Developing a Marketing Plan for a Novel
There are three equal parts to getting your book published:
(1) You write the novel.
(2) You work on getting your novel in the hands of a publisher.
(3) Then you work on getting your novel in the hands of the reader. To do this, you need a marketing plan.
Why a marketing plan?
70% of books don’t make a profit. If you want to increase your chances of success (having readers, selling books, etc), then you’ll need to develop a concrete marketing plan for your novel. There are two ways you can look at marketing: Either you can spend time (do it yourself) or money (hire someone else to do it).
Creating a Marketing Plan:
1) Finding Your Market:
Who will read your book and where do you find those people? Books appeal to different people so it’s important to find your target audience.
2) Make a Budget:
Before making grandiose marketing plans, make sure you have the money to afford it.
3) Word of Mouth:
The number one factor in books with sales is “word of mouth” endorsement.
If you have a publicist, ask this person how to help her efforts. If not, let the publisher know what you’re willing to do to help market your book. Make sure your publisher has all the information that they need.
Booksellers are incredibly important in “word of mouth” marketing and you want to cultivate relationships with them. Go to bookstores, check out “staff picks” of book, and figure out which staff member might like your book.
4) Book signings:
Book signings can be very depressing since it’s possible that nobody could show up (if this happens work on developing a relationship with the booksellers while you are there). If you want to draw more people to the event don’t just read and sell books… do something interesting. Come up with a gimmick to get people to follow you. If you don’t have time to set up an event, call a bookseller to help them sell stock.
Keep in mind, publishers don’t usually do book tours unless you are a best selling author. However if you successfully do a local tour, the publisher may be willing to have you go to a few other cities. Concentrate on creating success regionally. If you do, publishers would be more likely to give you dollars for a larger campaign.
5) Think Outside the Bookstore:
Think of places people would be that would be interested in the subjects of your books, such as museums, yachting, ships, and gardening groups.
Also, look for places that are on the lookout for speakers regularly. Book clubs are good because everyone in the book club will be reading your books and asking questions about it.
Don’t forget civic organizations, church groups—just about any group you belong to. These places will let you promote your book because they are not going to pay you to speak. Take advantage of anyone who will listen and provide you with a forum, take advantage of that.
When you give a presentation, don’t just read from your novel or tell what your novel is about—let the audience get to know you.
6) Guerilla Marketing:
Take advantage of friends and family. Never underestimate a mother with lots of friends. Have friends face your book out when they go to bookstores, and ask them for reviews. Encourage family and friends to buy autographed copies for Christmas, events, and holidays.
Non-local friends can talk up your book to others and help you promote your books when you can’t be there. Don’t’ forget to ask your friends to forward your email announcements to everyone on their email list.
7) Media:
You want to get in front of the media every which way you can. You want your newspaper to report when your book comes out. Go everywhere you have the opportunity.
Don’t forget newspapers where you have other ties—your hometown and where you parents live—and professional newsletters.
Newsletters will often publish little snippets like your alumni newsletter and church newsletter.
Take advantage of your local radio and TV stations. The smaller the market the most likely you’ll get on, the bigger the harder to get on.
A trick to newspaper media is to get the name of the editor that will be making the decision to cover the story. Find out how they prefer communication (snail mail, email, etc).
8) Press Kit:
You want both an electronic and paper copy of your press release.
In your cover letter, explain your connection to the newspaper, newsletter, and TV or radio station. Offer the copy of the book to review, but know that they would most likely turn it down.
In your press release, provide clippings (there’s no better way to get another newspaper to cover you than if you’ve already been covered), reviews/blurbs, and awards (your rewards may not necessarily be connected to your book.) If you provide a professional photo—pay for a good professional photo. You can also have a suggested interview list of questions or facts. You might also want a sidebar from your book in the release.
Most importantly, you want to show that you can make a good guest and are interesting.
9) Online Promotions:
You must have a website. If you can’t come up with an html code yourself, hire someone else to do it for you. If you use a website builder service, make sure to invest in your own domain rather than a free website. Use medatags for websites, if you don’t know what that is—find out.
Set up a database of all the people you know, and send them emails. Send regular emails to the people on your mailing list, but not too much that they want to unsubscribe.
Get on newsgroups and list serves (you can find these on yahoo or google). You should also participate in blogs.
Look into buying promotional things you can give out at meetings, such as bookmarks. Business cards should have information, blurb, and pitch on the back. You don’t want to have your address on the business card, only your name, website and email.
If you use snail-mail, put your url on the envelope so people handling it can see it as well.
10) Networking:
There are two types of networking—online and in person.
For online networking use Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and make sure to blog on whatever you use most. (You can copy and paste the same blog in both places), but make sure to be careful about what you post or blog about.
For example, find a discussion group on yahoo/facebook and make sure it’s relevant to your story. You want to make sure it’s a big group with active members. Join the group and introduce yourself if that’s appropriate to the group. Read posts and find something that you have expertise about and respond to the post. People will become familiar with you and rely on your information and help.
For in person networking there are three steps to making networking easier: Listen, ask questions, and look for opportunities to share information or connect them to someone who can help them.
Authors often fall in to the category of being “shy.” You have to introduce yourself to strangers and make new friends. Take advantage of lucky opportunities, whatever that may be.
F.I. Goldhaber has more than twenty-five years of writing and marketing experience. She spent six years as a newspaper reporter and editor and seventeen years working as a writer, editor, and marketing communications consultant for business, government, and not-for-profit entities. During her marketing career, F.I. developed and implemented budgets that ranged from minuscule to millions of dollars. She often worked with entrepreneurial clients, helping them market their products and services on a shoestring.
A graduate of the University of Washington, F.I. has written fiction and poetry full time for the last seven years. She has sold short stories and novelettes to magazines and anthologies in the U.K. and U.S., had two novels and a poetry book published by small presses in the last year, received several awards for her short fiction and poetry, and judged the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and
Eppie Literary contests.
http://www.goldhaber.net/
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