What should I do 90 days before self-publishing a book?
- Ninety days out is the setup window, not the writing window.
- Finalize metadata: title, subtitle, categories, keywords, description.
- Lock the cover so it can appear on preorders and ARCs.
- Send ARCs early — reviewers need weeks to read and post.
- Open and verify retailer and distribution accounts before you need them.
Ninety days out, do the long-lead work: finalize your metadata (title, subtitle, categories, keywords, and book description), lock the cover so it can carry preorders and ARCs, send advance review copies to reviewers and your launch team, and set up the retailer and distribution accounts (KDP, IngramSpark, or your aggregator). These are the tasks with the longest lead times, so starting them three months out keeps launch week calm.
Chapter i·Why it matters
The tasks that wreck launches are the ones with hidden lead times — reviewers need weeks to read, retailer accounts can take days to verify, and a cover in progress blocks the preorder. Doing this work ninety days out means it is finished and tested before the pressure of launch week, when a stalled account or a missing review is far harder to fix. Front-loading the slow steps is the whole point of a runway.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Final metadata: title, subtitle, BISAC categories, keywords, description.
- A locked cover (ebook and print) ready for preorder and ARCs.
- An ARC distribution: reviewers, launch team, and any services.
- Retailer and distribution accounts opened and verified.
- A preorder decision and, if yes, the preorder set up.
- A working back-cover blurb and author bio.
Chapter iii·Example
An indie author maps her launch backward from release day. At ninety days she finalizes her metadata, approves the cover, mails twenty ARCs, and verifies her KDP and IngramSpark accounts. None of it is urgent yet, which is exactly why it goes smoothly. When launch week arrives, the slow tasks are long done and she is free to focus on promotion instead of paperwork.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom's Sell studio back-plans your launch from publication day, so the 90-day setup tasks are scheduled before they become urgent.
Plan your runway