Lisa Schroeder's Timeline and Checklist for a YA or MG Book Release

This timeline and checklist post by Lisa Schroeder, written in the run-up to her third novel coming out, is a good starting point for figuring out what you want to do in the months leading up to your book's release.

And more than that, I think Lisa's post is a great example of being useful to others.  As she herself writes as one of her tips,

"Do some informational blog posts that will hopefully drive people to your blog, but which have nothing to do with your book. Some of the best promotion is simply getting your name out there by offering up helpful information to other people."

This is that idea in action - Lisa wrote up a useful post about her strategy for what to do in the six months prior to her book launch, I'm telling you about it, and so more people are finding out about Lisa and her books.

But it's even cooler... because this is also a great illustration of how the world of people who blog and communicate online about children's books is so connected.  I was at Cynthia Leitich Smith's amazing blog, reading interviews and posts by debut PB and YA authors, and in the post about J.A. Souders' debut science fiction novel "Renegade", J.A. wrote,

My biggest issue was what to do when, but Lisa Schroeder has a great timeline/checklist that I check all the time to see what I should be doing and when. I owe her a huge debt of gratitude.

Being useful to others is a great thing to do, and it's also a great way to promote yourself and your books... Which reminds me of this debate I had in a college course - if you feel good when you help others, is there really such a thing as altruism, or are all good deeds ultimately self-serving?

Happily, we don't need to solve that puzzle, but it's good to know that good for others online is good for you, too!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee