WHERE DOES BOOK MARKETING START?
Book Marketing is a huge undertaking, but it starts with baby steps. When I was brand new, the mere subject of book marketing was enough to make me feel completely overwhelmed. However, now looking back, I see that it started with baby steps and book marketing isn't something you do, it's something you build.
Every book marketing video I watched would exhaust me just thinking of how much more I was expected to do to market my books. I'm writing this blog post to offer the most important tips I would give to myself as a new author and an other new authors and book marketers.
This first installment is to set the framework of your marketing plan. The calendar list below is meant to be sort of a file box. Think of each holiday as a marketing opportunity. You will build your marketing plan by starting with this calendar.
When you make Christmas or Halloween ads for your books, they will go in your file and next year, you will have two ads instead of one. Make all of your marketing ads generic so they can be used over and over again. This is one way to build your arsenal of marketing.
ORGANIZE EVEN THE FIRST MARKETING EFFORTS!
I'm not an expert on marketing, but have learned quite a bit in the last three to four years. One problem I had in the beginning is I would be caught short -- not prepared for all the different marketing opportunities. I was focused on marketing platforms, but I never far enough ahead and prepared for the various marketing seasons.
Below is a Generic Holiday Marketing Calendar that I now use to 'think ahead'. It's January 9th as I write this, and I'm thinking about Valentine's Day and how I will take advantage of that holiday to market my books.
MARKETING ADS AND BOOK COVERS:
Earlier this year I started uploading YouTube videos targeting beginner writers and marketers who want to learn how to make their own book covers. Gimp is a free photo manipulation program -- completely free. Volunteer coders from around the world, unsung heroes, have worked on this computer program for the masses.
Many authors are on a tight budget, especially when there are many businesses that have set up around self-publishing authors who are only too happy to take money. That's why it's so important to plan where you will spend your money in publishing and marketing books.
The Gimp program is a Photoshop knock-off, so to speak, but an author only needs to learn how to operate about 8 of the tools in the program in order to create marketing ads and book covers. This is a way to save money. So be sure to check out my YouTube Playlist here.
If you would like to download this generic Book Marketing List, sign up below.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Now that we have gone over the list of marketing events that will be the framework of our marketing plan, it's time to focus on the marketing toolkit next.
What will you need to keep handy and in one place in order to master a growable marketing plan? What will be in that toolbox?
In the meantime, you may want to watch a short video or two where I explain how I go about making two or three holiday ads for my books.
