The following is a fictitious mini marketing plan i created for a publishing class while in university studying communication. She is the publisher of the hot sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named publishing commentator of the year by digital book world in 2019. Many, if not most authors who selfpublish for the first time make mistakes. Sep 15, 2014 marketing tools for your self published book grow marketing your self published book involves a lot of focused work, typically as much work as it took to write the book in the first place. This book marketing plan outline is a short form real marketing plan for indie authors meaning it goes beyond a simple, and often untargeted, list of tactics. The shift in your mindset that will change everything. You will already have read about a number of marketing methods, from virtual book tours to book signings to book fair partnerships to glossy mailings featuring your book. There are hundreds of ways to market selfpublished books. How to market your selfpublished book mythic scribes. Explore your future through our page dedicated to the indie publishing life, or find out. Attract readers with a great book sales description. Check out these tips and discover how to promote your book successfully. For selfpublished authors, there are many book marketing strategies and tactics that can be employed, and while some may seem quite direct, or even relatively simple, its very easy to make mistakes that can derail a book promotion campaign.
How to list and sell your selfpublished book on amazon. Before your book launch, you need a book marketing plan. Jul 06, 2011 home book marketing guerrilla marketing and the self published author guerilla marketing n the art of promoting your book in ways that revolve around ingenuity rather than money. Selfpublishing and book marketing, a research guide provides indepth market analysis and industry research with a focus on selfpublishing terms, packages and fees. Selfpublish your book with createspace, a division of amazon. What does it take to promote your selfpublished book. Selfpublishing has opened many doors and taken away the gate keepers but dont think it is easy. Create a community surrounding your passion and your brand. We are now offering complete book marketing services based on our 101 book marketing ideas. Many self published authors have no interest in sales, advertising, or business in general, as they tend to be altruistically artistic. For example, if your book is about managing emotional wellbeing, cover the. Aug 03, 2017 the key is to develop an audience so that on your launch day, you can sell enough copies to get your book to the top of amazon.
How to market your selfpublished booka plan by bill quain by joel friedlander on april 2, 2010 64 comments last month i published an article called author platform. The good thing is that new stories keep coming up so you are sure there is going to be something nice to write about in the future. How to market your selfpublished book by brian deleonard the reality of marketing a selfpublished book and finding your audience presents a challenge somewhere inbetween the faint dream of online success, and the sense of screaming unheard into the webs dark and angry void. Mar 08, 2011 the following is a fictitious mini marketing plan i created for a publishing class while in university studying communication. If youre sure your book is marketready, sit down with a pen and paper, or open up your favorite word processor and get ready to type. If you would like to sell your selfpublished book on amazon, youll need to know how to get it listed for sale on the website. An excellent aid in how to market ones selfpublished books, book marketing checklist reads as a concise workbook, giving various helpful tips and hints that ill now be applying to help market my own books.
There are hundreds of ways to promote a selfpublished book. Marketing tools for your selfpublished book grow marketing your selfpublished book involves a lot of focused work, typically as much work as it. However, if you dont get the following nine marketing strategy basics right first, you could be wasting a lot of your time, energy, and money. Selfpublished authors have no choice but to face up to the onerous task of promoting themselves and their books and having a marketing plan. With a few key steps, an author can build a loyal following, get the word out about his or her work, and get. It helps to understand the seven book marketing plan elements before using your fillin. Get 20 effective book marketing tips and tactics that will help you sell more books and make more money as a selfpublishing author. Objectives these are the steps you take to achieve your goal for example, if your goal is to sell 5,000 books. Five simple ways to promote your selfpublished book. Services like and amazons createspace mean its never been easier to. Congratulations, now youre a selfpublished author with your book floating around in the world. Self publishing is on the rise and many people are bypassing the traditional route of seeking the affirmation of publication worthiness via commercial publishers and are striking out on their own, with. Book marketing is letting people know your book exists, book promotion is specific salesdriven activity.
Millions of books have already been written to this very day. For example, if you wrote a book on recipes for italian food, you could try connecting with people in the italian. For a selfpublished author, marketing the book can be more important than writing it. The key is to develop an audience so that on your launch day, you can sell enough copies to get your book to the top of amazon. If you are just starting your selfpublishing journey you might as well get our 2018s best selfpublishing resources article.
This post is about the more nebulous marketing and pr side of things. But if you are publishing by yourself and wish to be read by as many among. A definitive checklist by tim grahl is a free, customizable plan. For a self published author, marketing the book can be more important than writing it. This is a fullservice where we work within your budget to get the most out of your promotional dollar. Marketing your book for selfpublishers and indie authors. For further assistance in developing a marketing plan for your selfpublished books, contact the book publicity experts at smith publicity. To maximize or perhaps even replace a traditional publicity campaign, you need to reach out to your audience directly by building and nurturing a strong online author platform. Bookbub has a massive following and can get your book delivered to thousands of readers. Nancy shenker, founder and ceo of theonswitch, a marketing company, began selfpublishing in 2010 with a series of business comic books. What bestselling authors can teach you about marketing. Dance because you can was represented at the national book fair in new york city. If you didnt get the message marketing your book is not about selling.
Use these 6 tactics to market your selfpublished book on social media for the exposure your story deserves. Mar 25, 2015 for further assistance in developing a marketing plan for your self published books, contact the book publicity experts at smith publicity. Nancy shenker, founder and ceo of theonswitch, a marketing company, began self publishing in 2010 with a series of business comic books. Youll be one huge step closer to having a successful book. Bookbub is the cream of the crop when it comes to promoting and marketing your book. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. However, traditional publishers are now cutting back on their book marketing budgets, so more and more of their contracted authors are having to use social media to promote their books as well. If you have read our newsletter for any length of time, you know we frequently comment on how a selfpublished authors work on their book does not stop. As the publishing economy is rapidly changing, publishers marketing budgets have constricted even further making less room for new authors.
