How to Write a Marketing Plan for Your Book
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
Whether you’re a first-time author or an established one, it's important to learn how to write a marketing plan for any book you have coming out. The book can be traditionally published or self-published, and you can keep your marketing plan similar to previous plans for books in the same category or genre. A marketing plan will help you reach out to readers, connect with them, and inspire them to buy your book. It’s not just about getting people to make a purchase, though—book marketing is also about creating awareness and interest in the work itself, and in you. In this article, I’ll discuss the steps necessary to create an effective marketing plan to promote your book.
How to Write a Marketing Plan: Define Your Goals and Objectives
The first step in learning how to write a marketing plan is defining your writing career goals and objectives, both for the book at hand, and in a larger sense. What do you want to achieve? Are you looking to sell more copies of your book? Find out how to hook a reader? Connect with other authors or influencers and build your writing community? Get email newsletter subscribers? Whatever it is that you want, make sure that it is clear and measurable so that you can track progress over time.
How to Write a Marketing Plan: Understand Your Target Audience
Once you have identified your goals and objectives, the next step is understanding who your target audience is. Who are the people most likely to read or purchase your book? What age group do they belong to? Where do they live? What type of content resonates with them? You can create an ICA (ideal customer avatar) of your target reader (or several for different demographics) and figure out where they are online and IRL, and what else they like. Market to them according to these channels. Having a clear understanding of who you’re targeting will help inform all of the decisions for learning how to write a marketing plan. (As tempting as it is to say that “anyone and everyone” will like your work, marketing to the entire planet is a big challenge. Start smaller, unless you have Coca-Cola’s marketing budget.)
How to Write a Marketing Plan: Create an Engaging Launch Plan
Your launch plan should be designed around engaging potential readers with both physical and digital activities, such as hosting events or offering discounts (or special gifts or swag, if you don’t believe in free or discounted books) on pre-orders. You should also utilize social media for writers with accounts dedicated solely to promoting your book—this will give readers easy access to updates regarding its release date, reviews, and exclusive content related to its topic. Build in a timeline of excitement about a cover reveal, early reviews, pre-sale promotions, etc. Additionally, consider sending out press releases or pitching articles about yourself as an author or about topics related to the book itself. This is the tip of the iceberg of how to write a marketing plan, especially with all of the online opportunities available for self-promotion.
Creating a successful marketing plan for your book requires research, planning, and dedication but it pays off in the long run—after all, what’s the good in a good story if nobody ever reads it? How to write a marketing plan? Follow these tips when crafting yours, and soon enough you’ll be ready for launch day.
For those eagle-eyed readers who are wondering just what kind of editor or publishing professional would have an article with the clunky phrasing of “how to write a marketing plan” over and over on their website, I applaud you for noticing that this reads awkwardly. Please note that I picked this keyword phrase on purpose, as part of my SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. If you’re curious about writer marketing techniques, check out Good Story Marketing.
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