FOR AUTHORS WHO HAVEN’T PUBLISHED YET
Your Next Right Move:
The Blueprint Builder
Okay — based on your answers, here’s the truth I want to lead with: you’re in the best possible position. I know that sounds counterintuitive, especially if you don’t have a book out yet and you may feel like you’re way behind. But you’re not. You’re early. And early is powerful.
Most authors figure out what actually works after they’ve already launched to crickets, wasted six months on the wrong strategy, and spent money they didn’t need to spend. You’re learning this stuff first. That changes everything about your trajectory.
Where You Are Right Now
- Maybe you’ve been writing for years and you’re finally getting close to publishing your first book — but the thought of actually launching it is overwhelming because you don’t know where to start.
- Or maybe you have an idea (or three) and you’re still in the “should I really do this?” phase — circling the runway, doing all the research, but not quite ready to commit.
- Maybe you’ve already started writing and you’re deep in your draft, but every time you scroll through indie author content, you feel like everyone else has some secret playbook you missed.
- Or maybe you’re someone who’s done all the writing courses and you know how to write the book — but no one ever taught you how to actually launch it, build a readership, or make money from it.
- Maybe you’re trying to figure out if you should focus on the book first, or start building an audience now, or do both at the same time, and the conflicting advice online has you frozen.
- Or maybe you’re already publishing in 6 months or less and you’re starting to panic a little because you’re realizing there’s a whole infrastructure side of this that you haven’t built yet.
Whatever flavor of pre-published you are right now — I see you. And I promise you, this stage is the one with the most leverage. What you do now determines whether your launch is a quiet whisper or a real beginning.
What’s Actually Going On
Here’s the thing nobody tells you about being pre-published: the book is only half the work.
The other half is the infrastructure — the email list, the ARC team, the launch plan, the visibility strategy, the back-of-book funnel, the systems that turn a book launch into an actual income stream instead of a one-time event.
Most authors don’t realize this until they’ve already published, watched their book launch to silence, and then spent the next year trying to reverse-engineer everything they should have set up before the book was live.
You don’t have to do that. You’re here, you’re asking the right questions, and you have time on your side. We’re going to use it.
Your Next 4 Steps
STEP 1
Get the 90-Day Pre & Post Launch Checklist.
This is the master document. It maps out everything that needs to happen in the 90 days before your book goes live (and the 90 days after) so nothing falls through the cracks. Most authors miss at least 4–5 critical steps in their first launch — this is how you avoid that.
STEP 2
Build your ARC team before your book is even done.
Reviews are the single biggest factor that determines whether your book sells after launch. You want 50–100+ reviews live the week your book gets published — and the only way to do that is having an ARC (Advanced Reviewer Copy) team in place before launch day. I built one that brought in 900+ ARC applications and 400+ reviews during release week, and the ARC Reviewer Engine course breaks down the exact system step by step.
STEP 3
Start building your audience now — without burning out on social media.
You don’t need to wait until your book is out to start talking about it. In fact, the authors who launch the strongest are the ones who started building reader anticipation months in advance. The Faceless Content System shows you how to do this without showing your face, without dancing on TikTok, and without sacrificing your writing time. It also doubles as the foundation for your long-term content engine.
Read the free articles written specifically for where you are.
Inside 6 & 7-Figure Author Shortcuts, there’s a growing library of articles tagged specifically for Blueprint Builders — pre-published authors building the right foundation before their first book goes live. These aren’t generic indie author tips. They’re the strategies and shortcuts that apply to your exact stage, so you’re not wading through advice that’s meant for someone three steps ahead of you. Start here.
BONUS STEP
Make sure your book is actually ready.
Before you spend a single dollar on launch infrastructure, you want to make sure the book itself is the strongest version it can be. The Beta Reader Playbook is the system I use to get real, actionable feedback from beta readers (without the chaos of trying to wrangle 12 readers in a Google Doc) so your book is bulletproof before it ever hits an ARC reader’s inbox.
ABOUT YOUR GUIDE
I’m Dani V. — Published Author, Mom of 4, and Book Marketing Mogul.
I’ve spent years (and thousands of hours) studying 6 and 7-figure indie authors to extract their real secrets to success — then testing and iterating what actually works in today’s market.
Every shortcut I share, I’ve used or vetted personally. My mission is to help authors turn their books into a full-time income so they can spend their time doing what they love — living the writer’s life.
AND WHEN YOU’RE READY FOR EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE
6 & 7-Figure Author Shortcuts
If you want all of this — the checklists, the systems, the courses, every shortcut I’ve learned from sitting in courses with 6 and 7-figure authors — distilled into one membership, that’s exactly what I built 6 & 7-Figure Author Shortcuts for.
It’s the place I would have killed to have when I was where you are now. Every shortcut, every system, every play that’s actually working at the highest levels of indie publishing — in one membership, for a fraction of what I paid to learn it all.
The All Access Membership includes access to all my paid courses ($999+ Value) and is open right now and goes up on the 1st of every month. If you want to lock in your rate before it increases, this is the moment.
You’re not behind. You’re early. And early is the rarest, most valuable position in this whole game. Let’s build the foundation right.
— Dani