Online and offline promotion strategies to build your audience and sell more books by stephanie chandler after finally getting a book published, many authors find that the hardest part wasnt actually writing the book or getting it into print. Whether youre about to publish or youre published already, publishnation can raise the profile of your book and help bring readers to your amazon page. Although traditional media campaigns still play an important role in the marketing plans for new books, they are no longer enough. Your plan can be in the form of a word document, excel spreadsheet, or something that you write down in your notebook. Hi ravi thank you so much for your honesty and tothepoint advice on marketing your book in this article. Oct 15, 2014 continuing with this weeks series on book marketing plans, its time for a freebie. A sound and sensible book marketing plan is just as important as the writing, editing, design, and publication of a book. When to start marketing your book and how to balance your time. How to write a book marketing plan for publishing success. Without a publisher to back the writer, the he must handle the publicity and networking by himself. Theres a big difference between making your own book and marketing it. For example, they might say something about a blog post you wrote that the. The first thing authors should do before doing any type of marketing is to put together a marketing plan for their book. A collection of poetry of my late mothers poetry collection of over 300 poems she composed during her lifetime and am trying to learn what really does and.
Choose the right categories and keywords for your book. Actively share useful, positive, quality content and engage your audience through unique encounters. Dec 16, 20 hello all, ive recently self published my book and have been struggling to get free marketing advertising. With a major publisher you write the book and the publisher. In fact, with more than 4,500 books published on a daily basis, its more true with each passing day. Ive set up a facebook page where you are welcome to also advertise your book be it self published or traditional publishing. Amazon is the number one place for readers to find books, so your marketing plan should detail how to market your book on amazon. Without a publisher to back the writer, the he must handle the publicity and. Since our humble beginnings in 1997, we have grown into an internationally renowned book publicity agency that helps selfpublished authors get the attention they deserve. Home book marketing guerrilla marketing and the self published author guerilla marketing n the art of promoting your book in ways that revolve around ingenuity rather than money. However, it also makes it much more complicated to sell the resulting books.
A self published book is a way to get published more easily. This is a book marketing plan outline that you can use. Why do you need a marketing plan for your selfpublished book. What bestselling authors can teach you about marketing self. In fact, you should submit your book for promotion as either free or for 99 cents right after your book launch. For those that are still seeking a traditional publishing deal, you need a visible platform and good book marketing plan as evidence that there is demand and your books will sell. That is perhaps the most important take away from danny inys post 7 book marketing lessons for the selfpublished author on. While writing tends to be a solitary endeavor, marketing is the process of. Boost your books success and sell more copies of your book by following 20 marketing tips and tactics for selfpublishing authors.
She is the publisher of the hot sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named publishing commentator of the year by digital book world in 2019 in addition to being a. Jones broke down into 3 levels how involved one could get in the marketing process. Book marketing doesnt have to be complicated, but it also cant be taken lightly. Marketing selfpublished books explained in 9 basic steps.
There are two main methods for getting your book listed for sale on amazon, as well as a couple of ways to make your book more attractive to readers. No matter how wonderful your book might be, it wont sell itselfand its highly unlikely for a new authors and even many well seasoned ones book to jump off bookstore shelves without some help. Jul 12, 2018 if you would like to sell your selfpublished book on amazon, youll need to know how to get it listed for sale on the website. The 100 marketing strategies, tips, and techniques i used. How to market a book, by joanna penn, and lets get visible, by david gaughran, are particularly helpful for independent authors as well as traditionally published authors who want to learn more about the best practices of digital marketing. The book was also the 2019 evvy award winner for best selfhelp. Our express marketing campaign takes advantage of the latest internet techniques to let the world know about your book.
I thought it would make a great sample of a mini marketing plan for businesses looking to develop one for themselves, especially book businesses. Since our humble beginnings in 1997, we have grown into an internationally renowned book publicity agency that helps self published authors get the attention they deserve. That is the first, most essential step to marketing your book. They must be sold by the writer in order to make back the book publishing costs and to find an audience. Marketing a book is supposed to be the hardest part of selfpublishing.
Apr 02, 2010 how to market your selfpublished booka plan by bill quain by joel friedlander on april 2, 2010 64 comments last month i published an article called author platform. I just published my first and probably last book, seasons of the heart. How to market your selfpublished booka plan by bill quain. After that just follow the plan, make adjustments when necessary, and listen to your readers. Marketing selfpublished books requires a great deal of effort, if youre one of the few who wont be put off by the work, then you already have an edge. Book marketing help for writers publishnation self. Almost every blog, workshop, and website on the subject of selfpublishing advocates for creating a book marketing plan even before your book has been printed.
Aug 20, 2016 this is where most marketing plans fail you must have a coherent and workable set of actions to achieve each plan, that then lead to each objective and, eventually, achieves your ultimate goal of marketing a self published book. Hello all, ive recently self published my book and have been struggling to get free marketingadvertising. Free book marketing plan outline all freelance writing. The book offers insights into formatting and design practices, and shares best marketing tips for selfpublished authors. It can be a single piece of paper, it can be a complex spreadsheet or a powerpoint. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the book marketing bible. The book marketing services at outskirts press help authors promote highquality books with exceptional book marketing services.