I have what I would describe as a very refined marketing plan. This is a result of lessons learned from the international book launch of my first book and extensive research in several areas. It will be ever refining so please feel free to comment.
The below promotion plan includes a budget of about $900-$2,200 and requires about 3-6 months of concurrent efforts.
Here is an overview of the marketing plan:
1. Print of Advanced Read Copies to send to all of the major editorial review sources. This requires approximately 3 months and a budget of $80
2. Three (yes three) different sources for reliable and independent book reviewers which will receive an eBook copy of the book in exchange for their impartial and professional review on Amazon and GoodReads. This includes a $400-$600 budget and requires approximately 3-6 months.
3. Midwest book review and Red City Book Review Amazon and GoodReads Giveaways of the PRINTED book. The idea here is to generate readership and also reviews. The contests typically run for 30 days and then require a book and mailing cost. This can play very well on Twitter particularly if a tweet of the contest is part of the entry requirements. Budget approximately $400-$600 for 40-60 books and requires approximately 2 months.
4. Paid inclusion in Publishers Weekly approximately 3 months and $150 budget
5. This isn’t really a step but the above steps will serve to create an engaged community of readers prior to the book launch. Anything else to create an engaged community.
6. Budget for Facebook ads and Amazon targeted ads (To be determined) this should be super targeted for example to people who like “Stephen King Books” then in the ad say “Do you like Stephen King? Then you’ll love this book on sale for $0.99”
7. International distribution of ebook and printed book through several channels such as Ingram, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Amazon, etc, etc
8. ISBN Number listed in Books in Print and Nielsen BookData
9. Launch Party, Book Signings, Book Readings
10. Press Release through PRWeb budget $400
11. Initial free eBook offering through Amazon and several Facebook Groups, sites, and twitter to get the word out about Giveaway and other sites to create a readership community that is engaged
12. Now offer the eBook for $0.99 and promote to those sites (again this is to build some momentum, get reviews, build a community etc) BookBub, Buck Books, ManyBooks $75
13. Continue to build my growing email list
14. Social Media: I am very active with my blog, 4,000+ Twitter followers, Facebook page, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.
15. Advertising promo with FreeBooksy, ENT, AskDavid.com, Book Barbarian, Robin Reads and Choosy Bookworm
16. That’s just the tip of the iceberg