Test whether a target launch date is realistic, or get a suggested date, based on a full self-publishing timeline.
This calculator maps out a full self-publishing timeline — editing, cover design, proofreading, formatting, ARCs and reviews, marketing, and launch day — and checks it against a calendar date. Pick whichever direction fits what you need right now.
Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored anywhere but this browser. No email, account, or manuscript details required.
Comfortable On Track Tight At Risk Past Due
These deadlines are planning estimates built from typical self-publishing timelines, not guarantees. Cover designers, editors, and distributors all have their own schedules — confirm real turnaround times with anyone you're working with.
This calculator gives you the dates. The Self-Publishing Launch Planner is an interactive browser-based tool that helps you manage everything else — tasks, budget, ARC readers, metadata, marketing assets, and a full launch-day checklist — in one place.
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This calculator is built for self-published and indie authors who need a realistic picture of what a launch date actually requires. It maps eleven parts of the publishing process — from manuscript editing through post-launch follow-up — onto a calendar, either by testing a date you already have in mind or by suggesting one based on where your manuscript stands today.
Each part of the process (editing, cover design, proofreading, formatting, ARCs, marketing, and so on) has a typical lead time and duration based on common self-publishing timelines. The calculator counts backward from your launch date for each category and flags anything that's already tight or overdue given today's date.
Most of the publishing process runs in parallel tracks rather than one long line — you can be designing a cover while an editor works on your manuscript, or building a launch calendar while ARC readers are still reading. The timeline reflects that, so the tightest category is whichever one has the least slack, not the sum of every task added together.
It means that, working backward from that date, at least one part of the process should already be underway or finished. That doesn't make the date impossible — only that it will take faster turnarounds, more hours per week, or trimming a step (like skipping ARCs) to still hit it.
Suggesting a date works forward from today instead of backward from a fixed date. It asks where your manuscript stands and how much time you have each week, then proposes the earliest date that gives every remaining category a reasonable amount of room.
Yes. On the results screen, open "Try a different date or setting" to adjust your launch date or weekly pace and see the timeline update in place.
No. The .ics file is generated entirely in your browser from the dates already on your screen and downloads directly to your device. Nothing is sent to a server, and no calendar account is connected.
Yes. All the math happens in your own browser. No manuscript details, story content, or personal information are ever requested or transmitted.