~ Ultimate Book Marketing Plan Template for Authors
Most authors
spend 80% of their time writing a book, but only 20% preparing to market it. Yet,
it’s the marketing part that determines if your book will sell a lot of copies.
Whether you’re a traditionally-published or a hard-working indie writer, how do
you know if your book has the potential to sell? Create a book marketing plan.
As a
marketing consultant for 10 years, I’ve trained over 450 authors, including
several New York Times bestsellers.
Plus, I’m a published author of two successful books. So, I know what works,
and my Book Marketing Plan Template is designed to get results.
Directions:
This document
is a step-by-step guide to develop a professional book marketing plan. Whether
you’re a first-time author or already established, fill out as much of this
template as possible. Strive to implement everything that is listed. The more
complete your plan, the more you empower success. This template contains two
sections:
a. Marketing Activity
Timeline
b. Book Marketing Plan
(15 sections)
The Marketing
Activity Timeline on the next page will help you schedule the right activities between
now and your book launch date.
The Book Marketing
Plan Template will help you identify 15 essential tactics to promote your book.
Each section includes concise instructions and checklists to follow.
After you
fill out my Ultimate Book Marketing Plan Template, you’ll know how to take
control over your book sales and your author career.
To your
success!
Rob
Eagar
Wildfire
Marketing
Marketing
Activity Timeline
Use this checklist to schedule
various activities of your Book Marketing Plan. Follow the suggested lead times
below to ensure you don’t miss key windows of opportunity:
6 – 12
Months in Advance:
❑ Contact organizations
to schedule public speaking events
❑ Build author website
and book landing page
3 – 6
Months in Advance:
❑ Submit book galley
for industry book reviewers
❑ Contact
organizations and individuals that can buy books in bulk
❑ Contact online influencers,
including podcasters, bloggers, etc.
❑ Hire PR firm or
contact national radio / TV programs for interviews
1 – 3
Months in Advance:
❑ Create pre-order
incentives
❑ Launch pre-order
campaign
❑ Recruit book launch
team
30 Days
Before Launch:
❑ Send advanced reader
copies (ARCs) to launch team
❑ Send 2 promotional
emails per week to your email list featuring your book
❑ Create social media
share tools webpage
❑ Speak in public and
conduct live video (Facebook, YouTube, etc.)
❑ Escalate pre-order
campaign
Launch
Day and 30 Days Afterwards:
❑ Ask launch team to
post Amazon reviews
❑ Send 2 promotional
emails per week to your email list featuring your book
❑ Thank launch team
and ask them to use social media share tools
Ongoing
Activities After Launch:
❑ Send weekly
newsletter with book campaign updates
❑ Post weekly blog
❑ Offer special
incentives for a limited time to entice more purchases
Book Marketing Plan
Directions: Read the instructions to
complete each section. Then, delete my text to create your own document. Use as
much space as needed to fill in all of your details.
Book
Details
Title:
Subtitle:
Author:
Publisher:
Publication Date:
Book
Hook
Develop a provocative
sentence or question that you will use as a hook to grab a reader’s attention for
your book.
Insert
your book hook here…
For help creating an effective
book hook, read this resource:
Book
Description
Insert a brief
description of your book’s premise or story in 300 words or less. This is the
marketing language that will appear on your back cover or your book’s Amazon
page.
Insert
your back cover copy here…
For help writing better
back cover copy, read this resource:
Target
Audience
Audience Characteristics:
Your book is NOT for
everyone. Effective marketing occurs by identifying the readers who would be
MOST INTERESTED to buy your book. Use this section to describe the specific interests,
felt needs, and demographics that characterize your primary readers and where
they congregate.
Describe
the characteristics of your ideal reader here…
Use these 5 questions to list where your
target audience congregates online:
·
What websites do my target readers frequently visit?
·
What social media groups are dedicated to my genre
(Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)?
·
What active forums discuss my book’s genre?
