The Accidental Publish
I published The Emperor’s Shadow on August 13 from an Airbnb in Colorado. I did not mean to. One of many mistakes I’ve made on this book-writing and publishing journey.
What happened
In August, I drove to southern Colorado with a friend to stargaze and watch the Perseid meteor shower. The one other time I went stargazing was when I was 14 during a summer girls camp and the only thing I remember is being cold and tired. In the few hours we watched the sky, we saw close to 50 shooting stars streak across the darkness. The pictures are what my iPhone captured that morning.
Perseid © Krista Boivie, 2026
The early morning hours were close to perfect, and I didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the experience. I only wish the rest of my year had gone so smoothly.
In April, I built myself a launch plan with all the minutia and line items to accomplish before my October 12th book launch. I have slowly worked on that plan, one item at a time for months. By August, I was waiting for two things: the last of the edits from my editor and a decision about whether I was going to move forward with a new cover. Until both of those came back, the manuscript was not locked. So, I did what I could while I waited. I ordered ISBNs, registered the metadata, reviewed the print specifications, bought the layout software, and designed the interior pages. The idea was that when the rest of the items came in, I could move quickly because I had done my work ahead of time. And I wanted a proof copy.
For those who have followed my blog for years, you know that I’ve had a varied career path. Before HR and before teaching, I worked at a print company. I understand how a book is printed and assembled. I also know that you can look at something as perfect on screen and not turn out that way in your hands. I wanted to hold the actual object early to verify print quality, ink darkness, and other details so that when I had the final manuscript and cover I would be ready.
Looking back, I probably should have waited until I had slept before touching anything with a publish button. Instead, I uploaded my manuscript and working cover to both IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing to order proof copies.
The Mistake
On both platforms there are multiple steps to input metadata and details about the book and I missed the button with the date and link to a calendar for the publishing info. I didn’t just miss it on one site, I missed it on both the sites and I submitted the work. I caught the error quickly, within minutes, and pulled the listings so that the book would not show up on any site. I immediately reached out to support to try and edit the information. The support staff were very nice about it, but explained that once you hit publish you cannot change the publication date. It is attached to the ISBN, the retailers keep it, and pulling down the listing does not undo the date.
I was faced with two options: I could take the book down, throw away an ISBN I had already paid for and registered, buy a new one, redo all the metadata, and not make the same mistake twice. Or I could keep it. I kept it. This was not a courageous decision, it was more of a shrug. Nobody knows who I am yet. This is book one, and I am still learning how all of this works. Does it really matter that the paperback has a publication date of August 13? Probably not.
Even with all my planning and my spreadsheets, I still messed up. What I keep coming back to is that plans can only account for the problems you know exist. The blind spots are usually where the mistakes happen. When I first built my launch plan, there was no line item about double checking the publishing date because I did not know the publish button was a trap. I’ve read hundreds of articles and social media posts about book launches and they usually turn into a fantastic highlight reel, but the highlight reel is not an accurate picture of how any of this actually goes. But since this error, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about other independent authors. I’ve taken so much good from what others have learned that I felt that I should create something to help someone else. I went back to my launch plan and added all the things I’ve learned the hard way. Then I took the spreadsheet into Claude and had it create a cleaned-up version with all the logic and formulas already included.
What I did next
The rebuilt version has 204 tasks over 14 phases and it starts 52 weeks before launch day. I selected my launch day because it is the third anniversary of when the story idea came to me and that seemed romantic and sentimental to release the book on the same day. In reality, I didn’t give myself enough time. Most of what goes wrong in a first launch is lead time. Editors normally need three to six months before you can get on their calendar. I hired my map maker six months out. Illustrators need months as well. Distribution feeds take a minimum of six weeks to reach retailers and libraries. Trade reviewers want finished galleys three to six months ahead of your date. The real trick is you’re supposed to ask everyone about their lead times first and then count backwards to a launch date and pick that day last. I did it in exactly the opposite order.
The reality is that I’ve had to scrap a number of items from my book launch because I simply do not have the time required to execute them, which I know will impact reviews and sales.
The new launch plan handles all the mechanics. One launch date drives every other milestone in the file, so if it moves, the entire plan moves with it. Every task has a place for what you estimated it would cost and what it actually cost. There is a break-even figure that tells you how many copies it takes to pay the whole thing back. Spoiler alert, I am never breaking even. There is a month-by-month view of how many actions are due when, where you can see the heavy months coming. I also included a glossary, because there is no reason a first-time author would know what an LCCN is, and a metadata sheet, because every retailer and agency and website form asks you for the same 70 things you should only have to answer them once and it should be in a place that is easy to find (you don’t want to see the notes app on my phone).
One of the additions addresses the mistake that started all of this. It is called Publish is not Order Proof, and it tells you to put your real launch date into the on-sale date field before you upload a single file, so that a mis-click cannot do what mine did. I recognize I would have loved a tool like this a year ago, when I was starting out and did not know even what questions to ask. I am giving it away for free. If you have any desire to publish a book yourself, please take it. If you do not, feel free to skip all of that and go look at the new cover.
New cover reveal
Last month I did the big reveal of my cover and although I was really happy with it, I still decided to replace it. I found a very talented artist, Wesley Tippetts, on my trip to Wisconsin in July and what he has made is stronger than what I had. It also sits better next to the kinds of covers that are out there in the market right now, and I think it does a better job signaling to my ideal reader. And I can see how the same formatting and style will work for books two and three.
We also spent a lot of time on the spine details. Probably more time than was reasonable. If you end up buying physical copies, and if this works out the way I am hoping it will, all three books in the trilogy should look nice sitting together on a shelf.
Where things actually stand
The paperback is available now, which is one silver lining to come out of August 13. It is here if you were waiting for a physical copy. I am not really pushing the sales until October 12, it is just there, ahead of schedule. The ebook is still releasing October 12, and it will be in Kindle Unlimited from day one, if you have KU you can read it for free. I get paid on Kindle Unlimited per page read. Even if you only download it and click slowly through to the end without actually reading it, that helps me.
We are 26 days from launch and the book has already been launched, but that is just how things are. I hope you enjoy the new cover and the pictures of the meteor shower, which remains the best thing I saw all year. And for those of you who might one day want to write a book of your own: here you go.
A free workbook for publishing your first book, built after I published my book two months early by accident.
The Emperor's Shadow, Book One of Empire of the Shattered Heavens, is available now in paperback. The ebook arrives October 12, 2026, and will be in Kindle Unlimited.