creating an effective marketing plan for authors
TRANSCRIPT
Creating An Effective
Marketing Plan for
Authors
Ideas, Tools
and Resources
Congratulations on putting
your thoughts to action.
Many people have thought about or
even said they were going to write a
book but never seem to actually do it.
By starting your book marketing
journey, you are showing the world
that you are serious about sharing
your message.
This resource guide will help you
define your marketing plan.
When you finish, you will have defined
answers to why you wrote this book,
who it was designed to help and how
you will share your message.
Why Did You
Write This Book?
Before you start planning on how to
share the message of your book,
you need to know why you have
written this book.
How you share and market it can
vary but the reason why you wrote
this book will also be the reason and
foundation for all of your marketing
efforts.
You can write down your answer in
the provided workbook.
Who is your
reader?
Everyone is not an answer. Is it
single men wanting to get
married, people 18 to 25 who
want to take control of their
finances or widowed women
over the age of 50?
Ask yourself what do their lives
look like and what problem do
they want to solve.
Your Book in One
Sentance
With your why and your target
audience defined, you can now
create a sentence that will quickly
describe your book.
Use this formula:
This book will {action}
{target audience} {result}
Examples:
This book will
Help men process grief
Empower pastors to connect with
church members
Teach Christian authors how to
develop a marketing plan.
Get Your (Digital)
House In OrderYou need a website. Your website
will be the digital home you direct
people to in order for them to learn
more about you and your book.
Social media is a great resource but
it is not something you own.
Having a website is your own piece
of digital reality. It also gives you an
opportunity to collect email
addresses to build your email list.
With an email list, you can stay
connected with your readers and
give them updates, information and
inspiration related to your book.
Where Does Your
Audience Spend Time?
Offline
What places, stores or events
do they visit and attend?
Search websites such as
Meetup and Eventbrite to find
events.
Some radio and television
station websites feature
community calendars where
you can browse and post your
own events for free.
Online
Websites and Forums
Search {target audience} and
forum/group/club
For example, if you wrote a book a
men’s fashion, search men's fashion
forum.
Interact with people on the boards
by asking and answering questions
related to your topic.
You can also see what topics and
questions are being discussed for
ideas that you can expand.
Where Does Your
Audience Spend Time?
Facebook has over 1 billion active
users a month.
The average user spends 50
minutes a day on Facebook,
Facebook messanger and
Facebookowned Instagram
When getting started with social
media, this a great place to start.
Each social network has a different
demographic. 85% of Pinterest
users are women. One in three
professionals and 41% of
millionaires are on LinkedIn
Social Media
Content
Content refers to the type of posts
you make on social media.
Content includes, textonly, pictures,
graphic quotes, links and videos
Hashtags
A hashtag is a word or phrase
preceded by a hash or pound sign
and used to identify messages on a
specific topic.
While hashtags are not searchable
on LinkedIn, they are on Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram.
Social Media
Publicity is defined as the giving out
of information about a product,
person, or company for advertising
or promotional purposes.
Offline
Reach out to the Meetup and
Eventbrite organizers from your
earlier research. See if you can
present a topic on your book in
exchange for testimonials or reviews
Online
Write and distribute a press release.
This will let the press know that your
book is newsworthy.
Publicity
As you share information about yourbook, you will need to share insightsand the core message of your bookwhile not sharing all the messages in
your book at one time.
One way to achieve this balance is bylooking at the different stories and
topics you mention in your book and toexpand on them.
Expansion can be shared in severalways, such as blog posts, YouTube
videos or social media posts.
The next page is a list of messageexpansion ideas presented to a client
based on their book:
Expand Your
Message
Overcoming Obstacles
Dealing with the Loss of a Parent
How to Close a Business
Deciding When To Close A Business
Living with a Purpose
Cutting Through the Clutter
Finding God Online
When Doing Enough Doesn’t Feel Like Enough’
Not Taking No For an Answer
Walking in Trust
Bringing God to the Workplace
How to Stay Saved on the Clock
God's Deliverance from Addictions
Spiritual Healing
Removing the Stigma from Unwed Mothers
Balancing Motherhood and Career
Removing Expectations from Marriage
Recovering from Betrayal
Recovering from Emotional Betrayal
Making God Your Best Friend
Being a SpiritLed Woman
Being a SpiritLed Wife
Being a SpiritLed Mother
Helping Your Children Reach Their Potential
Controlling Your Destiny
Finding Your Path
Expand Your Message
Sample Topics
ResourcesWebsite
KnowEm Check domain name and
social media profile name availability
Bluehost Affordable hosting for yourwebsite
Wordpress Simple yet powerfulplatform to build your website
Bluehost offers a one click installation
Wordpress themes for authors Templates that you can use to
customize the look of your website
Google Analytics Measure visits toyour website
Mailchimp Email marketing solutionthat will allow you to stay in contact
with your readers
SumoMe Tools to increase yourtraffic and build your email list
Social Media
Canva Make customized graphicsfor social media
Hootsuite schedule your socialmedia posts in one central location
Publicity
PRLog Online press release distributionand press release submission service to
increase awareness of your book
RadioGuestList Radio, internet radioand podcast shows looking for experts
and authors to interview
HelpAReporterOut Receive updates fromreporters who are looking for source requests
for stories. Submit your information to the
stories that best fit your message.
Feedly Find articles to share that interestyour audience
Likealyzer Analyze your Facebookpage and get ideas on how to improve
your strategy.
Tagboard Research hashtags andsee how they are being used