Creating a book marketing plan

July 7, 2014

In a recent blog (To be a successful writer, look to business), I wrote about the need to take a business approach to writing. I expounded the necessity for indie authors to become “authorpreneurs” to get the clarity needed to make sound decisions. Whether you decide to use a publicist or do the work yourself, you will need a marketing plan.

Your book 300 Many authors say, “I’m an author, not a publicist. I want to write, not promote the book.” Some may argue that marketing and writing require different skills, and they are only good at one.

Unless you are writing just for the sake of writing, you need to tell the world about the stellar book you worked so fervently to pen. You have to create a buzz about your book, otherwise no one will know it exists.

As an authorpreneur, you must decide whether to hire a publicist to create this buzz or market the book yourself. Hiring a publicist requires due diligence. Before you write the book, or at least while you are still writing it, find someone who promotes books in your genre and who has ins with your target market (your ideal reader). Call them and see if there is a fit between your personalities and marketing approaches. The sooner you do this better because a lot of groundwork and publicity is done before the book is released. Spend time together, either by email or phone, to workout the details of who will do what in terms of promoting your book.

Hiring a publicist is not a free pass. Your publicist may set up book tours, interviews, and send out ARCs (advance reader copies) to reviewers, and lots more, but he/she may still expect you to engage readers on social media or a blog. Your publicist may suggest updating your website site or Facebook page, contacting local media and bookstores, and planning local publicity events. Hiring a publicist does not mean passing off all the work to them so you can write. It means hiring someone to help you promote your book, someone who will increase the odds for a successful book launch, or help find new ways to bring life into an existing book.

In my opinion, the greatest advantage to hiring a publicist is adding another person to your team, someone with experience and fresh ideas. Without this worker bee, you would need to learn the ins and outs of book marketing, which takes time away from writing. As an indie writer, you need to determine the value and worth of hiring a professional verses learning the skills, and then doing the work yourself.

If hiring a publicist is cost-prohibitive, then you have to roll up yours sleeves and do the work. My father made and installed awnings. When he went into business for himself, he had to learn about small business management, something very foreign to him. With only an eighth-grade education, he become very successful in his field, not only because he believed in his work and in providing quality to his customers, but also because he was not afraid to stretch out of his comfort zone.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ~ Mahatma Gandi:

Indie writers can learn what is needed to successfully promote a book. Whether you are indie-or traditionally published, you must create a marketing plan with a corresponding time line and review points.