Authors often ask this question expecting a single correct number: six months, three months, a year. There is not one. The honest answer is that different pieces of book marketing need different amounts of lead time, and the useful skill is matching the activity to a realistic timeline rather than hitting an arbitrary date.
This guide sets out a practical way to plan backwards from publication, including the ninety-day approach many authors find useful, and what to do if your book is already out with little marketing behind it. For the fuller picture of what a launch itself involves, see [how do I launch a book](/resources/book-marketing/how-do-i-launch-a-book).
Why starting earlier helps, without being mandatory
Starting earlier gives audience-building activity, mailing list growth, and outreach to reviewers or media time to develop naturally, rather than being compressed into a rushed final fortnight. It does not guarantee a bigger or better launch; a book with three months of thoughtful preparation is not automatically outperformed by one with six. Lead time reduces rushed decisions and missed opportunities for time-sensitive activity; it is not, by itself, a marketing strategy.
The audience-building stage
Audience-building, a website, a mailing list, a consistent social presence, a body of relevant content, is ideally ongoing rather than tied to a single book’s publication date. Authors with an existing platform from previous books, or from other writing and public activity, generally have an easier time reaching people around a launch simply because the groundwork already exists.
Around ninety days before publication
A ninety-day framework is a common, practical starting point, not a rule with a fixed outcome. At this stage: finalise retailer metadata and cover, confirm ARC readers and send early copies if the manuscript is finished, begin or intensify mailing list building, and start reaching out to any media, bloggers or partners whose lead time is longer, such as print publications or larger newsletters.
Around sixty days before publication
At roughly sixty days out, ARC readers should be actively reading, website and pre-order pages (where used) should be live and accurate, and content for social and email can begin previewing the book without giving everything away. This is also a reasonable point to firm up any launch event plans, since venues and collaborators often need this much notice.
Around thirty days before publication
With a month to go, most ARC reading should be complete or nearly so, reminders can go out to reviewers, and pre-launch content can become more specific: excerpts, behind-the-book material, or interviews if any have been arranged. This is also a sensible time to plan the practical mechanics of publication week itself.
Around fourteen days before publication
Two weeks out is a good point to build genuine anticipation with your existing audience, confirm all retailer listings are correct across every format, and make sure anyone helping with the launch, an assistant, a partner author, a publicist, knows exactly what is expected of them and when.
Launch week
Launch week concentrates announcement activity: telling your mailing list and social following the book is live, asking early readers and ARC readers to consider a review, and checking that everything is functioning correctly across retailers.
Post-launch
Marketing does not stop at publication. Reviews continue to arrive, content can keep circulating, and opportunities such as seasonal relevance, awards, or a following book can bring renewed attention long after the initial launch window closes.
ARC lead time
ARC readers need enough time to actually read a book, not just receive it. For a full-length novel or non-fiction title, several weeks is a realistic minimum; sending ARCs only days before publication rarely leaves enough time for reviews to appear around launch.
Media lead time
Journalists, podcast hosts and larger newsletters often plan content weeks or months ahead, particularly print media with long production schedules. Reaching out close to publication, or after it, generally rules out this kind of coverage for the launch itself, though it may still be possible later.
Events
Bookshops, libraries and venues often book events well in advance, sometimes months, so if an in-person or online event is part of the plan, contacting the venue early is worth doing before other launch details are finalised.
Website
A basic author website or landing page can be built relatively quickly, but it works best when it has had time to be indexed by search engines and linked from other places before the launch, so building it earlier rather than at the last minute is generally worthwhile.
A mailing list benefits enormously from time: a list with months of warm, genuine communication behind it responds very differently from one built the week before launch. If email is going to be a meaningful channel, it is one of the strongest arguments for starting early.
Ads
Paid advertising can typically be set up relatively close to launch, since it does not depend on other people’s reading or planning time in the way ARCs and media do. That said, testing and refining campaigns before the highest-stakes period, launch week, is usually more sensible than running an untested campaign for the first time on publication day.
If you are already published
If your book is already out with little or no prior marketing, none of this is wasted advice; it simply becomes an ongoing plan rather than a pre-launch one. Reviews can still be gathered, a mailing list can still be built, and content can still be created. The ninety-day framework works just as well as a template for a renewed marketing push at any point in a book’s life, not only before publication.
No "too late" panic
There is no deadline after which marketing a book stops being worthwhile. Books are discovered, reviewed and recommended long after their publication date, and starting marketing later than an ideal ninety-day timeline is a reason to adjust the plan, not a reason to abandon it.
Common mistakes
- Treating ninety days as a strict rule. The framework is a planning aid; a shorter or longer runway is not automatically better or worse, only different.
- Leaving ARC or media outreach until the final weeks. These activities have real lead-time needs that cannot be compressed without reducing what they can achieve.
- Assuming a late start means it is not worth marketing at all. Ongoing, patient marketing remains useful at any stage of a book’s life, published recently or long ago.
- Building a mailing list only in launch week. A list built at the last minute has none of the warmth or trust that a list nurtured over months tends to have.
Frequently asked questions
Is ninety days the correct amount of time to market a book?
No single number is correct for every book. Ninety days is a useful planning framework, particularly for coordinating ARC readers, media outreach and content, but shorter or longer timelines can also work well.
What if I only have a few weeks before publication?
Focus on what is still achievable in that time, such as retailer metadata, a simple website, and a smaller ARC round, rather than trying to compress a full ninety-day plan into a few weeks.
Is it too late to market a book that has already been published for months?
No. Ongoing marketing, reviews, content and mailing list growth remain useful at any point in a book’s life, not only around its original publication date.
Social
Social content does not need months of lead time in the same way ARCs or media do, but a consistent presence built up gradually tends to perform better than a sudden burst of launch-only posting to an account nobody has been following.