book

• people who don’t feel obligated to be nice

• people who will tell you when something doesn’t make sense

This is harder than it sounds.

But it’s worth it.

Because this is where you catch the problems that readers will notice later.

5. Test Your Ideas Before You Lock Them In

Titles, covers, blurbs—don’t guess.

Test them.

Show them to real people and ask:

• Would you pick this up?

• Does this make sense?

• Would you read this?

Look for patterns in the feedback.

One opinion doesn’t matter.

But when multiple people say the same thing—that’s data.

6. Build Pre-Existing Demand (Even If It’s Small)

This one makes a bigger difference than most people realize.

Before your book launches, you should be able to answer:

“Who is going to buy this?”

Start simple:

• friends

• family

• coworkers

• people who have shown interest

Build a list of names and emails.

If you can get even 20–30 people who plan to buy your book when it launches, you’re already ahead of most authors.

This helps you:

• manage expectations

• have a better launch

• get early traction

7. Prepare for Reviews Before You Launch

Reviews don’t magically appear.

You need to plan for them.

Before publishing, identify people who will:

• read your book early

• leave honest reviews within the first 30 days

This matters more than most authors realize.

8. Understand Basic Marketing Reality

You don’t need to become a marketing expert.

But you do need to understand this:

Most books are a cold offer.

Meaning:

• people don’t know you

• people aren’t looking for your book specifically

And cold offers usually convert very low.

You’ll often hear general marketing numbers like 1–4% conversion rates, but in reality—especially for books—it’s usually much lower.

A more realistic expectation for a cold audience is closer to:

0.1% – 0.5% conversion

Let’s put that into perspective.

If you run ads and get 100,000 impressions on Facebook:

• Maybe 1–2% click → 1,000–2,000 people visit your page

• Of those, maybe 0.5% buy → around 5–10 sales

And that’s assuming everything is working reasonably well.

Now consider cost:

• 100,000 impressions on Facebook might cost you roughly $500–$1,000 depending on targeting

So you could spend:

• $500–$1,000

• to generate 5–10 sales

That’s not failure.

That’s normal.

It just means:

• your product is cold

• your audience doesn’t know you yet

• trust hasn’t been built

This is why pre-existing demand matters so much.

Because when people already know you—or are already interested—those numbers improve significantly.

But if you go in expecting strong sales from a cold audience, you’re going to be disappointed.

Understanding this upfront will save you a lot of confusion—and a lot of money.

9. Know What Your Book Is Actually For

This one is big.

When I published How to Deal with Stupid, I told myself I wanted author name recognition.

But what I actually needed was for the book to help build my company.

Those are two very different goals.

So ask yourself:

• What is this book supposed to do for me?

• Is it for income?

• Brand growth?

• Speaking opportunities?

• Opening doors in my field?

Because most books don’t make a lot of money directly.

But they can create opportunities that are far more valuable.

10. Validate Your Idea Before You Go All In

I once heard about a guy who would pitch his book ideas to movie producers.

If no one was interested in making the movie, he wouldn’t write the book.

That might be extreme—but the principle is solid.

Try to validate your idea:

• talk to people

• pitch the concept

• see if there’s interest

You don’t have to follow every piece of feedback.

But ignoring all of it is a mistake.

The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything

Publishing your book isn’t the end.

It’s the beginning.

There’s almost no reason to get overly excited the moment your book goes live.

The real win is when your book starts doing what you needed it to do:

• reaching people

• building something

• opening doors

That’s when it matters.

Summary

The authors who struggle the most are usually the ones who:

• didn’t prepare

• didn’t validate

• didn’t understand what they were walking into

The ones who do well?

They take the time to get this right before publishing.

Because once your book is out there, it’s no longer about what you hope happens.

It’s about what you built it to do.