Thirty days. That’s all you’ve got. Do it wrong, and you’re toast. Do it right, and it’s crème brûlée that will last for months, maybe even years.  What 30 days are we talking about? The first 30 days after you make your book available to the world.  During the first 30 days after your release, bookstores decide whether to keep your book on the shelves. If you have a strong launch, bookstores will continue to stock your book and order more copies. If you have a bad launch, even the books you think you sold will be returned unsold.  Only during the first 30 days post-release can you earn the #1 New Release badge on Amazon. For 30 days, readers won’t judge you for not having reviews.  As you can see, your book’s first 30 days will determine its success. So how can you set yourself set you up for success? You conduct a strong book launch.  Are book launches still important in 2023?  Let me answer with a metaphor. An airplane uses half its fuel climbing to cruising altitude and the other half flying to its destination. Planes ascend to 30,000 feet using half the fuel in ten minutes. It uses the remaining half of the fuel over the next five hours. If you don’t get to cruising altitude quickly, your trip does not end well. An author’s ten-minute ascent, which requires a lot of fuel and work, is the first 30 days after a book is released. That first month is when bookstores decide whether to order more books. It’s when readers see whether anyone has reviewed your book. It’s when radio shows, TV shows, podcasts, and blogs are willing to interview you about your book. It’s when the word-of-mouth buzz spreads fast. Even if you’re traditionally published, you’re expected to know how to launch a book and play a significant role in executing your publisher’s marketing plan. If you’re publishing as an indie, knowing how to launch a book is an absolute necessity. It’s not optional. If you want to sell more than 15 copies of your book, you must learn how to attract attention to yourself and your book and get yourself to cruising altitude.  In this overview, we’ll hit the highlights of our annual course, the Book Launch Blueprint. Even if you don’t take the course (we’d love to have you!), you’ll learn principles and ideas you can apply to give your book the best chance for success.  Book Launch Blueprint 6.0 We’ve hosted the Book Launch Blueprint for six years, and each year we’ve updated the course and made improvements. We’ve also learned several main reasons authors love the course.  What has made the course so popular? Cohort Model Unlike my other courses, which are self-paced, the Book Launch Blueprint takes students through each day’s content together. All students are in a community where they encourage each other and give feedback on that day’s homework.  Daily Homework Each day you are building your own book launch plan. At the end of the 28-day course, you’ll have a customized plan for how to launch a book. We provide cooking classes and the pantry so you can develop the perfect launch recipe for your book.