Your pub date feels like the starting line. In publicity terms, it’s closer to the finish.
By the time your book is on shelves, most of the coverage that will shape its first year has already been planned, pitched or passed on. The media works well in advance. Monthly magazines and trade reviewers plan months out. Podcasts book weeks ahead. By launch week, many of the best doors have closed or are closing.
The Real Timeline
4–6 months out: Long-lead and trade. Monthly magazines plan issues well in advance of their cover dates. Trad reviewers, such as Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal want advance copies months before publications. Miss this window and these doors mostly stay shut.
2–3 months out: The middle of the pack. Newspaper features, newsletters, online outlets and influencers start taking pitches. This is also when strong angles get tested, so you know what’s working before launch week.
4–8 weeks out: Podcasts. The best shows book weeks in advance, and their calendars fill quickly. A podcast you want in launch month often needs a pitch before your book has an ISBN’s worth of buzz.
Launch week and after: The rest of the work. Broadcast, local media, events and timely news hooks live here. So does the follow-through that keeps a book in the conversation beyond its first few weeks.
A Short Runway Still Has Room to Run
If you’re inside 90 days, some of the longest-lead opportunities, like trade reviews and monthly magazine features, have likely passed. That’s common and it doesn’t limit what a strong campaign can do.
With a shorter runway, we focus on where your book can make the most impact right now: podcasts, online outlets, contributed pieces, niche and trade media with shorter lead times, and events. InkFox prioritizes the opportunities that fit your book and your budget best.
Long-lead pitching doesn’t have to end at launch, either. A book published in October can still be pitched for spring, so we plan for the months after publication, too.
A shorter timeline means a more focused campaign, and that often works in the author’s favor.
If You Have the Runway, Use It
The more runway you have, the more we can do. With six months or more before publication, we can plan for every stage of the timeline and adjust as your campaign progresses.
Every InkFox engagement begins with a free 30-minute consultation. Tell us your pub date and your goals, and we’ll walk you through what’s possible and where we’d start.
A strong writer with a master’s degree in journalism from NYU, she leads LAVIDGE's author and book publicity division, manages a staff of publicity professionals, and serves clients and authors across the industry.