Book marketing is a crucial part of publishing and needs proper planning. As an indie author, you may struggle to determine what to do & when to do it to give your book the best opportunity. Many strategies for book marketing are available, but you need to give yourself a little time to think about these strategies. It would help if you had a book marketing timeline. This article is designed for those indie authors who are just about to begin writing.
4 Chapters of the Book Marketing Timeline
Here are the guidelines for crafting a solid book marketing timeline!
1- Before writing a book
You have to create a detailed book marketing strategy that includes the following information:
Who’s your target audience? The target audience is to be your core customers. You don’t need to waste time and energy grabbing everyone’s attention. Collect your thoughts about your intended audience.
Target audiences have similar traits like age, gender, education, and location. Research similar books in your genre and find out what type of followers they attract.
What is your unique selling point? A unique selling proposition is a characteristic that makes your book stand out among many books in the market.
What are your goals? It would help you in marketing if you were clear about your plans. Without goals, there is no promotion. Examples include gaining exposure, generating more clients, or developing a fan club.
What’s your budget? You need to set your budget and make a plan that fits your budget. If you’re under a tight budget, don’t worry. There are a lot of ways to market your book which are cost-effective.
2- As you begin to write a book
You can do any of the following tasks during this time;
- Build your brand
- Create your author website
- Create a mailing list
- Drive social media campaigns
3- Writing a book
While writing a book, you need to do many other tasks besides writing a book. Below mentioned tasks will give you renewed energy to work with your book. It would be best if you researched book reviews. They help you a lot in promoting your book. You may start a blog related to your book.
You can post behind-the-scenes stories on this blog. You have to speak to people face to face or in front of a camera to sharpen your book marketing timeline. You may talk to authors to polish your skills. Also, try to attend the author’s events.
4- After writing a book
Once you finish writing your book, you must finalize your publication date and release date along with a pre-release strategy. You can set up everything you need to promote your book during this period. Also, create a pre-order period until the official launch of the book.
Once your book is published and available for readers in the market, you need to focus on book promotion strategies like sharing reviews about your book on social media, running reader giveaways, and email marketing.
The Bottom Line
A book marketing timeline is a requirement to publish and promote your book. For your ease, we split this timeline into 4 phases, each with specific tasks. These will help you to increase the sale of your book.
