Monday, February 27, 2023

Creating a Marketing Plan

By Susan Holt Kralovansky

 

The biggest surprise in my writing career was that I wasn't done, not even close to done, once the book was in the editor's hands. I needed to promote my book?! I knew nothing about marketing. I am not a salesperson. I didn't even like selling Girl Scout cookies when I was a kid. But I wanted my books to reach readers. And, was I going to say that to my editor? Of course not. I did what any clueless person would do - I jumped right in, shifting from one promotional activity to another. It was exhausting.

Before I started my second book, I came up with a Big Idea. I put anything even remotely related to my subject in a file, that turned into a box, that turned into a bigger box.

Using my book WE REALLY, REALLY, WANT A DOG!  as an example, you can see my mess. I collected everything from comp titles to ideas for query letters, book trailers and activity sheets, lesson plan ideas, and even ideas for illustrations. This clutter necessitated my second Big Idea - a Book Marketing Worksheet – which has been a lifesaver.

I'm sharing my worksheet to help you come up with your plan. I've used my worksheets to work through everything from writing the book proposal to organizing my marketing ideas.




My Book Marketing Worksheet gives me a promotion blueprint while keeping me focused. It also gives me a great way to measure my progress and see what is and isn’t working.

I challenge you, wherever you are on your writing journey, take some time to develop your own book marketing plan. You’ll be amazed at the ideas you’ll come up with.





Meet the Author:


Susan Holt Kralovansky is a former librarian and the author of 19 picture books, both fiction and nonfiction, five of which she has illustrated. Her most recent book, THE BOOK THAT JAKE BORROWED - EL LIBRO QUE JAKE TOMO PRESTADO was awarded the Silver Medal for the Best Children's Fiction Picture Book – Bilingual by the International Latino Book Awards


43 comments:

  1. These are amazing ideas! Thank you, Susan.

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  2. Thanks for sharing your experience and worksheet, Susan. I'll keep the info to use in the future!

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  3. Thanks for the marketing ideas. Great tips and suggestions.

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  4. Great ideas!! And you are right, such a lot of work - but for a good cause! Thanks!

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  5. Wow, what great information! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Thank you for the nuts & bolts of marketing as I write my PB's. If I develop these work products as the book is edited & illustrated, then I won't create a marketing calamity at the end. As a retired teacher, I appreciate your experience as a librarian to front-load everything. Appreciate the call-to-action!

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  7. Great hands-on advice, Thanks, Suzie!

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  8. Thank you for sharing your story and your process. Priceless!

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  9. Marketing is sooo important. The take-away from Susan's post and from the SCBWI Piranha Pit is that you must think OUTSIDE the box.

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  10. Don't forget about local college students, especially those who might be studying marketing, art, and publishing. They're often eager to work on projects for free if they can add the work and your comments to their portfolios.

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  11. What a great list of ideas! Thanks for sharing your "box" process.

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  12. This is brilliant! Thanks for the great worksheet idea.

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  13. Thanks for sharing your worksheet and great ideas! Good luck with all your efforts!

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  14. These are wonderful! And I love this book!

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  15. Thank you for sharing your templates with us. Marketing is overwhelming 😓

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  16. Thank you for so many helpful strategies. Marketing is so overwhelming at first.

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  17. Your worksheet is FABULOUS. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Thank you for sharing your process.

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  19. If and when I do sell my book, I'll have this list to look back on. While reading it though, I think it's something as writers we should consider now-for titles, where the book fits in the market, comp titles, worksheet, etc, etc, etc...Thank you so much Susan. I plan to use these templates now and "when I do sell my books!"

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  20. Wow! Great ideas and worksheet. Thank you, Susan!

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  21. Susan, thank you for sharing your ideas and worksheet--it's like mini-workshop!

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  22. Thank you, thank you for sharing your work through. Helpful and informative.

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  23. Super helpful book marketing worksheet. Thanks for sharing, Susan!

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  24. What a good idea - I had a dinosaur book this year to market and could not think of a thing. A Box O Dinos would help!

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  25. Thanks for sharing this very helpful marketing sheet Susie!

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  26. Thank you for sharing your amazing book marketing worksheets. I appreciate your generosity.

    Suzy Leopold

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  27. Wonderful! I sure hope I need this info soon!

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  28. Thank you so much for that marketing worksheet. I'm excited to use it one day.

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  29. Peggy, I had the same horrible shock once my book came out! I was so new to the business (and most social media platforms) that I had NO idea I needed to promote it let alone how. I've learned a ton, but these tips are super useful Thank you so much!

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    1. And, SUSAN, I have no idea why I typed Peggy. I'm making dinner and parenting while reading this post!! Sorry!

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  30. Thank you for sharing for the helpful list. Some of the ideas I had not thought about...involving the community for example. Great idea!

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  31. Great spreadsheet. Thank you for sharing it.

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  32. SUSAN: THANK YOU for making the OVERWHELMING marketing side of publishing SO MUCH EASIER to understand--and ACTUALLY DO!--by providing your marketing plan worksheet. SO KIND of you to share! THANK YOU for the INSPIRATION!!!

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  33. Thanks for the worksheet. I'm saving this! Carol Baldwin

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  34. I love this worksheet Susan, so vivid! Thank you ;)

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  35. I'm working on my marketing plan, and it is a little overwhelming, yes. Thanks for these ideas as I apply them to the themes/subject matter of my upcoming release!

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  36. Susan, this post was a source of endless inspiration to me! Thank you so much. It felt like unlocking the keys to the kingdom. I took your words to heart and created a marketing plan worksheet inspired by yours: https://monavoelkel.com/2023/03/20/creating-a-book-marketing-worksheet/

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  37. Sounds like a wonderful launch! Thanks for sharing this!

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