·
What blogs review books based on my genre?
·
What online book clubs cover my genre?
List
your answers here…
Author
Website / Book Landing Page
Your author website is
your book marketing headquarters. It’s where readers will come after they
Google you to find out about your book. Use the following checklist to make
sure your author website or book landing page has the following elements in
place:
❑ Author Website URL Address:
❑ Email List Signup: Do you have a homepage
sign-up form and pop-ups in place to invite people to join your email newsletter?
❑ Book Details: Is your book cover,
marketing language, and video trailer displayed?
❑ Author Bio: Does your bio explain
your history of helping or entertaining people?
❑ Retailer Links: Display logos and
purchase links to all major online retailers
❑ Links to Social Media: Display social
media logos so people can connect with you
❑ Social Media Share Page: Provide
one-click social media posts people can share
❑ (Optional) Blog: Provide valuable
content and/or stories—along with book updates
❑ (Optional) Pre-order Redemption &
Thank-You Pages: Is there a form visible for readers to submit proof of
pre-orders and a thank-you page to claim your incentives?
Amazon
Presence
Amazon sells more books
than anyone, so you need a strong presence on their site. Your book’s product
page will determine if people decide to buy. Your author page can help cross-promote
other titles in your library. Use this checklist to cover the bases:
Amazon Book Page:
❑ Does your book cover look attractive
and legible at a thumbnail size?
❑ Does your book marketing description
start with strong hook in bolded text?
❑ Do you have any endorsements or
industry reviews displayed?
❑ Do you have at least 50 customer
reviews or a launch team to help get them?
Amazon Author Page:
❑ Did you add all of your books to your
author library?
❑ Is your author headshot displayed?
❑ Is your author bio displayed with the
URL to your website?
❑ Is your author blog and Twitter feed
connected to Amazon?
❑ Are your book trailer videos displayed?
Online Advertising
Amazon, Facebook, and
BookBub offer affordable advertising for authors. In order to place ads in
front of your target audience, you need to identify the proper keywords. You
can accomplish this objective by listing similar authors and book titles who
are successful in your specific genre. Also, if you already have books listed
on Amazon, use the feature, “Customers who bought your book also bought…” for
additional ideas.
Select the
platforms where you (or your publisher) will purchase online advertising:
❑ Amazon ❑ Facebook ❑ BookBub
❑ Other:
List the keywords below you will use
to target your book ads to the right people:
Competitive
Author Keywords:
List
the author names here who write bestselling books in your genre…
Competitive
Book Title Keywords:
List
the book titles here that are bestsellers in your genre…
Reader Interest
Keywords:
List
the interests, hobbies, or clubs that typify your readers here…
For more details about
using Amazon advertising for books, read this resource:
Publicity
& Influencer Connections
It’s easy to increase
sales when influential people promote your book to their audience. Use this
section to identify connections you’ve secured with various types of
influencers:
❑ Y/N: Do you have a book press release
completed to solicit publicity interviews?
❑ Y/N: Do you have an email script
ready to use to request online interviews?
❑ Y/N: Will you manage your influencer
interview schedule? If not, who will help?
Online Influencers:
Major
Podcasts: List potential and confirmed podcast
interviews here…
Big Bloggers:
List potential and confirmed blog interviews here…
Book
Reviewers: List potential and confirmed book reviewers
here…
Publicity and Media Influencers:
Television
appearances: List potential and confirmed TV
interviews here…
Radio
interviews: List potential and confirmed radio
interviews here…
Personal Influencers: Friends, Family,
Colleagues, etc.
List
anyone you personally know who is willing to help promote your book on their
blog, social media pages, provide an endorsement, or post an Amazon review
here…
Endorsements
List any
endorsements received from business leaders, celebrities, musicians, pastors,
athletes, etc. If waiting to receive an endorsement, put names on a separate
list:
List any received endorsements here…
Email List
Email is most effective
tactic for selling books on this entire marketing plan. Use the following
checklist to make sure you have the necessary tools in place:
Total subscribers
on your email list: Avg.
new subscribers per month:
List the content
magnet(s) you will offer to entice new subscribers:
1.
