An extensive course with everything you need to know from the moment you type THE END on your manuscript.
Who is this course for?
- Authors (beginner to intermediate level) who want to learn how to self-publish and establish a foundation for their indie author career.
What you’ll learn
- How to build a solid author platform (website, mailing list).
- How to get your book ready for publication (formatting, blurb, metadata and much more).
- Whether to go exclusive with Amazon or publish wide (and how to best launch a book for each approach).
- How to launch a book, build an Advance Team of superfans, and get reviews.
- How to generate paid and organic traffic for your books.
About the course
Self Publishing Launchpad is an extensive course with everything you need to know from the moment you type THE END on your manuscript. Over thirty hours of straightforward video guides take all the guesswork out of publishing your book and getting it into the hands of new readers. Join thousands of other students and give yourself (and your book!) the best possible start, no matter what genre you write in.
Suitable for beginner to intermediate levels.
Self Publishing Launchpad is an extensive course with everything you need to know from the moment you type THE END on your manuscript. Over thirty hours of straightforward video guides take all the guesswork out of publishing your book and getting it into the hands of new readers. Join thousands of other students and give yourself (and your book!) the best possible start, no matter what genre you write in.
Suitable for beginner to intermediate levels.
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Course Content
30 Hours
Lesson Name & What’s Included
Module 1: Build Your Platform
(1 hr 27 min)
We'll look at the essentials: crafting a website from scratch, putting together a mailing list, establishing yourself on social media, and learning how to communicate with readers.
Session 1: Website
(22:52)
Session 2: Communication with Readers
(8:00)
Session 3: Mailing List
(30:21)
Session 4: Social Media
(25:49)
Module 2: Pre-Publication
(4 hr 41 min)
We get into the weeds. I'll show you what you need - and don't need - in the front and back of your book. I'll show you how to format your book for all of the relevant platforms. My own genius cover designer, Stuart Bache, (he's worked for John Le Carré and Stephen King), will explain what you should be looking for when it comes to your cover. Bryan Cohen, the man I go to for my blurbs, will teach you everything you need to craft killer hooks that will have readers dying to read more. We'll look at metadata to help make your book more visible in searches, and examine pricing strategies. I'll show you how to build your Amazon Author Page, and how to make your book's Product Page sing. I'll teach you about the incentives you'll need to offer to get readers onto your mailing list, and then I'll show you the landing page that you'll need to make sure they sign up. I'll show you how to automate a series of emails that will greet your new subscribers as they join your mailing list, and I'll throw in my own copy that you can use as a jumping-off point.
Session 1: Front and Back-Matter
(16:15)
Session 2: Formatting
(5:26)
Session 3: Your Book Cover
(46:15)
Session 4: The Blurb
(56:11)
Session 5: Metadata
(65:50)
Session 6: Pricing
(14:18)
Session 7: Your Author Page
(10:14)
Session 8: Your Book Page
(24:52)
Session 9: Your Reader Magnet
(10:02)
Session 10: Your Mailing List Landing Page
(6:34)
Session 11: Automation Sequence
(9:56)
Session 12: Delivering the Reader Magnet
(9:17)
Session 13: The Cost of Publication
(5:44)
Module 3: Amazon Exclusive or Wide?
(31 min)
Amazon is the biggest single platform, but by going exclusive you'll be leaving readers behind. I'll lay out the pros and cons of exclusivity and tell you what I would do if I was starting again.
Session 1: Strategy
(30:33)
Module 4: Go Exclusive
(37 min)
I'll show you how to use the tools that Amazon makes available in exchange for exclusivity and I'll share some thoughts that will help you to optimize your book for the retailer's powerful algorithm.
Session 1: KDP Select
(16:52)
Session 2: The Amazon Algorithm
(14:10)
Session 3: Timetable – The First 90 Days
(6:29)
Module 5: Go Wide
(26 min)
We'll look at a powerful model that you can deploy if you have (or will shortly have) more than one book ready to sell. And we'll look at the merchandising opportunities available at the other retailers – and how you can get them to sit up and take notice.
Session 1: Leveraging Your Catalogue
(4:51)
Session 2: Going Permafree
(4:19)
Session 3: Merchandising
(8:02)
Session 4: Timetable – The First 365 Days
(8:33)
Module 6: Generating Traffic
(1 hr 36 min)
I'll teach you the equation that underpins my business – how to take a browser and turn them into a reader, then a fan, then finally a friend. I'll show you tried and tested methods of driving traffic to your page and the best tools you can deploy to turn readers into buyers and subscribers to your mailing list. This module also includes a session from BookBub on how to use their Deals and Ads platforms to add rocket fuel to your career.
