Talking Books and Marketing

I had a chance to sit down with a marketing specialist at last week's ACFW conference. This wasn't just a publicist who knows a bit about the industry, but a marketing consultant who works with some top companies (Apple, Disney, HP, etc) to design their marketing plans. His name is Jim, and he's got a proven track record of success. I told him, "I have the privilege of working with some great authors, who create wonderful books, but it often feels like the publishers seem to do the least they can when it comes to marketing a book." Then I went on to explain the frustrations for an author trying to create a marketing plan when he or she is not actually trained in doing marketing.

Jim's response: "I think every entrepreneurial writer can learn to do more effective marketing." While he admitted that some will come to it more naturally than others, he also noted that there were certain steps everyone should think through in order to create a full-blown marketing plan. When I asked him what those steps would be, here's what he said (and he gave me permission to share this with you)...

STEP ONE: Do a business review of your writing and career.
He suggested each author write down the strengths and weaknesses of their work, think through their audience, and make a careful analysis of what your marketing capabilities are. (It's probably realistic to think you can create a blog...it's probably not realistic to think you're going to be buying full-page ads in USA Today.) But this part was helpful, because he said the author should also do an analysis of the publisher -- What do they do well? What do they do poorly? What do you want to let them do? What do you need to take away and have someone else do? What are their covers like? How good is their pricing? How good is their distribution? Is the sales force on board with your books? What are the trends in the industry -- toward your work or away from it? Jim feels we need to do a complete competitive review, in order to recognize how our books are going to do in today's market, with today's competition. And he said the most important part of this is a clear understanding of our own marketing capacities. What do you like to do in marketing? What do you do well? What seems to work for you? What is unique? How many people are on your database? How many names and emails and addresses have you captured? How many people visit your site? How are you in contact with your readers? "It does not good for an author to say she wants to connect with 100,000 people," Jim told me, "if she only has 200 names in her database."

STEP TWO: List your roadblocks and your resources.
In other words, what are the problems you're facing, and what are the opportunities you have? Write them down, so you can identify them. It does an author no good to say there are "a million opportunities" if, in fact, you can't identify what those opportunities actually are. Is the roadblock a lack of money? A lack of names? A lack of exposure? A lack of time? A lack of media? A lack of originality? Too much competition? Jim explained to me that a good business review will make clear what the roadblocks are. He also noted that an even-handed review of your resources will help you form the basis of your marketing plan.

STEP THREE: Set a sales goal.
You may laugh at this, but it's a reasonable to think that an author can set a sales goal. It certainly would help you determine things like your budget and your time investment if you knew you were going to sell a certain number of copies. So this will mean talking to your editor (or having me talk to the editor) in order to see what the publisher's sales goal is for your book. This step, in Jim's words, is "critical -- it sets the tone for the entire marketing campaign."

STEP FOUR: Clarify your target markets and marketing objectives.
In other words, determine who you're going to sell your book to, where and when you'll contact them, and how you'll reach them. Then clearly state what behaviors you want from the target markets. The big picture here is that you'll be setting up quantifiable goals -- which activities will sell books, and how many they'll sell. (And at this point, I'll admit that I have never done this. I don't know that this was a new thought for me, but it would certainly be a scary step for me to take.)

STEP FIVE: Plan your overall strategies.
After you've defined your target markets and established your objectives, you begin to think about positioning -- "creating the desired perception of your book with the target markets relative to the competition." Jim stressed that this step cannot be skipped -- it provides overall direction for the specific strategies. (And he had a LOT more to say about marketing strategies...but I'll wait for another newsletter to share all of that.)

STEP SIX: Set your communication goals.
At this point an author writes down what he or she wants the target market awareness and attitude to be. It gives you a way to provide direction for each marketing tool.

STEP SEVEN: Develop tactical marketing tools.
This is where you think about branding, packaging, pricing, events, media, promotion, advertising, and publicity vehicles. Most of us START here -- but the marketing guru says this comes near the END of the planning process.

STEP EIGHT: Set a budget, a calendar, and an analysis.
Determine an amount of money you're going to invest in your book, then an amount of time you're going to invest. In other words, don't just rely on the publisher for this. Then do an analysis -- ask yourself if you go through with the plan, do you stand a good chance of earning that money back?

STEP NINE: Work the plan.
Now that you've done all the basic planning, you get to do the work. This is where you start working through all those steps you set up in your plan.

STEP TEN: Evaluate.
Once you've worked through it all, go back and do an evaluation. What worked? What didn't? What can you take and repeat on your next book? Ask questions and write down some clear answers. Be honest with yourself about the results.

There you have it -- an expert's thoughts on how to create a marketing plan for you book. Would love to hear your thoughts on the overall process!

