Tag | book marketing plan
Web 2.0 Publishing
The advent of the web has completely revolutionized the way that books are printed, published, promoted and sold. Technology has made each of these components more accessible for the average person to use and benefit from. Instead of relying upon a publisher many authors now have the ability to do it all on their own and for a fraction of the price.
Let’s take a look at printing. Print-on-demand (POD) is a process where authors are able to upload a print-ready file to a POD publisher and when an order arrives for your book, the book is printed on the spot and delivered to your customer. Much cheaper than batch printing which include inventory storage and shipping costs. Another plus to POD publishing is that you’re not limited to just one. Use a group to determine the most affordable for you.
POD publishing transfers easily to large online retailers like Amazon.com and BN.com. As an author you can create your own page on these sites and as orders are requested you can have them fulfilled via your POD group. The general public will never know the difference and it gives writers a tremendous amount of control over the production of their books. Furthermore, you can also sell and promote through ClickBank, Kindle and on iPhone’s Smashwords – all are excellent tools and purchase points to boost your sales.
There’s been a lot said about promoting your book, but with web 2.0 the empowerment for authors continues. Instead of traditional book-signings and tours, writers can engage readers through podcasts, blogs, Google Book Search and social media. No matter how you slice it, promoting your book using various online tools and resources is a sure fire way to boost sales and build awareness about what you’ve written. That equates to exposure and more revenue for you.
In a nutshell, think of web 2.0 as a term that describes how writers can become more self-sufficient. Being able to do things on your own shouldn’t be viewed as a burden, but as a way to guide readers to your book and keep them engaged beyond the writing.
Book Marketing Plan: Create One In 5 Steps
Developing a marketing plan for your book can be frustrating if you don’t know exactly where to start. Fortunately, whether you’re creating a marketing plan for a restaurant, a new skincare cream or a roofing company, the core elements of the plan will never change. As long as you have some of the basics down, you’ll be able to assemble a solid plan that will help you market your book and help you achieve amazing results. Here’s a summary of what you need to consider before putting pen to paper.
1. Research Your Consumers
You need to know what people are buying, where they’re buying and how they’re buying. Selling what people want is what will get them to purchase. Hit the web and look at historical trends for books in your niche. Look for commonalities among them like simple plot line, memorable characters or outstanding publicity blitzes. Use what you learn and apply it to your own plan.
2. Make It Easy to Distribute
Even though you’re an author who’s created something tangible that you can touch, hold and keep, most of the world is electronic based. This means you’ll need to come to your audience and make your book searchable, portable and shareable. Do this well and your book has the potential of becoming a viral phenomenon.
3. Create a Sense of Urgency
As your gathering and researching for your marketing plan, consider creative ways to make your book a stand out from others. There’s quite a bit of competition so start getting clever about how you’ll sell your product. Think about promoting a limited quantity available or only allowing people to purchase if they buy two at the same time. There are many unique ways to get consumers excited and compel them to act.
4. Set A Budget
Once you get your creative juices flowing you may find yourself with an arsenal of great marketing ideas and strategies for your plan. Unfortunately, they’ll all probably come with a price tag. Decide what you can afford to do and what you can’t and get realistic about costs. Your book needs a website, but anyone who’s offering to build you one for less than $500 highly questionable. This is an instance where you get what you pay for.
5. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask
Whether this is your first book or your fifth, it doesn’t hurt to connect with a successful peer and ask them for advice and insight. People love to teach and share with others. Send an email or pick up the phone and ask others what made their marketing plans a success. Use what you learn to focus your own book marketing plan.
Difference Between Book Marketing Strategy & Book Marketing Plan
The terms marketing strategy and marketing plan may sound similar, but the truth is that they’ve quite different. Many people often mistake the two for one another and that can sometimes lead to ineffective marketing, especially when it comes to your book. A marketing strategy is shaped by your goals and is more of a summary that illustrates your position compared to the competition. In contrast, a marketing plan is the actual application of what your strategy is. The marketing plan is your roadmap that takes you from point a to point b.
The first step in developing a marketing strategy is to decide what you want your promotional efforts to accomplish. Do you want to sell more books in Texas? Are you interested in increasing your audience base to include auto-biography fans? Create a detailed list of what your short-term and long-term objectives are and they will become the foundation that your marketing plan is built upon.
Your marketing plan will include in-depth details such as budget, sales forecasting, strengths and weaknesses and market data such as, market growth rate, consumer trends and competitive information. The combination of all marketing plan components will provide you with a working document that can be used to focus your efforts and measure their outcomes. This is important because it illustrates success and failures and allows for fine tuning your plan if needed.
You can’t have a marketing plan without a strategy and a strategy without a plan is worthless. They both are needed in order for your marketing efforts to work effectively. Think of these two pieces like a pair of legs – they’re both required if you want your marketing to stand on its own.
The nice thing about a marketing strategy and plan is that they aren’t set in stone. If you’re headed down a path that doesn’t seem to be producing the outcomes that you had hoped to achieve all you have to do is sit down and re-focus. Because these are working documents, they’ll grow as you grow.
