A book launch plan board: who owns each task and which reader still owes a review

Where Storyflow, Reedsy, BookBub's checklist and a template are better

Read on November 11, 2026, each from its own page. Storyflow's book launch planner page describes "the pre-order run, the ARC campaign, launch week, and the long tail" laid out on one visual timeline, with an AI that builds a phased plan from a publication date, and view-only links for a publicist or co-author. Its pricing page lists Storyflow AI in the app as coming late 2026; Plus works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok, 25 actions a week. Its pricing page says it is "paid-only during early access": Plus is $9.99 a month, or $7.99 a month billed yearly ($95.88 once a year), and a Free plan is "coming before the end of 2026"; anyone a paid member invites joins free. Storyflow's own page says it "does not send email, schedule posts, distribute ARCs, or report sales". If you want dates on an axis and a first draft of the plan generated for you, that is the better fit, and it is Storyflow's description of itself.

Reedsy's "How to Plan a Successful Book Launch in 5 Easy Steps" (last updated Aug 13, 2026) offers a free book launch checklist, delivered after you enter an email, and says about 20 reviews is the sweet spot. It also lists Reedsy Discovery: "For $299, commission a professional editorial review", delivered within 30 days. Reedsy's separate publicity-plan post, by publicist Coleen Hatrick, gives a month-by-month timeline and says it is "normal to start work 4-6 months before your publication date". BookBub's launch checklist, a guest post by author Debbie Macomber, runs from 6 months before launch through 3 months, 1 month, launch day and after, and says her publisher handles the BookBub Featured Deals, paid ads and tours while "a dedicated team of marketers" runs the rest.

Notion lists two author templates at 5 USD each: "Indie Author Launch Kit" (Get Ready Templates) and "Book Writing, Publishing & Marketing Plan" (Vladimir Burn). We read only the listings and prices, not what is in them, so we say nothing more about either.

A launch with a romance or mystery manuscript can start from a romance novel outline board, and an album release plan board has the same layout for music.

How to run a launch on the board

Authors disagree about timing, so the board holds no dates of its own; write each one into its card. In r/selfpublish the people answering a question on ARC lead time gave different numbers, one person each. In a 2024 thread, u/BriannaWritesBooks sends ARCs two weeks out and got about 20 early reviews; u/robulitski did a month but picked readers who finished within two weeks; u/dragonsandvamps says at least 3 weeks if the review has to land before release, and adds that the major publishers on NetGalley give months. On what share of readers review, u/Trevornoahbrother said "10% is the average around here", while u/BriannaWritesBooks reported 20 reviews from 25 Booksprout sign-ups on the first book and 22 from 39 on the second. In a 2024 thread on release timelines, u/Susyq918 wrote that a first-time author should not schedule anything until after the editor's feedback and the formatting are done, set the pre-order about 2 months out, send personal-list ARCs early with a deadline and a reminder two weeks before launch, and wait until about a month out to use ARC platforms; u/Birchwood_Goddess wrote that pre-orders usually want 60 to 90 days of lead time. Each is one person's method.

1. 1Make a card for each task, with an owner. Put the person who does the work on the "Owner:" line, a first name only. The example has Nora (author), Theo (editor), Priya (publicist friend) and Sam (cover designer).
2. 2Start each title with DONE, WAIT or TODO. WAIT is for a task that needs an answer or another task first. Nothing sorts by it, so scan for it by eye.
3. 3Make one card per ARC reader. First name and a status in the title (review posted, sent, asked), one owner for the whole list. A short card is easy to move to Done when a review comes in.
4. 4Join a task to the one waiting on it. The example draws a red "holds batch 2" arrow from the final proofread to the second ARC batch, a green "ready to reveal" arrow from the finished front cover to the cover reveal post, and a red "no copies without it" arrow from the back cover and spine to the bookshop event.
5. 5Write the dates in the cards. A card that says "Owner: Priya. Needs the proofread file" or "A Tuesday, after the proof" tells the next person what it waits for. The board does not remind anyone when a date arrives.
6. 6Keep Open questions and Parked and declined lists. A decision that isn't made yet (print run or print on demand) goes in the first; an idea you aren't doing (an audiobook, school visits) goes in the second with a line saying why, so it isn't raised again.
7. 7Copy the board for the next book. It takes 1 of your 5 free boards.

On who does what, r/publishing shows two views in a 2024 thread. u/alexatd, an author, wrote that the happy medium is that the author "pays/does 60% of the planning and leg work" while the publicist helps with bookshop communication and scheduling; u/blowinthroughnaptime, who said they have worked at publishers, replied that publicists spend large amounts of time compiling spreadsheets of venues and pitching for every book. That is the case for one owner per task: with a publicist friend, a designer and an editor, nobody should have to guess whose card it is.

On ARC readers, u/dragonsandvamps wrote in a 2026 thread that finding readers on your own on social media, 10% is pretty typical, and the poster, u/AdPitiful8880, reported 10 downloads and one reader committed to review; u/Clean_Insect5042 advised quality over quantity and asking each reader for a link to their public review profile, and said Booksprout is $9 a month and BookSirens $10 plus $2 per download (one commenter's prices; we didn't read either vendor's page). A card per reader makes the silent ones easy to see.

Sharing it with your editor and publicist

In the share menu, choose who gets the link. New boards start view-only, so someone who only needs to read, such as a cover designer or a friend with the media kit, can use the link as it is, signed out, and sees everything but can't change it. To let your editor or publicist add cards and arrows, set Share to "Anyone with the link can edit"; they sign in free and write live, and you each see the other's changes within seconds. Anyone with the link can read the board, so leave off contracts, unreleased files, ARC download links and logins. Two people typing in the same card at the same time are merged keystroke by keystroke, with no lock, so give each person their own cards. The 4-digit join code expires after 2 hours of inactivity.

Free calls on the board run up to 60 minutes per call, with a warning 10 minutes before the end. Calls need a free sign-in for everyone, aren't recorded, and Pro has no limit.

Before the launch, the mystery novel outline board is the same owner-on-every-card layout for the manuscript itself.

This board vs Storyflow vs a checklist vs a template

Limits of the free plan for a book launch

• Items. Each card and each list is 1 of your 150 free items, across all your boards. The example is 51 cards and 10 lists, 61 in all (our count). Arrows, sections and pen strokes don't count. A second book, on its own board, takes it to 122; a third passes 150.
• Long ARC lists. The example has six reader cards. Thirty readers as one card each adds 24 more cards, 85 items (our arithmetic). Keep only the readers who still owe something as cards, or put a batch on one card.
• Boards. The free plan includes 5 boards. Making your own copy of the example uses 1 of them; a card that opens its own board uses another, so the example keeps everything on one board.
• Files and photos. 3 images and 1 file per board. A manuscript, a cover file and a media kit won't fit; put links in the cards. On the web a link card's preview picture no longer counts toward the 3 images, but the iPhone, iPad and Android apps still count it until their next update.
• No timeline axis and no dates that act. A date is text in a card. Nothing warns anyone when it passes.
• No reminders or sorting. Nothing reminds anyone of a date, and nothing sorts by DONE, WAIT or TODO. A comment on a card gives invited members a bell notice in the app (no email); someone who joined by link or code gets nothing, so tell them yourself. Card colour is the border and text only.
• No email, no ARC sending, no sales. The board holds the plan. Sending, hosting files and watching rankings happen in other tools.
• Writing needs a free sign-in. An editor or publicist who joins by link or code can add cards and arrows, and the board counts as one of their 5.

Questions