How to Build a Book Marketing Plan From Scratch
Most authors publish their book and hope for the best. It rarely works. Even the best-written books usually languish, undiscovered, on the shelf. The difference between books that languish and books that find readers lies in the book marketing plan.
Creating a book marketing plan for your book doesn't require a big budget or years of experience in the publishing industry. It requires knowing who your readers are, what you want to achieve, and being willing to show up consistently. This step-by-step guide will help you create a book marketing plan, whether you've published dozens of books or this is your debut.
Why You Need a Book Marketing Plan
Before looking at how to build a book marketing plan think about why you need a book marketing plan.
Publishers only have a small marketing budget for any given book, so if you're a debut author, it's going to be entirely up to you to make sure that your book finds its readers. A book marketing plan gives you direction, it helps you to invest your time wisely and know that you've done everything possible to meet your goals.
Without a book marketing plan, most authors will randomly try one marketing tactic after another, failing to see results before giving up. A well-thought-out book marketing plan ensures that you're not wasting your precious time.
Identifying Your Ideal Reader
Make sure to spend some time coming up with two or three detailed reader personas for your book marketing plan. The more information you include, the better. If you have a non-fiction book that's all about helping busy executives deal with burnout, then your ideal reader is dramatically different from someone writing a mystery novel for retirees.
Setting Goals for Your Book Marketing Plan
Without specific goals, your book marketing plan is essentially pointless. As part of your book marketing plan you should define specific, measurable goals for your book and what it means for your business or brand.
Some authors want their book to be a bestseller, while others are happy with a few hundred sales. Some want the book to help grow their audience for future projects, while others are focused on the book's success.
Your goals might include things like: 500 sales within the first month, 1000 emails on your list, reviews on Amazon and other sites, or getting picked up by a few media outlets. Whatever goals are important to you, add them to your book marketing plan.
Building Up Your Author Platform
Wherever you are with your author platform, focus on building up the most important pieces of your book marketing plan. If you're completely new to the whole idea of an author platform and having a presence online, then spending time learning how to build a website and grow an email list makes a lot of sense for your book marketing plan. With that said, if you do already have a strong social media presence, it makes much more sense to focus your efforts there for your book marketing plan. If you have 500 real followers who engage with you and want to hear more about your book, that's much better than 50,000 followers who don't care about your book at all.
Deciding Which Channels Fit Your Book Marketing Plan
Once you've identified a few personas for your book marketing plan and have started to build your author platform, it's time to start thinking about which channels make the most sense for your book marketing plan.
If you're writing a book of literary fiction, then the channels that make the most sense for your book marketing plan may be very different than someone writing a self-help book for executives. Think about what your readers like to do and where they go online. Many people discover new books by reading book blogs or finding recommendations on social media. If you can provide value to your ideal reader in those places it makes those a great fit for your book marketing plan.
Creating a Pre-Launch Strategy with Your Book Marketing Plan
As part of your book marketing plan, you should think about ways to generate excitement for your book's release date. This usually takes months to set up, making it one of the most important pieces of your book marketing plan. Building a buzz around your book launch means getting your existing audience engaged, getting advance copies of the book out to your readers, and getting early reviews from trusted sources.
Many book marketing services for authors will focus a lot of their time and energy on this part of a book launch. Once your book marketing plan includes a solid pre-launch strategy and schedule, it will help ensure continued sales throughout the life of your book.
Leveraging Your Email List and Social Media Presence for Your Book Marketing Plan
Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools available to book marketing services for authors, but it's also incredibly valuable to any author who wants to sell more books. As part of your book marketing plan, you should work consistently to build your email list before the launch date of your book. Offer something of value in exchange for emails, and focus on providing value to your audience.
Hiring Book Marketing Services for Authors to Help Grow Sales
Most authors who want to grow their sales quickly and efficiently eventually turn to book marketing services for authors. Understanding how book marketing services for authors work will help you make the best decision based on your book marketing plan.
Depending on your needs and budget, book marketing services for authors can range from a single freelancer helping you with one or two specific tasks to full-service publishing agencies that handle every aspect of your book marketing plan.
Fitting Everything Into Your Timeline and Budget for a Book Marketing Plan
The truth is most authors don't dedicate enough time to promoting and selling their book. Successful book marketing plans rarely involve a mad rush to promote the book in the days and weeks leading up to the launch date. If your book marketing plan spans several months (and it should) you need to set realistic time expectations.
The same principle applies to your book marketing plan budget. If you know that you can only dedicate five hours per week to promoting your book, there's no point in including activities that require ten hours per week.
Figuring Out What Works Best With Your Book Marketing Plan
At this point, you should know how to build your book marketing plan. Now it's time to take notes and start figuring out what marketing activities are driving book sales, growing your email list, and wasting your time. This might involve looking at where your book sales are coming from, or which social media channels in your book marketing plan are the most effective. Use this information to revise and tweak your book marketing plan as needed.
It's crucial to understand that the book marketing plan of someone else may not work as well for you. You always want to use your own marketing data to continue to tweak and improve your book marketing plan.
Avoiding Common Mistakes in a Book Marketing Plan
There are many mistakes that authors make when it comes to their book marketing plan. They try to do too much at once, they give up too soon, and they waste money on tactics that don't resonate with their audience. A great book marketing plan almost always involves focusing on a few tactics instead of spreading yourself too thin.
Your Book Marketing Plan for Authors Conclusion
Having a strategic book marketing plan makes all the difference between an undiscovered book and a bestseller. You may have noticed that you don't need to invest a ton of money or become an expert in marketing to successfully market your book. You simply need a realistic book marketing plan and the willingness to put in the work over a period of 6-12 months. Start building a book marketing plan this week, and adjust it as you go as you see what works and what doesn't.