Session 1: The Equation
(6:15)
Session 2: Organic Traffic
(22:20)
Session 3: Paid Traffic – Facebook Ads
(40:38)
Session 4: Paid Traffic – List Services
(9:57)
Session 5: Prolific Works
(9:09)
Session 6: BookBub
(8:27)
Module 7: Advance Teams & Launching
(1 hr)
The question I'm asked most often by other authors is this: "How do you launch your books so successfully?". I'll break it down for you, with timings and email copy for you to run with. I'll also show you how to establish an advance team – the powerful group of superfans who will provide you with advice, reviews and motivation.
Session 1: Advance Teams
(19:33)
Session 2: Launch Sequence
(23:15)
Session 3: Launch Emails
(15:32)
Module 8: Getting Reviews
(33 min)
"How can I get reviews if I can't get sales? How can I get sales if I don't have reviews?" It's the ultimate chicken and egg question, and I'll show you how I answer it.
Session 1: Reviews
(10:49)
Session 2: How to Get Reviews
(21:46)
Tech Library
(15 hr)
Every single technical process that you'll need to master is broken down for you. Want to know how to build a WordPress site yourself? We have a fifty-minute video that will take you from A to Z, with a clear focus on the content a writer should consider. Want to set up a Prolific Works promotion to blow up your mailing list? We worked with Prolific Works to produce a detailed video. Want to deliver your books to your advanced readers so that they can provide reviews, but avoid the headaches of teaching them how to sideload the files to their Kindles? A session from market-leading specialists BookFunnel will help. Want to format books for yourself? I'll show you how. And on and on and on. We've got you covered.
Amazon
(40:09)
Kobo
(12:36)
Draft2Digital
(19:34)
Apple
(36:34)
KDP – Print On Demand
(53:01)
Setting Up Your Domain
(21:33)
Author Website – Wix
(94:06)
Author Website – Squarespace
(63:48)
Author Website – Wordpress
(45:09)
Author Website – Leadpages
(10:24)
Email Service Providers – Mailchimp
(61:11)
Email Service Providers – Convert Kit
(92:51)
Email Service Providers – MailerLite
(87:46)
Delivering Reader Magnets
(16:08)
Social Media
(15:25)
Formatting
(172:04)
Ingram Spark
(58:24)
Bonus Sessions
(44 min)
Effective Author Networking
(24:27)
Writing Copy for Facebook Ads
(19:39)
Instructor
Mark Dawson
Mark Dawson is the author of several fiction and non-fiction titles and has worked as a lawyer and in the London film industry. He is currently writing three series of books, including the John Milton books, which have made the USA Today and Audible bestseller lists. He currently lives in Wiltshire, U.K, with his wife and two children.
Reviews
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I was a publishing newbie and never would have launched my first book at #66 on Amazon without this info.
It’s a great course for an overall picture of the things that need to be considered for marketing.
It is NOT a course on how to write books.
I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn the basics of book marketing.
Mark Dawson gives back to the community. The amount of free training he provides in really quite astonishing. Once you enroll in a class, you’re in, you’re in. You can return and refresh your knowledge as often as you want and there is no end date, and you any updates to the course are included in your registration.
Highly recommended!
Excellent course for the beginning indie!
Everything you need to publish your first book is here. The course may be a bit expensive, but that price includes updates for life. Even after publishing four books, I still find myself referring back to it.
I had published a book five years ago and needed a refresher before starting a pen name. This course was the ticket. Most of this stuff you can pick up by being on Kboards, listening to podcasts, and mingling with authors in Facebook groups, but what’s great about the course is that it’s ALL IN ONE PLACE. And it’s in a helpful, linear order. There were only a few small occasions where I noticed the advice provided was in contrast to what I’ve heard more recently from other author sources in Facebook groups and the like, but I imagine it’s insanely difficult to keep a course like this current. Yet the team makes every effort to do so!
What’s in it? You’ve got pre-pub modules to consider (everything from the blurb and metadata to setting up a mailing list with a reader magnet), the eternal consideration of whether to go wide or exclusive to KU, ways of generating traffic to your book, how to build an advance reader team and launch a book, and how to get reviews. You also get the tech library showing you step by step how to use stuff like Draft2Digital, Ingram Spark, etc. And you’ll get bonuses from time to time, like discounts for other author services like BookBrush. It’s really chock full of value. Whether the price makes sense is up to you and your business cash flow.
I can’t even imagine how hard it would’ve been to figure all this stuff out on my own. Take this course before you make any decisions about how to build your website, which e-mail service to use, how to format your book… Pretty much before you do anything. They walk you through the steps using each service, so you can figure out what you like best before you commit.