Budgeting Your Marketing Plan

You’ve done it. You’re ready to start creating a plan to market your book. Yet, you don’t know where to start and the internet is confusing. I’ve been there. I get it. Now that you’re here, I’m ready to help you create your marketing plan without all of the confusing pieces. In this post, I’m going to take you through the budgeting process in a marketing plan.

Over the next several months I’m going to be discussing various aspects of a book marketing plan. This plan is one that I’ve created and tweaked over the years and have used to market one of my two books. It’s been super helpful to me and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Ready to get the entire marketing plan? Head on over to the Bound to Writing Shop and purchase the PDF download today. It’s everything I will be discussing in these posts in a clear and easy to fill in format. You can also get started right away because nothing needs to be shipped to you. If you’d prefer a hard copy, the Book Marketing Planner is also available in paperback on Amazon and in the Bound to Writing Shop.

What is a Marketing Plan?

First, a marketing plan is a plan that outlines how you’re going to market your book. You set a budget, determine your sales stream, promotional ideas, advertisement places and so much more. This plan allows you to imagine from start to finish how you’re going to get your book out into the world before and after your book is published.

What is a Budget?

Publishing a book isn’t cheap. Taking the time to list out all of your expected expenses is one of the best ways to stay on track and not break the bank. The act of doing this is called creating a budget.

Although it’s possible to make the money back once your book is for sale, it’s more likely that it’ll take many months to years to make a profit. That is why you need to think about each piece of your budget in terms of the money you already have available.

What to Budget For:

Book Cover

Your book cover is the first thing a potential reader sees and if it doesn’t pull them in, they may never pick up your book. Unless you are a talented graphic designer, you should find someone to create a book cover.

I hired my cover artist off of Fiverr back in 2018 and was charged less than $100 USD for both of my books in paperback and eBook formats. Cover costs can range anywhere from $10- $500 USD.

Editing

Editing has to be the longest and hardest part of the process. You shouldn’t do it alone. In a later post I will talk more on this topic as I could go on for ages. Editing costs are usually per word count and can easily be over $1000 for a developmental edit.

Formating

The outside of your book looks good, but now you need to make sure the inside does too. There are many programs that can help you format or you can always hire someone.

I wrote a guest post of Elgee Writes discussing how I formatted my own books.

Author Copies

Not only will you probably want to purchase a proof copy of your book before you launch, but you’ll probably want a few copies of your book on hand. If you’re planning on doing a giveaway or other promotion, you definitely want to make sure you have them ready. It’s also nice to have your book baby on your bookshelf. Author copy cost is up to your chosen publisher.

International Standard Book Number

Or ISBN. This unique number identifies your book. Depending on where you publish and your publishing goals, you’ll most likely need to look into investing into ISBN’s. This way you’ll have 100% control over the publication of your book.

Advertising

Picking where and how you promote your book is pretty important. Now you need to weigh the cost with the potential payoff. Cost for advertising is entirely dependent on how you want to promote your book.

Book Merchandise

One way to promote your book is to create bookish merchandise to giveaway with your book. For example, I created bookmarks for my first book, Not Like Everyone Else, and gave them away to giveaway winners. The cost for book merchandise depends on the item and the amount you purchase.

Giveaways & Promotions

Running any kind of promotion can be costly so make sure you’re in the know before committing to one. Keep in mind shipping costs (domestic and international) and cost of items in your giveaway.

Other

Keep in mind that your book is its own business. As with any business, costs can come up.

That is the basics of starting a budget for your marketing plan. I know it can be a lot to take in. It never seems like a lot until you start writing it down. However, having a plan in place before you start spending will work better for your future. You don’t want to have to skip a nice book cover because you didn’t budget.

If you’re ready to start creating a budget but don’t want to design one yourself, head on over to the Bound to Writing Shop. I’ve created a downloadable Book Marketing Planner including a budgeting sheet to get you started on your marketing journey. And for anyone that prefers a print copy, a paperback planner is available on Amazon and in the Bound to Writing Shop.

I wish you the best of luck on your marketing planning! Next time I’ll be discussing things you need to think about before selling your book. Until next time, keep writing!

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