How to Write a Business Plan for Your Book, Part 5: Release Phase Marketing

In case you missed the earlier installments in this series on “How to Write a Business Plan For Your Book” you can find them here: Part 1: Writing a Business Plan for Your Book  Part 2: The Overview  Part 3: The Synopsis Part 4: Pre-Release Marketing The Marketing section of a book business plan has three sub-sections: pre-release marketing, release week (or “marketing around release”), and marketing efforts after the “release publicity” push. Last week, we looked at Pre-Release marketing, which means it’s time to look at marketing during (and right around) the book’s release.  In its most expansive definition, “release” marketing starts when the cover is finalized and/or

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Opt-Out Requirements for Author Email

Author newsletters and other “blast” or list-based emails are generally considered commercial marketing material under U.S. law, and must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. (See last week’s Wednesday legal post, or the law itself, for the reasons why.) Today, we’re taking a look at the mandatory opt-out provisions authors must include in newsletters and other commercial mailings to comply with the law. Every commercial email must include an “opt out” or “unsubscribe” option, so that recipients can request removal from the mailing list. By law: 1. Opt-out options must be visible and operable. Many email services (e.g., mailchimp)  include “opt-out” or “unsubscribe”

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Author Email Marketing Rules, Part 1

Today’s post dives into the murky waters of author email marketing–and though it may initially seem a departure from the autumn scam avoidance series, we’re still within that realm. It’s just that today, we’re looking at how authors avoid crossing over to the scammers’ (or, in this case, spammers’) side of the street. In the United States, commercial email communications are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Note: “CAN-SPAM” is an acronym, not a grant of permission, and stands for “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act.” The CAN-SPAM Act applies to all “commercial email,” which

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Tracking the Costs–and Benefits–of a Book Release

How much did you spend on your last book release? What’s your budget for your next one? Many authors don’t actually know, or track, the costs and benefits of their marketing efforts. Those who do, often fail to manage the costs efficiently and in a manner that gives the best possible feedback. You wouldn’t open a restaurant or a gift shop without some way to track your expenses and ROI (return on investment, for the business-acronym-challenged). If writing is your business, treat it as one and try to track how the marketing dollars work (or don’t work) for you. Track Your Expenditures Using a Spreadsheet, Notebook,

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Blog Tour Companies–Professional Virtual Tours

Today’s post continues our series on author marketing and our ongoing look at virtual book tours. In addition to setting up tours yourself (or through your publicist, if you have one), you may want to consider hiring a company to arrange a virtual book tour for you. Booking with a virtual tour company does cost money, but it also gives you access to high-traffic blogs and readers with an interest in your genre. More importantly, a tour company can increase your visibility by exposing your work to people who don’t already know you.  Here are some tips for arranging a successful

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Publishing 101: Authors’ Release Phase Marketing

Today, the Publishing 101 series takes a look at release phase marketing in the author’s journey. As I mentioned last week, this series will look only briefly at author marketing, but we’ll come back to the issue. The next series, which will start in April or May (as soon as this one finishes) will focus on effective author marketing. In its most expansive definition, “release phase” starts when pre-orders go live, but you won’t start the heavy lifting that early.  Release Phase Marketing starts, in its earliest sense when your book can be “purchased” (which includes pre-orders) and continues through the

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