Where to start when marketing your book

Taking Inventory

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

- Maya Angelou

Many authors make the mistake of starting off the planning of their book launch by thinking about certain bestseller lists they want to hit, focusing on launch pricing, or trying to figure out who to hire.

Instead, start by writing down answers to the following questions in a notepad on your computer or a notebook. How big is your email list? Who are you close with who have their own lists? What gatekeepers do you know? Who do you know with podcasts? Who do you know that’s been on podcasts? What events are going on right now that you can be relevant to? Who do you know that you can text to leave a review? Do you know anyone who has a physical store you can put your book in? How many followers do you have on the various social media platforms? What organizations are you a part of or can contact to give away copies to? Start planning your book launch by writing down all of the resources available to you. Then see which tool these assets fall under and utilize accordingly.

That’s where you begin.

Seeding Breakdown

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today”

-Chinese Proverb

After you’ve taken inventory, you’re going to break down your seeding goal we set at the start of this book into each tool. The goal here is to now set mini goals for how many copies you’re going to move from each tool.?

Let’s use an example of 10,000 copies: Street Team Goal: 100 Podcast Guesting Goal: 500 Paid Promotions Goal: 500 Organic/Earned Friends & Partners? Goal: 2,000 Email List Goal: 1,000 Bulk Corporate Buy Goal: 2,000 Amazon Ads Goal: 2,000 Facebook Ads Goal: 400 Instagram Paid Influencers Goal: 1,000 Events Goal: 500 Total: 10,000

Additionally, we’ll want to set goals for our 2 tools that don’t directly move copies but aid the rest of the tools, ratings and editorial reviews:

Amazon Ratings Goal: (100 launch week, 500 after 3 months, 1,000 after 12 months) Editorial Reviews Goal: 5 Key Figures within Niche at launch

We’ve now gone from crossing our fingers in hopes readers find our book to a detailed list of tools we’re going to use to move specific amounts of books into ideal readers' hands.

Now let's get even more granular. Think about each task that needs to get done in order for that tool to be active. Write them down.

For example:

Street Team: Goal: 100 Copies

1. Email my subscribers to be on street team
2. Provide weekly value to street team
3. Bring street team along for the writing journey
4. Have street team buy & review book at launch

Podcast Guesting: Goal: 500 Copies

1. Target list identified
2. Target list pitched
3. Build a podcast bank of 100 interviews
4. Coordinate release of 4 podcasts/week after launch

Amazon Ratings (100 launch week, 500 after 3 months, 1,000 after 12 months)

1. Email List activation
2. Street team activation
3. Direct messaging friends/partners
4. Kbookpromotions
5. Set up ongoing review ask system

Paid Promotions Goal: 500 Copies

1. Identify list of 100 paid relevant newsletters
2. Schedule 4 per week for 20 weeks after launch

Organic/Earned Friends & Partners Goal: 2,000 Copies

1. Identify potential list of all friends/partners
2. Send free copy/thoughtful note to any friend or partner with influence
3. Figure out which ones would be willing to promote to their audiences for free and what that would look like
4. Figure out if/what payment would look like if free not offered

Email List Goal: 1,000 Copies

1. Build to 2k by time of launch
2. Continue to provide value each week to list
3. Activation Plan Put Together (30min consulting for someone to buy & review to help them personally implement)
4. Host 3 different events aimed at getting email list to buy book

Bulk Corporate Buy Goal: 2,000 Copies

1. Identify list of 1,000 publishing companies (people/companies who help authors make a book)
2. Decide on note/packaging that will be sent
3. Put together packages
4. Send 10 per week at launch onwards

Amazon Ads Goal: 2,000 Copies

1. Figure out targeting
2. Go live 30 days from launch
3. 4 months of our ads service aiming for CPR of $5 or less

Facebook Ads Goal: 400 Copies

1. Figure out how much per email we can get between now and launch to grow email list to determine go/no go
2. Create/launch/optimize list building campaigns
3. Develop assets needed for campaigns
4. Switch to book promotion post launch

Instagram Paid Influencers Goal: 1,000 Copies

1. Identify top 100 book marketing/nonfiction author influencers on instagram
2. Get pricing from at least 32
3. Book 16 (4 per week for 4 weeks) at launch

Events Goal: 500 Copies

1. Identify top book events with authors for 2025
2. Reach out organizers to see if I can speak
3. Coordinate event scheduling/travel

Now we not only have very specific goals for the tools but we’ve also taken what could have been an oftentimes overwhelming task of listing out everything that needs to get done before those tools are up and running.

This will look different depending on where you are in your marketing journey. If your book has launched you’ll be looking at activities that you can do once a book has launched. You probably won’t be focusing on building a launch team or hosting a book launch event and that’s okay. Next we’ll plan out when these tasks will get done by building our marketing plan timeline. How long should you market your book for? More and more authors are moving away from a huge launch and focusing on seeding the book into micro communities over a longer time horizon. 1 Million+ copies sold author, Michael Bungay Stanier launches his books over multiple years.?

It keeps you from burning out, and helps you build repeatable habits that build momentum over time.?