How do you know if you need a marketing plan for your book?
Have you written a book?
Then, YES! Your book needs a marketing plan.
A marketing plan for your book gives you a layout of all the goals and expectations to complete your book goals as well as steps on how to follow through. It’s a step-by-step action plan created and designed around your book.
What does a Book Marketing Plan include?
A book marketing plan includes the following:
Social Media Pages & Content
Website
Emailing List
Media Kit
Book Planner/Goals
These items listed will be used in creating a plan of action for your book. Keep reading to find out how these items can be used to maximize exposure for you and your book.
SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES & CONTENT
Social Media today is an important and crucial step when marketing and promoting your work. It has proven to be a great tool to reach people all over the world and grow your following. We do recognize that some people are not fond of social media because of all the tech savvy aspects to it and it can be a bit overwhelming. No worries we can help ease some of the stress with social media and marketing.
There are so many social media accounts that you will hear are great for growing your audience and building your brand. Truth is, you do not need a lot to account to get started. A few pages we recommend are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These accounts can seem intimidating, but we have tricks for you.
Create a Facebook Business Page and link it to your Instagram Business Page. Link your Instagram and your Facebook to you Twitter page. With all three accounts linked, if you are to post on one account it can automatically post on the others. Mostly, Instagram gives you the freest range in this area.
You can post a photo with caption to your Instagram and just before you post it will ask where all do you want the image to go? You will select Facebook and Twitter and just like that you have posted on all the social media accounts with one click.
You can write a post on your Facebook Business Page and it can automatically post it to your Twitter page. With little to no effort you will have three social media accounts active and running. Before your book release we recommend adding to your following to generate a bigger audience.
WEBSITE
Creating a website is especially important today. We like to describe a website as the author HOME. It is the place where people can visit and find out more information about you and how to purchase from you all in place.
You should always remember that social comes and goes depending on what is trending and hot for the times, but your website will always be there. It cannot be taken from you.
We recommend creating a website with a HOME page, SHOP button, and a BLOG. Those are our top three recommendations. We use Wix.com to create our websites. It’s easy and they have a setup that will create the site for you from start to finish as you plug in a details from there Q&A to get to know more about you and your brand.
EMAILING LIST
Emailing list to so many authors are intimidating and overwhelming. Rightfully so, it can be a very tedious thing to do when you are first starting out and unsure what to write, how much to write, and where to begin. We have some tricks for that as well.
But first, and emailing list is important because it is a list created of specific people who are interested in you and your brand. They must willingly type in their email address, and this signifies that they are wanting to keep up with you and have send them emails regarding your brand. That is an awesome feeling, right?
We mentioned that we use Wix.com to create our website, and one of the things we love about using Wix is we are allowing to create a subscription button letting users subscribe. We also use our BLOG post and email them to our subscribers with the click of a button. That is right! No extra typing. No creating the perfect layout for our newsletter. We write the blog and when you are finish it will automatically email it to your subscribers letting them know you have created a new blog post. This helps keep your subscribers stay updated on what is going with you and your brand.
You can also use the social media icons to share your blog to social media. All in one smooth step.
MEDIA KIT
What is a media kit and when is it important?
A media kit is a quick reference to your upcoming release that is generally sent out to media outlets letting them know you have a book getting to release. The goal is to create something interesting and captivating so that they would be inclined to reach out for an interview.
You can also include this kit inside of every book purchased directly from you to give readers insight into your work and who you are.
What do I include in a media kit?
A media kit should not be overwhelming and can be 1-4 pages long. We are marketing an upcoming release and want to keep the focus on its content and why it is important. Therefore, you can include the following:
Book Cover
Synopsis
Meta Data
Synopsis
Reviews
Author Photo
Author Bio
Q&A’s (optional)
Past Media Sources
Contact Information
Gifted Item relate to the books’ topic (optional)
Book Media Kits can also be created on your website, which be known as on Online Book Media Kit. We have provided a sample of Author LaQueisha Malone’s book media kit.
A book media kit and an author media kit are different, which is why the pages are so limited.
BOOK PLANNER/GOALS
Once the above steps have been and you are satisfied with the outcome, the next thing should create a book plan/goal. This can be accomplished by using a regular calendar planner and notebook paper. We are super excited, because LaQueisha is creating a book planner just for Aspiring Authors. Be sure to join our mailing list and her mailing list at laqueishamalone.com to be the first to know when it releases.
What to include in a book planner?
A book planner is going to detail all your plans and goals to market and promote your book for a specific time frame. This is best done before the book release to get the maximum amount of exposure and sales.
You will include weekly/monthly goals such as
How many books do you plan to sell?
What type of content will you create on which platforms of social media?
What contest/giveaways will you host?
What media outlets are you going to reach out to and when to follow up?
Scheduled interviews and events
Which reviewers you will reach out to and when to follow up
A list of reviewers, radio host, magazines, and awards you plan to participate in
A tracking sheet to track sales and the effectiveness of you book plans and goals just in case you need to adjust
When creating this information on the front end it can help with some of the overwhelming aspect of trying to promote after a book is released. We recommend scheduling a couple of interviews a week for the 60-days leading up to your book release and 60-days after its release.
You can utilize some or all our steps in the planning stage of marketing your book.
We hope that we have provided you with helpful information on creating your BOOK MARKETING PLAN. We wish you much success and growth during you journey.
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