The Rise And Fall — Author psychology before launch and after
Publishing a book is a marathon—and what happens after release day is something no one talks about enough. In this post, we're pulling back the curtain on the emotional experience of indie authors post-launch: the highs, the silence that follows, and how to rebuild without burning out. If you've ever felt lost after releasing a book, you're not alone.
Hawthorn & Aster is a high-touch agency. That probably sounds like gibberish, so let us explain: we are deeply involved with our authors. From the moment we're brought onto the ground floor of a project to publication day—and beyond—we are our clients' biggest champions.
Over the years, we've been with our authors through highs and lows—through wins, plateaus, imposter syndrome spirals, and personal tragedy. It has been, without question, the most rewarding part of what we do. Being trusted by our authors through those intense moments means everything to us.
We've learned that the author experience is far more universal than anyone dares to talk about. Particularly around a book's release.
So, let's talk about it. Let's pull back the curtain on what happens behind the scenes—because no, what you're feeling isn't abnormal. And no, you don't deserve to be alone in it.
The Before
There are so many moving parts to publishing a book (as we covered in our first blog)—writing, editing, cover design, formatting, marketing. For months, authors are scrambling their way up the mountain with their hearts in their throats and their hands aching. It's a sprint to the finish line.
Stressful, heart-pounding... but exciting.
You're living on adrenaline and in a monogamous (maybe a little toxic) relationship with your laptop—setting up BookFunnel, writing ARC acceptance letters, building out Google Forms, and waiting on final cover art with a file name that looks something like "finalfinalcover_5threvision.png."
And it's all building toward release day. A day that fills you with dread, excitement, and nerves in equal measure.
Release Day Highs
The day finally comes. The book is out in the world, reviews are rolling in, you're getting tagged on social media, and you're grinning from ear to ear.
Everything you worked for is happening. Your book is in readers' hands and it feels like it's all on the up and up.
Or, conversely, for some authors, this day is incredibly underwhelming. It's quiet. You're staring at your feed and hearing crickets instead of the steady trill of tags and comments coming in.
The Silence That Follows
There's a unique kind of quiet that follows a release. It can feel deafening after everything that came before it—regardless of whether your launch day was loud, quiet, or somewhere in between.
You spent months of your life sprinting toward the finish line. You invested time, sweat, and tears into writing this book.
To put it simply: you've been living on adrenaline, and now, abruptly, you're not.
Some people feel relief during this stage, but what we hear most often from our authors is that they feel listless. It's a quiet sort of "what do I do with my hands" kind of energy.
It's worth saying out loud: what you're experiencing is normal. It doesn't mean you're ungrateful for your success. It doesn't mean your book was a flop. It means you've been living in a high-stress vacuum and your body is finally in a place where it can breathe again.
This quiet is unsettling. We've seen it enough—and some of us have felt it ourselves.
So we're going to give you the same treatment we give our clients. We want you to do just one thing during this stage: be curious about this feeling.
Don't dive into another book. Don't keep yourself busy. Don't pore over your reviews and analytics and jump straight back into promotion.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where does this feeling live in my body?
How can I describe this sensation in one word?
What do I need to do to accept it and let it go?
Not trying to get all "woo-woo" on you—but as a team of over-functioning girly-pops with stress management issues and various shades of caffeine addiction, we know a thing (or three) about breathing exercises.
The Rebuild
We always encourage our authors to take time between creative projects. For obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. Let's start at the top:
You just completed a marathon—you have to hydrate and let your muscles recover
The compulsion to overperform (especially if your last release felt like it underperformed) can be louder than your actual desire to create
If you rush the creative process, everyone—especially the reader—is going to feel it
Diving straight into another high-octane creative bender can bury what you haven't processed, and over time, that's a recipe for burnout
You deserve a chance to breathe and soak in the most important part of this journey: your accomplishment. Respectfully, screw the numbers and the analytics. You did something incredible. Most people spend their entire lives talking about writing a book. You actually did it.
You took a chance on yourself. You worked hard. Now honor yourself and that effort by simply saying: you did the damn thing.
If we had our way? You'd let that sink in before diving into another creative project. Because here's the thing—you have a story and a voice worth celebrating.
We never want to see that voice go quiet.
The Takeaway
Your experience is not an outlier. You're not strange or doing something wrong. This is normal, and every author has experienced it at one time or another. Some feel this way after every release.
But if there's one thing we want you to take away from this, it's simple: you're not alone, and your voice does matter.
Keep writing for you. And others like you will find you.
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