SUMMARY :
Building a brand for your new book and/or your author platform is like building a new house. You have to get the blueprints right or you risk wasting a lot of time and money. Our Book Marketing stage 1: Action Plan includes analysis, a book marketing plan and author marketing consultation.

This service is applicable for printed books, ebooks and an overall author platform as well. This service is highly recommended to all authors, new and veteran, self-published and traditional, however there are certain circumstances and genres of book that we prefer not to be involved with. Contact us to find out if you qualify.

Book Marketing Stage 1 is a low-cost way to get started in book marketing, with valuable up-to-date information about what you can and should be doing to achieve your book selling goals.

Read one of our success stories with the book review strategy for The Devil's Prayer by Luke Gracias

Book Marketing Stage 1 includes identifying the target audience, analysing the sales data you plan to use online, improving the saleability of your book and teaching you how to take practical steps to promote it both online and offline.

ANALYSIS
First of all our book marketing expert gets oriented with what the book is, who it is for, sales strategies you are using or are planning to use etc. We will read the first chapter, discuss the front cover among our design team, research the target market and help you pinpoint the target audience. We will analyse the saleability of your book and communicate with you about any key areas that need improvement.

Meta-data Proofread and Analysis
The information that turns up on book and ebook stores (for vendors like Apple, Amazon, Kobo and Google Play) is one of the most important steps in marketing your book. Using our knowledge of what meta-data is searchable we will identify the strengths and weaknesses of your existing book title, description (blurb), categorisation, age target etc. We will discuss pricing in regards to the market position of your book and/or ebook.

Read one of our children's book success stories with the book marketing strategy for The Anger Volcano by Amanda Greenslade

If you are planning to go to print and ebook we will let you know if we think that's a good move from a marketing point of view. If you have enhancements like audio, video or interactivity we will include our thoughts on the best way to reach your target market and use this content to open your product to a wider audience.

Selling Platform
What selling platform are you launching your book from. Is it an author brand, a business brand, an organisation or government department? What opportunities do you have to communicate with an existing audience? We will analyse the performance of your existing Selling Platform or provide information about developing one. A powerful Author Platform is an important step to connect optimally with your readership

BOOK MARKETING PLAN
We will create a customised draft Marketing Action Plan (MAP). This MAP includes all the key selling information such as marketing text (advertising spiels) for your book and your author platform, or training and prompts for you to create them. It pin-points some of the key things you will need to do in order to promote your book, such as getting reviews, improving online sales rank, websites, blogs, social media and advertising.

We will tailor a MAP for you, based on:

• Your book’s first chapter, accuracy, professionalism etc.
• Your book’s selling information, including title, blurb, genre, cover, price and other meta-data
• Your individual profile as a writer or your organisation/business platform and branding
• Other similar books in the same marketplace
• Your target market (you may need to supply guidance in this area), where they are, what devices they use, what they are searching for etc.
• Your existing marketing efforts and plans
• Your previous efforts and experience with selling books/ebooks

This marketing plan will include a number of avenues that you can take in order to promote your book and/or ebook, including:

• How to get reviews of your book
• How to use social media to support sales of your book
• Sales copy (text) and where to use different pitches
• What marketing materials pitches to have ready for when opportunities arise
• How to make such opportunities arise
• Networking
• How to use a sales sheet
• What advertising is worth doing for your book
• What marketing materials and designs for print and web you will need
• How to create an author website and/or blog
• How to approach the media or get publicity
• Reviews and awards
• Vendor promos (eg. working out the right links, using Amazon Kindle Select etc.)
• Other Internet Marketing (eg. SEO, book blog tours, if relevant to you)

CONSULTATION
Marketing Stage 1 includes 1 hour of consultation, such as emails and discussions by phone and/or Skype to discuss the strategies that will work best for you. In addition to the MAP you will also receive a set of up-to-date marketing training documents, including how to use social media to sell books and/or boost your profile as an author.

MARKETING ACTIVITY
Most of the Marketing Stage 1: Action Plan package is analysis, planning and consultation, but the following actual marketing activities are often included, depending on your strategy. When requested we will:

1. Put one of your books forward for consideration by vendor editorial team(s), for category spotlights etc¹
2. Acquire promo codes you can use to run give away promotions (such as in a magazine or newspaper)¹
3. Manage your first 90-days of Amazon Kindle Select, including up to 5 free days and up to 5 count-down deal days if available.¹
4. Help you to set up a Facebook Author page.
5. Design and post a promotion of one book on our Facebook page, which you can freely use elsewhere.
6. Design one Booklink business card for you (printing is also free if you purchase a Booklink landing page)
7. Provide you with a low-res PDF or ePub advanced review copy (ARC) to send to potential reviewers or buyers²

SUMMARY
This is a flexible service, and it is the starting point for more marketing services as well as a fantastic stand-alone consultation with a book marketing expert about building your author platform and marketing your book. You will get valuable up-to-date, experience-based tips on the best ways to market books and ebooks.

For practical, down-to-earth advice about the achieveability of your goal within your budget, and the likely timeframe the marketing plan will need to run, simply ask your consultant at the conclusion of the service.

Customer feedback on Marketing Stage 1
"I enjoyed our conversations and working with you. I found your approach very professional and encouraging. I now have a much better idea of ways to market my book and the particular steps involved and better understanding of the processes." —Maureen Cashman, author of Charlie & Me in Val-Paradis

Read some frequently asked questions about this book marketing action plan.

Book marketing prices :
1 ebook marketing plan, $500.00 +GST
1 print and ebook marketing plan, $600.00 +GST
Up to 3 Books in a series (print and ebook), $750.00 +GST³
Marketing 4-8 Books in a series (print and ebook), $950.00 +GST³
For more books in one series, please add $50 +GST per title
1 audio book marketing plan, $650.00 +GST

1. Only available while an aggregation contract for this book or ebook is in effect with Australian eBook Publisher.
2. Only available if Australian eBook Publisher converted your ebook files for you (i.e. made ePub from an original file type such as Word, PDF or InDesign).
3. To obtain series discounts, all books must be submitted at once for review by your marketing consultant. 'Series' means a group of books for which you will be entering identical series information in the meta-data when selling them, with one book being book 1, one being book 2 etc. These will therefore have the same target market. If your series does not have the same target market then you will need to purchase a separate Marketing Stage 1 for each book.