Congratulations!
Your book is now for sale on the online stores, hopefully in ebook, print and maybe even audio formats.
There are a few things that you should do immediately and then we'll get into marketing in the next section.
(1) Buy a copy to check everything
You should always start by buying a copy of your book and checking it carefully.
If you do need to make obvious changes, it's a good idea to do that as soon as possible, before you start seriously marketing.
(2) Claim your book on Amazon Author Central
When you click on an author name on Amazon, you should be directed to an Author Page with their photo, list of books published, website details and social media info.
You can set up this page through Author Central at author.amazon.com
(3) Make a multi-link for Amazon
Amazon has a whole load of different stores and you want readers all over the world to be redirected to their specific store. You can set up one shareable redirection link with BookLinker.net.
You can also include your Amazon affiliate details, so you also make a few cents extra per sale. You can find out more on becoming an Amazon affiliate at Amazon Associates.
If you publish wide, you can also set up a multi-store link at www.Books2Read.com for your ebooks.
(4) Add all the buy links to your author site and online profiles
If you have an author website, you will want to set up a book page for your book and add in the buy links for each store once the book is available.
If you need a website, check out my tutorial on how to build your own in 30 mins: www.TheCreativePenn.com/authorwebsite
(5) Check out the sales reports for each platform
One of the best things about being an indie author is the control you have over the publishing process and also the transparency of reporting.
On all the stores, you can look at sales and revenue reports and see the impact of your marketing activities on your book sales over time. You'll also know how much your royalties will be, so you can reconcile them with payments later.
Kobo Writing Life even includes a global map so you can see which countries your book has sold in. As a travel junkie, I’m always checking that out and I’m up to 162 so far!
(6) Add your book to Goodreads
Goodreads.com is owned by Amazon, so eventually, your book will end up there through their automatic feeds, but you can also add it yourself manually.
No one knows for sure how much Goodreads data is incorporated into the Amazon algorithms, but they bought it for a reason, so it's always good to try and get reviews there as well as on the stores. You can set up an author profile on Goodreads and add information about you and your books.