Most launch checklists are about marketing. This one is about the plumbing: the identifiers, records and links that let a book be ordered, found and followed. Get it in place before the print run, because half of it ends up on the cover.
Six weeks before printing
Decide on the ISBN. Do you need one? If yes, buy it now from your national agency, or accept a platform's free one knowing what that means. One per format.
Settle your name and imprint. The exact form of the author name, and the imprint if you have one, as they will appear everywhere. Write them down.
Open the book's record. Title, subtitle, author, description, subject codes, format, page count, price, publication date. Treat this as the master copy. ScanSpine will hold it for you and issue the codes from it; a spreadsheet also works, as long as there is one.
Four weeks before printing
Generate the barcode. From the ISBN, with the price add-on if you want one. How the barcode works. Hand the vector file to the designer.
Generate the QR code. Dynamic, pointing at a page you control. Put it beside the barcode. Consider a second code for the inside cover with a different destination. Where to put QR codes.
Prepare the hosted page. Cover, description, every retailer link you will have at launch. This is where the QR code lands, so it should exist before the proof is printed.
Library of Congress (US). If the book qualifies, apply for a control number through the Library of Congress's pre-publication programme; it is free and goes on the copyright page.
Two weeks before printing
Proof the cover with a scanner. Scan the printed proof's barcode with a phone and, if possible, a retail scanner. Scan the QR code with at least two phones. Fix anything that fails before the run.
Copyright registration. Optional in most countries, inexpensive in the US, and worth doing for a book you expect to live a long time.
Register the metadata. Submit the record to your retailers and distributor, and, if you have a Bowker ISBN, to Books in Print. Use the same wording everywhere; copy from the master record, do not retype.
Launch week
Switch the QR destination from the pre-order page to the live retailer page or your store.
Check every listing against the record: description, price, cover, subtitle, name.
Watch the scans. The first week's scans by city tell you where early readers are. Note them for later.
After launch
- Add review quotes to the record and push them out.
- Give new placements (bookmarks, posters, event flyers) their own codes.
- Reconcile listings quarterly.
- Before a reprint, correct anything printed that has drifted from the record.
The thread through all of this is a single record and codes that can change. Everything else on the list is a destination for that record. Keep the source clean and the destinations follow.