Dammit, Jim, I'm a Writer, Not A Salesman!

October 9, 2008 6:34 AM

I know how you write an article, I know how you write a short story, I know how you write a book. But how do you write a marketing plan?

I have a book idea; something that would involve several writers, so it's not all on me (think like the "1001 [blanks] you must [blank] before you die" series). Fortunately I also have a friend who's willing to work with this on me; he has a connection in publishing, and has promised that if I write up some sample pages and other materials, he'll show them all to her. Which is FANTASTIC.

Except for the part where he says that one of the things I should include is a marketing plan.

Not that I don't believe it's important. It's just that when I asked my friend "great, but I've never written one of those, do you have any advice?" he said, "to be honest, I don't know either."

...So. What exactly needs to go INTO a marketing plan for a book, and how does a complete novice like me go about researching that information?

posted by EmpressCallipygos to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Can you get your hands on the paraphernalia that festoons pre-release book copies? Whenever publishers send off a promising book to reviewers prior to the publication date, they usually include a folder full of information: author bios, a concise 3-paragraph summary of the book's gist, a testament to the book's relevance to modern audiences, etc. I've never been around for the zygote stages of book publishing, but I assume the method is similar.

Also, people write books on how to sell books.
posted by zoomorphic at 7:05 AM on October 9, 2008

Best answer: Jeez, lazypants! You get an F in Google today. BOOOOOOOO.

Creating a Book Marketing Plan

Publicize Your Book (marketing plan excerpt)

How to Create a Book Marketing Plan

Your Book Marketing Plan - Winning Strategies and Tips

The rest of the Google results

Good luck with the book.
posted by Askr at 7:42 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Jeez, lazypants! You get an F in Google today. BOOOOOOOO.

...I plead brain fatigue from having just finished another project where I had to Google:

* A simple summation of the rules for mahjongg
* The origins of Dr. David Snowdon's "nun study"
* The lyrics to Eddie Cantor's "Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jongg"
* The exact height of the Pagoda in Kew Gardens
* The history of the Gray Panthers
* The difference between Delftware, the Blue Onion china pattern, and the Staffordshire Blue Willow pattern
* The physical effects of Alzheimer's on the brain
* The explanation for why David Carradine was picked to play Kwai Caine in KUNG FU
* A screenshot from FIREFLY with a Mandarin inscription clearly visible in the picture
* the date of Mike Wallace's entry into television broadcasting
* anecdotes from medieval nursing homes
* The exact names of the exact two ping pong players who started the whole Ping Pong Diplomacy detente in 1971, AND a picture of them both
* The inspiration for the song "Kung Fu Fighting"

...And then I had to write about them cohesively.

My brain was on strike today.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:30 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: ....But the fact that my brain is on strike shouldn't exempt me from gratitude -- thanks, Askr and zoomorphic.

I'll be working on this over the weekend and will keep checking back...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:22 AM on October 9, 2008

You know, I don't know what his "connection" is, but he might want to check on what that connection actually wants. If they're an agent, they might want to see a marketing plan, I suppose. But speaking as an editor, marketing plans that land on my desk--especially when something's just being submitted--get an eyeroll and a quick trip to the recycling bin. As a general rule, though, including a marketing plan with a submission is presumptuous and annoying. Publishers have their own marketing departments--people who are paid to make marketing plans, and who are really good at it.

I'm not saying that your friend's wrong, I'm just saying that you might want to double-check, because under normal circumstances, this generally shouldn't be part of a submission package.

All that said, consider the following things when drawing up a marketing plan:

• Who's your target audience? Identify them, and explain why the book is appealing and relevant to that audience.
• How, ideally, should the book be available? Ebook? Hardbound? Mass-market paperback? Some sort of package deal--your book's on knitting scarves, and people can buy it with a ball of yarn and some knitting needles?
• Are there publications that specialize in reviewing or otherwise commenting on the particular sort of book that you're writing? List them. Find out what their review policies are, what you'll need to supply them, what sort of timeline you'll need to have to get in with them.
• Are there websites that might be interested in reviewing or commenting on the book? Answer everything that would need to be addressed with other publications.
• What about radio programs?
• At what stores do you plan to try to set up signings?
• Are there relevant trade shows? Would you be willing and able to attend one or more to promote your book?
• Do you, personally, have any connections that might lead to reviews or ad placement elsewhere?
• Do you have any sort of established following already? Do you have a popular blog, maybe? A popular YouTube channel? Friends with a popular blog? What other tools do you have at your disposal?
• Do you have a website for yourself? (If no, you really should.) Will there be some sort of companion materials on your website? *Could* there be some sort of companion materials on your website?

I'm assuming that, with a contact in publishing, you're not hoping to go down the self-publishing road, which would mean that you need a much more detailed marketing plan with things like distribution, cover art, et cetera all covered. For a generic, non-self published book, the above is a fairly good start--you'll want to cover, very clearly, potential avenues for promotion and anything that you as the author could do to make promotion easier or more effective.

Best of luck. Feel free to MeMail me if you have more questions.
posted by meghanmiller at 9:28 AM on October 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

EmpressCallipygos, so, what was the inspiration for the song "Kung Fu Fighting"?
posted by Exchequer at 9:50 AM on October 9, 2008

Response by poster: so, what was the inspiration for the song "Kung Fu Fighting"?

According to Carl Douglas: he saw a Kung Fu movie while under the influence of some unusually strong painkillers. That was it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 PM on October 9, 2008