The short answer
- Finish one file before you plan anything else. A launch is not a substitute for a product.
- Write the page for one buyer you can describe in a sentence.
- Price it, then check what the store and the fees leave you - working it out after the first sale is too late.
- Tell people three times in the first fortnight: what it is, who it is for, what is inside. Then stop shouting and keep posting normally.
- Collect what buyers ask, and let the second version answer it.
The order that saves a fortnight
- Write down who it is for and what it replaces. If you cannot, the file is not finished.
- Finish the file, including the licence and the start-here page. Nobody should have to guess how to use what they bought.
- Write the page: what it is, what is inside, the format, the price, what is not included.
- Set the price from the work and the fees, not from what feels modest. Underpricing is not generosity; it is a decision that keeps the file from improving.
- Publish, then walk the whole path yourself as a buyer would - page, checkout, receipt, download. Fix whatever is confusing before telling anyone.
- Tell the handful of places where your buyers already are, once each. Bought or scraped lists are not a channel, they are a risk.
The first three weeks
Nothing much happens in week one, and that is normal. The useful work in that time is answering questions quickly and watching which sentence of the page people react to.
Keep a note of every question. Three people asking the same thing is a fact about the page, not about them.
- Answer buyers the same day if you can.
- Fix the page wording before you change the price.
- Do not rebuild the product because the launch was quiet. Adjust the telling first.
Where this goes wrong
- Launching a half-finished file and promising updates that never arrive.
- Pricing so low that fees eat the margin, then feeling forced to discount further.
- Announcing to everyone you know, once, and calling it marketing.
- Chasing a launch date instead of finishing the thing you are launching.
The free tool for this
What a store actually leaves you - What a store actually leaves you. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.
If you would rather not build it yourself
Launch Kit is the checklist in the order above, the page skeleton, the pricing sheet and the first-fortnight telling plan, all in one file. Launch Kit is $24. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.
Questions people actually ask
How many products should I launch with?
One that is finished beats five that are nearly finished. A second product is much easier once the first one's questions are answered.
What if nobody buys?
Read your own page as a stranger and check the three things a buyer needs: what it is, who it is for, what it costs. Fix the clearest gap, tell people again, and give it weeks rather than days.
Read next
How to pick which skill becomes your first sellable file, Where to launch a product for free, and in what order.