Marketing Plan

Your marketing strategy should include what marketing activities you plan to undertake, along with your budget and timetable for those activities. What are you going to do to be sure your audience knows your book is available and the place where it’s being sold?

Most first-time authors are shocked to find out that publishers do very little marketing on behalf of authors. The traditional publisher will get your book into its catalog, on its Web site, and into mainstream distribution and bookstores, but little else.

Publishers generally allocate a marketing budget of $500 to $1,000 for a new title with a new author, which pays for a few hundred flyers, press releases to the appropriate news organizations and magazines, and a few dozen review copies to go out on request. Only a few of all books at the major publishers have marketing budgets of $20,000 or more, the kind of budget needed to do a credible national marketing campaign.

Effective marketing will start with preparing your resources such as: •   Targeting important endorsers for testimonials •   Creating a high-impact cover •   Preparing a full and professional media kit •   Adding to or making a Web site for you as an author •   Designing appropriate print collateral materials

You must also decide what will the most effective type of marketing for your book based on what you like to do: •   Writing articles •   Public speaking •   Email campaigns •   Exhibiting at trade shows or other events •   Public relations resulting in interviews in broadcast and print media •   Web promotion and affiliate sales, perhaps using blogging or podcasting •   A launch part, book tour, or book signings

Finally, consider how you will get all of these things done. Do you have the time and resources to do it all yourself? Or will you hire a virtual assistant, PR professional, speaking or media coach, writer, or speaking agent to help you?

Each of these items has a cost, either in dollars or in time taken away from other business money-making activities. The impact of book marketing time, energy, and money can be negative on your business unless you plan for it up front. Just be sure you market your business and your book together.

Tanyab 08:35, 5 December 2008 (UTC) | www.publishing-store.com