Book Marketing Begins with the Proposal

by Karen Whiting @KarenHWhiting

Whether you go traditional or indie, book proposals kickoff the marketing and define the book. It's a great way to help plan your marketing before you write.

Book Hooks and Descriptions Make Good Marketing copy

When aspiring writers ask, why does a publisher want a hook and two or three other descriptions of the book? It's because it sets up the marketing. Certain lengths create back cover copy while others create great for catalogs. The short hook will be your media pitch and a basis for the press release. One of my first books, on finger puppets for ministry leaders, I used a hook of, 'Let your fingers do the teaching' and the published had it in bold, red letters across the top of the back cover.

The Competition Is a Well of Promotional Ideas

The comparison in the market analysis helps refine your book ideas and defines the uniqueness. Those comparable books also let you check out how the other books in the category are being marketed. Follow those authors and keep track of interviews, pitches, and more for ideas on how to promote your book. Even for my current proposal for tweens, I picked up new phrases to use in marketing.

The Audience and Need for the Book

Wow! What a great section to fill in. Describing the needs also reveals the benefits of the book which make great selling points. Defining the audience helps you know who you will market to wile you are also realizing their needs. That should be a great place to revisit when you're ready to create posts and blogs. I usually seek out articles and statistics for this section and find data that helps me in marketing. One study from the Barna report on moms gave me great insights into what moms need. Another Barna study listed ten reasons teens and young adults leave the church that inspired me to add elements that would keep them in church by addressing what caused them to go, such as adding in more science since one reason was believing the lie that God and science are opposed to one another.

Affinity Groups

These are groups to connect with as you list the, Join their FB groups and get active so you can market to them later. One friend joined specific dog breed groups and later wrote a book with that breed as the main character. She identified them as affinity groups and sold lots of copies to the members when the book released.

Summaries of chapters or sections of the book

The summaries give condensed versions of concepts and make good blog posts. They may also contain some anecdotes or stories for interviews. Once it's closer to a release date, I go to the summaries in the proposal and brainstorm ideas for articles, talks, and blog posts. That's what usually lands media interviews and articles in magazines.

Characters and Plots in Fiction, plus Research

Again, all the write up about the plot and people in the book provide material for posting. The research can be jumping off points for travel articles, blog posts, and more. Research on health, disasters, or other issues can be marketing aspects to share information. I wrote a short story on literacy and can tie that to a handout on helping children read better. I'll use it with my future teen book releases at homeschool shows because improving literacy improves book reading and buying.

The Contents

Even the chapter titles and divisions of your book provide fodder for marketing. A Chapter that grabs attention is also a talking point for interviews and an idea for articles. Any special features like reflective questions, sidebars, and factoids provide ideas for articles later and tip sheets to use as freebies. My list of archeology sites and artifacts in my upcoming book is in a spread sheet and will be easy to use for interview pitches and blog posts.

The Marketing Section

This is the big section where you brainstorm and list what you can do to market the book. At this point the book concept is new and you're probably brimming over with ideas and know what the book will matter to readers. Consider what you can do in each major method of marketing: print, media, social media, speaking, and expertise. List ideas you can do to connect with the audience like freebies, videos, special calendar date activities related to the book, postcard campaigns, and ideas specific for the book. Be sure you will follow through on what you list. Check out calendar dates for marketing idea. The Jewish celebration Tu B’Shvat, the New Year for Trees so the proposal includes an online event to celebrate this with my botany book. Some traditional publishers add the list into the contract to make sure you will follow through.

If you are a new author, that you can add in training you've taken or signed up to take in the marketing section. So, consider what you need such as speaker trainer. podcast training, etc.,. Also start building databases of media you can pitch to, meeting planners for speaking, and blogs for which you can write guest posts.

Once Book is Complete Revisit the Proposal

After the book is completed, it's time to revisit the proposal and set the marketing in motion. That also when you can start reaching out and use these descriptions as pitches and connections for marketing.

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Book Marketing Begins with the Proposal from @KarenHWhiting on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Karen Whiting (WWW.KARENWHITING.COM) is an international speaker, former television host of Puppets on Parade, certified writing and marketing coach, and award-winning author of twenty-seven books for women, children, and families. Her newest book, The Gift of Bread: Recipes for the Heart and the Table reflects her passion for bread and growing up helping at her grandparent’s restaurant. Check out her newest book Growing a Mother’s Heart: Devotions of Faith, Hope, and Love from Mothers Past, Present, and Future. It's full of heartwarming and teary-eyed stories of moms.

Karen has a heart to grow tomorrow’s wholesome families today. She has written more than eight hundred articles for more than sixty publications and loves to let creativity splash over the pages of what she writes. She writes for Crosswalk. Connect with Karen on Twitter @KarenHWhiting Pinterest KarenWhiting FB KarenHWhiting.