HomeGuidesBook Marketing IdeasBook Marketing Plan-Template

Book Marketing Plan-Template

There is no greater joy for a writer than seeing the work they’ve been working on for a long time, finally become the black prints of fine papers and bounded within beautiful covers which you’ve carefully chosen the design for.
It took you a long time to finally finish your book, and now that it is all done and published, you wonder to yourself… “NOW what?!”

Every author has wondered what to do  after their books arrived from the printing press.

The answer is simple – MARKET it!

For most authors, book marketing does not come easy, nor does it come naturally for most people in general.
That’s why we made it a point to make it easier for you, and we’ve created an outline that will help guide you and allow you to foresee the coming steps toward your journey to becoming a successful author.

Here are the daily expectations of things you will need to do to successfully put your book out into the market, and secure good sales in a very competitive market.

Task 1: Define Your Book and its Purpose

Before anything else, it must provide an accurate and concise definition of your new book. It should be as short as possible, but complete in details like the genre. If you have anything unique to offer, something that you think might be a good selling point, by all means, emphasize it.

Aside from defining your new book, give the purpose of “why” your book is a “must-read”. Make your work significant. Be specific about the purpose of reading your new book which will help when promoting for sales.

Having this specific purpose helps you stay focused and understand which channels/avenues you should use to market your book.

What is my book about?
What will my readers get when they read it?

Task 2. Know Your Readers

You’ve written a book and you probably have a specific group of people in mind whom you foresee will most likely subscribe to your new book. In that case, you are one of the few writers who actually have defined the readers of your new book.

There are writers, however, who may struggle with this step because their book may be too broad and the range of interest may be difficult to narrow down.

This step is commonly overlooked. Keep in mind, this is the most important foundation that will precede all the next steps of your marketing strategy. Simply put, this step will identify who your specific clients are, in this huge world of marketing.

Today, there are easier ways to do analysis on the digital copy of your book. Online communities like Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, and other social media platforms, have clustered different kinds of readers into groups of people with more or less the same interest in genre.

Another option is to make use of the email subscriptions from the subscribers’ list of your website (if you have one).

Here are good examples of “Reader Profiles”:
● 18-30-year-old who listen to dance music
● Stay-at-home moms in California
● Business people studying for an MBA
● New parents who also happen to be vegans

Who are my target readers?

Task 3: Know Where To Find Your Reader

The internet has made almost anything easier for us, including the supposedly tedious task of locating your target readers. Online communities such as readers’ website and social media platforms are the perfect arena to target your readers. It is also a good idea to list a few key influencers in the population of the type of readers you are targeting.

Recommended: Book Marketing, Social Media, and Talking to Strangers–City Book Review

Browse the leading blogs in your genre and see whether or not they accept guest blog submissions. A simple way to do this is to see if they have multiple authors and if these authors link back to their own websites at the bottom of posts.

What are the key blogs in my genre?
Are there any particular forums your readers frequent?
What associations do your target readers belong to?

Task 4: Choose a Strategic Action Plan

New books are better off being promoted both internally and externally. Internal promotions mean you market the new book from within your circle. Examples are your friends and family, blog and mailing list, or even your Church, school, or work community.

External promotions include advertising your new book outside the spectrum of your direct influence. Examples are social media community and blog tours.

What are the ways you want to market your new book?

Task 5: Tactical Planning

This is important, since you need to have a checklist of all things that need to be ironed out, and each one of these to-do list items need to have deadlines so that you can stay on track and in time for your targeted dates. Here are some examples:

Checklist : 6 weeks Before Book Launch
○ Finalize the e-Book copy.
○ Send advance copies to “Beta readers”.
○ Prepare blogs/articles about the new book.
○ Prepare interview Q&As.

Checklist : 4 to 5 weeks Before Book Launch
○ Buy advertisements and schedule during launch week.
○ Final check on the printed books and giveaways.
○ Upload and save 10 blogs and schedule them to publish on launch week.
○ Send interview Q&As and schedule live interview on launch week.
○ Create and schedule 20 social media updates regarding your new book.

Checklist : 2 Weeks Before Book Launch
○ Upload and save 10 blogs and schedule them to publish on launch week.
○ Send interview Q&As and schedule live interview on launch week.
○ Schedule print version book giveaway(s).
○ Prepare internal blog posts and mailing list mentions
○ Buy advertisements for “free promo” and schedule during launch week.

Checklist : 1 Week Before Book Launch
○ Review marketing/launch plan
○ Review guest post publish dates (mark them on calendar)
○ Review/confirm interview appointments/posts
○ Send “launch week” email to mailing list
○ Create tracking/sales spreadsheet

Checklist : Launch Week!
○ Personal email to friends and family (let them know book is ready to buy!)
○ Send email updates to the mailing list (launch announcement)
○ Schedule follow-up update to mailing list for end-of-week (“Hurry! Sale ends this week…”)
○ Respond to comments and discussion on blog tour posts
○ Interviews
○ Send updates to beta readers (“Now’s the time to post your review!”)
○ Begin Facebook posts to “word of mouth” audience

Checklist: 1-2 Weeks After Book Launch
○ Review first-week sales; alter/redo advertisements,
○ Respond to blog tour and interview comments
○ Send final follow-up email to beta readers (end of 2nd week)
○ Solicit requests for in-person appearances (use reviews as social proof)

Checklist : 3-4 Weeks After Book Launch
○ First “free promo” on Amazon (5-day)
○ Run “free promo” ads
○ Twitter, Facebook, social media mentions of free promo
○ Final giveaway of swag/hard copy book

I hope we helped you design a winning book marketing campaign do your book will sell thousands of copies. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below.


Where Publishing Dreams Become Reality

 

Company

Copyright: © 2023 Firebrand Publishing. All Rights Reserved.