When to do a Cover Reveal?

Hi everyone,

Back with another question. My middle grade fantasy Wingless is launching April 1st 2024, and as part of the launch I’m creating an 8-week course for homeschoolers that introduces them to the book publishing process, jobs in the industry, and what goes into a book launch via having them help participate in my book’s own launch. The course will run from March 1st to the end of April, and participants will have early access to ordering my book. I’m following Thomas’s recommendation of having them pay for the book (rather than getting it for free), but the course itself will be free. I’ll give a recap here of how that all unfolds.

But my question is, when should I plan the cover reveal for my book? From what I’ve read online, it seems like they recommend planning it anywhere from a couple weeks to a month prior to launch. But I want to be able to use my book’s cover to market the previously mentioned course, and registration for that will open Feb 1st, so promotion for it will begin in January. Maybe even December.

Would a December cover reveal be too soon? Should I push it to January? I’ve also heard that you should try to align your cover reveal to whenever your pre-orders open. But with my publisher, pre-orders open March 1st, but for my course participants exclusively they will open Feb 1st.

Just wanted to find out if anyone has advice on this.

Thanks! ☺️