Monday, May 06, 2013

Monday's Helpful Hints - Marketing plans

Today, we'll talk a bit about Marketing plans. And we'll discuss them in more detail over the next two weeks. Today, a few cautions and some information.

These are going to be as different as you and the genre in which you write. Unfotunately, these are now a part of the business of writing. At one time, authors wrote, companies distributed, and if you were lucky and the company for which you wrote thought you were going to make a splash, or you already had, then they were willing to do all kinds of promotion on you behalf.

Those days are probably long gone. The big six appear to be struggling to keep up with the influx of the independent authors and the small print and expanding digital market. Promotion of any kind is restricted to only the very big names. So, you have to be able to present your publisher, or yourself if you've decided to go the indie route, with a plan to sell your book.

Some things I've learned and some things other author friends of  conveyed to me are some of the things we'll cover in the next two weeks, starting with what are some of the things I've learned. And let me repeat, every plan will be different.

You will need to give some thought, well, probably a lot of thought, to how much money you want to spend in the way of promotion. And that means being very realistic about what you can make from the sale of your work.

This will probably surprise and annoy a lot of writers, but several years ago, a survey gave an honest appraisal of what exactly a freelance author could make in a year. The dismal number of about Six thousand dollars was the number finally agreed upon. And that was for the year. It hasn't change much over time, for it was about that twenty years ago. So, writing is no way to get rich quick.

There are sites available on line that detail the amount of money an author of certain genres can make,  if you are lucky and write a best seller first time out. One of them is "Show me the money" and covers the categories of romance novels.

So, we'll look at just how you plan to market your book. In the meantime, you might want to take a look at how much money you can spend, if you want to spend anything, how much time you will give to promotion. Most people forget about the amount of time promotion takes and believe me, that eats into writing time. Know that the plan will probably have to be written and present to your publisher, if you plan to contract the rights for your book. Even if you decide to go it alone, you should write out your plan. This then will be your guide line for marketing.

What I've learned and what worked for me next week.

Allison
www.AllisonKnight.com
Heart-warming Romance with a Sensual Touch
"Betray Bride" available from www.ChampagneBooks.com
"Lynbrook's Lady" coming in August form www.ChampagneBooks.com

2 comments:

joyce said...

Great blogs! Wonderful advice.

Much more informative than most blogs.

Mary Ricksen said...

Keep it coming. I hate promo and long for the days when publishers did it all...
And the problem for me with self publishing is there is so much horrid stuff put up there. And it really murks up the water.
Let us know when you post new tips!