Comments

[Cara Putman]

sounds great. now to make the time to execute...great to see you in denver.

[Alison Strobel Morrow]

Wow. Talk about a valuable post. Thank you so much for this, Chip. I don't think there's anyone else out there who is giving authors this kind of information, and heaven knows we don't have a career if we're not getting our books purchased.

[Cheryl Barker]

I don't have a book out yet, but this post looks like marketing gold to me. Thanks so much for sharing these tips, Chip. Definitely a keeper.

[Sharon A Lavy]

Thanks bunches.

[Dianne]

Thanks for this, Chip. For years we authors have been told that we need to market our books, but up until recently the training to do so has been pretty thin. Workshops I've taken basically say to write articles, send out press releases, etc.--and this is marketing.

We writers are an eager lot--we're eager to please publishers and eager to jump in and do what's asked of us (sometime overly eager), but in my experience a lot of the time our marketing efforts get dismal results. I believe that's because we don't really know what we're doing. It's no wonder our efforts fail.

I'm starting to see some real concrete help in this area, and I'm so grateful. I feel like I'm just bumping along in my writing career, trying to hang on. But I've been trying to hang on for years. So I'm hungry to learn how to make my next book successful.

Jim's info sounds daunting and complicated, but I think as I digest it and work on it and pray over it, a workable plan will emerge.

Thanks for the solid information. Please keep it coming.

[Linore Rose Burkard]

"Concrete" is definitely the word here. The points you've outlined, Chip, can bring this vague thing called 'marketing' into a solid plan that is about as close to scientific as I've ever seen (meaning, it can be measured for success; for duplication of results, etc.)
Importantly, it can be prioritized and implemented, making us feel a great deal less at the whim of chance when it comes to getting books into the hands of readers. That's the way I'm reading it, and this is one to print out and study and study again, and USE.
Thanks for another useful and informative post!

[Martha Ramirez]

I have nominated you for the Kreative Blogger Award:) www.martzbookz.blogspot.com

[twitter.com/Writers_Cafe]

Great post! This is, by far, the most complete and comprehensive explanation of what we need to know to 'help' the publishers promote our books. Knowing ahead of time what the publishers can and can't (or won't) do has to be the most important step - to avoid duplication of effort - but, at the same time, we can control the entire process. Who better to look out for our needs than ourselves? This post will be hard to beat!

[Stephanie Morrill]

I took Jim's class in Denver and it was fabulous, but I'm getting hung up on that first step. How do you know what your publishing house does poorly? Or if the sales team is on board? Are they things you ask other authors with your publishing house, or do you have to figure this out from experience?

[Rebecca Stuhlmiller]

Thank you for making this information concise and available. I really mean it. I will review it when I get my book written.

This would be so much easier if I were Type A instead of Type ZZZZZ....

[Jenny B. Jones]

That Jim is a smartie. Great info--thanks for sharing.

[Brandt Dodson]

Solid advice.
I might add, it's never too early to begin. In most cases an author has several months to a year before their book is released in which to begin a marketing campaign. Implementing these measures - even as the book is being written - can aid in a successful launch.

Thanks Chip.

[Darlene Franklin]

My question is, how do I know what is the most effective use of time and money? This is an excellent tool for planning to market, but ... what do I do? I am making a concentrated effort on doing a better job of marketing.

[Sandi]

Great advice. Thanks to both Chip and Jim!

By the way, B&H is doing a great job at marketing their books. Julie Gwinn works hard to get them noticed. I think it helps that she and Karen Ball are there to help rev up their fiction department. So far, they've produced the best book trailers I've ever seen.

Check 'em out: http://bhpublishinggroup.com/fiction/

[Genny]

Thank you for this, Chip. This is so helpful. I've been really thinking about number four lately--clarifying target markets and marketing objectives. I always appreciate the valuable information you share here!

[Jim MacKrell]

Once again, your feel for what is needed in today's market astounds me. Good info and a great blog

[Leigh DeLozier]

Great info -- thanks, Chip!

I didn't get to ACFW but am hoping to go to the Florida conference in March. Jim's partner at He Blogs/She Blogs will be leading workshops and a continuing class on marketing and blogging, so I'm looking forward to those. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the ACFW conference recordings to be available so I can give myself an early Christmas present!

[Faithe Thomas]

This is a great post to one of the most asked questions we get here at Master Design. Thanks for posting this info.

[Diane Davidson]

Thank you and thank Jim. Although I'm new to the book business, developing a draft marketing plan seems like a good idea for an author even before finding an agent. At least for some of us, it is a reminder that writing the novel is only the first step, and perhaps not even the hardest.