2.
❑
Y/N: Is your content magnet featured on your website home page and using
pop-ups?
❑
Y/N: Are you putting your content magnet on Amazon to get additional exposure?
❑
Y/N: Are you buying Facebook ads and using live events to get extra email
signups?
For help creating email signup
incentives and newsletters, read these resources:
Social
Media
Studies show that social
media isn’t an effective channel to sell books. Instead, social media is best
used to capture email subscribers, drive traffic to your website, and spread
word of mouth. Use the following checklist to monitor your social media
activity:
Select the
social media platforms you use and the current amount of followers:
❑ Facebook: ❑
Twitter: ❑
Instagram:
❑ YouTube: ❑
LinkedIn:
❑ Y/N: Does a picture of your book
appear in your social media page header images?
❑ Y/N: Are you purchasing lead
generation ads on Facebook to build your email list?
❑ Y/N: Do you have 10 book quotes with
images premade to share on social media?
To avoid letting social
media consume your marketing plan, read this resource:
Bulk
Sales
List the people and
organizations who could place orders for 100 copies or more:
Individuals: List individuals to contact here…
Organizations/Schools:
List organization representatives to contact here…
Pre-Orders
A key to any successful
book launch involves pre-orders, even if you’re self-published. Pre-orders
provide early cash flow, sales momentum, and the greater chance for quick
word-of-mouth. Use the following checklist to plan your pre-order campaign:
List two incentives
you are prepared to offer to encourage pre-orders:
1.
2.
List two incentives
will you offer for purchases of 5 copies or more:
1.
2.
❑ Does your website have a pre-order
form and thank-you page to claim incentives?
❑ What date will you start your
pre-order campaign?
Book
Launch Team
Create a launch team of
fans to spread word of mouth during your book campaign. Put fans on a separate email
list for easy communication. Select where will you recruit fans:
❑ My email list ❑ My Facebook fans ❑
My friends & family ❑
Other:
How many
people are committed to your Launch Team?
❑
Y/N: Is there a page on your website to provide one-click social media sharing
tools?
Select the
marketing activities that you will ask your Launch Team to complete:
❑
Post reviews of your book on Amazon and other online retailers
❑
Share book quotes and images on social media
❑
Promote your book on their blog, newsletter, podcast, etc.
❑
Buy a copy of your new book
❑
Other:
Public
Speaking & Live Events
Public speaking helps
build reader connections, sell copies, and get paid to promote your book. List
your plans to create a speaking tour and/or speak via video from home:
Public speaking:
Confirmed
events and dates: List here…
Potential event
and primary contact person: List here…
Online speaking:
Webinar: List any planned dates here…
Facebook Live: List any planned dates here…
Take The Next Step
In Your Author Career!
Now that you
have a copy of my Ultimate Book Marketing Plan Template, you know what it takes
successfully launch a new book.
As a
marketing consultant, I’ve coached over 450 authors and helped clients hit the New York Times bestseller list three
different ways, including fiction, non-fiction, and backlist. In addition, I’ve
worked with well-known publishing houses, spoken at industry conferences,
published two books, and achieved success as a self-published author.
I’m fortunate
to make a living doing what I love, which is helping authors. But, it wasn’t
always easy. I started out like most authors with no platform, no experience,
not much money, and a whole lot of questions. I spent many years figuring out
how to sell books from scratch, build my business, learn what works, and what
doesn’t. But, you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did. I’m here to
share the most up-to-date strategies and tactics to sell more books and
increase author income.
Please visit
my website as your online headquarters for everything an author needs to know
about book marketing. Click on the links below to learn more about my free
resources, video e-courses, and consulting services:
For more
details, visit: http://www.StartaWildfire.com
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