Trying to sell your own book might be a more difficult task than that of writing the book. Some authors find it difficult to market their own books and some of them have no clue where to begin. Others try to market their books using all possible methods and end up spending significant amounts of money and having nothing much to show for it. This is usually because they don’t have a plan when they start marketing books. In this article we shall explain why a marketing plan is important for an author.

Back to basics: what is a marketing plan?

It is a document used to record all the actions that you plan to take in order to achieve your marketing objectives. It usually defines your target audience, where you plan to sell the books (geographically), lists your competitors, and outlines your strategy for attracting readers. A marketing budget is also included.

It doesn’t matter if you make your marketing plan before or after finishing your book. The plan will still be useful to help you promote your books and increase sales. A marketing plan is particularly important if you are a self-published author. Since you don’t have the backing of a publishing house and all the marketing professionals they provide, you have to do everything on your own, hence the need for a solid plan.

Five steps to make a marketing plan

There are five things that a marketing plan must have. They include the following:

Identify the target market: A target market is the group of people who are more likely to buy your book. When identifying the target market you have to consider some demographics such as gender, age, income, career, education level, and geographical location. Since as the author you understand the book completely, it is easy to figure out who to sell it to.

Identify the competition: The marketplace for books is enormous and many new books are being added every day. It therefore makes sense that no matter which type of book you write, you are bound to encounter some competition. You should identify sources of competition in your marketing plan in order to figure out ways to outsell the competition.

Figure out how to reach your target market: One of the daunting tasks that self-publishers face is to figure out how to deliver their books to target audiences. One way to prepare for delivery of books to the target market is to do research on the available marketing options. This way you can spend your money where it is most likely to yield results.

Create a defining statement: All authors should be able to describe their books in few interesting words. Therefore it is good to prepare a statement in advance that sums up the entire book while making listeners more interested in buying the book. A defining statement should be short and to the point.

Create a budget: To make sure that you get a good return on investment from your marketing campaigns, you should set a budget detailing the things you plan to do and how much money you plan to spend on each activity. This way you can allocate more money to the important activities in your marketing strategy.