Book marketing plans: the reader, the book page, a twelve week timeline and the weekly numbers

A book marketing plan is a dated schedule that gets one specific book in front of one specific kind of reader. It has five parts: who the reader is, what the book page says to them, the people and places that will recommend it, the launch window, and the weekly numbers you check afterwards. Write it before the manuscript is final, because the cover, the title, the subtitle and the description are marketing decisions as much as publishing ones.

Start with one reader, written down

"Everyone who likes a good story" is not a reader. Write two sentences: who this reader is, and what they type or ask when they want a book like yours. A reader of practical business books asks for a book on managing a first team. A reader of cosy mysteries asks for a village detective series. Those sentences become the base of your retailer description, your author site, your email sign-up promise and your outreach to reviewers.

Then list five published books that the same reader has already bought. These are your comparison titles. You will use them to choose categories, to write pitch emails, and to find who already reviews that kind of book.

Fix the book page before any promotion

Every channel sends people to one place, the page where the book is sold. If that page is weak, promotion buys you visits that leave. Check these in order.

• Title and subtitle. The subtitle should say what the book does for the reader, in the words they would use.
• Cover. It must read at thumbnail size and signal the genre in under a second. Compare it with the covers of your five comparison titles.
• Description. Put the hook in the first two lines, because that is the part shown before the reader clicks to expand. Write for the reader, not for the author.
• Categories and keywords. Choose the narrowest categories where your comparison titles sit, rather than the broadest.
• Sample. The first pages are an advertisement. Make sure they are your best.

Your own site needs a matching page with the same description, a buy link for each retailer, an excerpt and a sign-up form for your email list. Use the same title, subtitle and author name everywhere so that search engines and assistants see one book, not three.

The twelve week timeline

When	Task	Output
12 to 9 weeks before	Reader sentences, comparison titles, author site live, email sign-up live	First subscribers, a page that explains the book
8 to 6 weeks before	Advance reader copies to a small team of readers and to reviewers in your genre	A list of people who have agreed to read
5 to 3 weeks before	Pitch podcasts, newsletters, bloggers and local media; line up events	Booked appearances and features
2 weeks before	Pre-order push to your list; final book page check	Pre-orders concentrated into a short window
Launch week	Email, posts, appearances, first reviews requested from the reader team	Sales and reviews arriving together
Weeks 1 to 8 after	One new thing a week: a talk, a guest piece, a discount, a library or bookshop contact	A steady tail of sales

Reviews: earn them, never buy them

Readers trust reviews more than any description you write. Send advance copies to people who read your genre and tell them plainly that an honest review, posted when they finish, is all you ask. Retailers set their own rules against paid and incentivised reviews, so read the community guidelines of each store you sell through before you send anything. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission expects a reviewer to disclose a free copy or any other connection, so ask your readers to say so in their review. A provider who sells you a package of reviews is selling you a risk to your author account, not marketing.

Channels, in the order most authors should add them

1. Your email list. It is the only audience you own. Offer a reason to join, such as a free chapter or a short story, and write to the list before and after launch.
2. Other people's audiences. Podcasts, newsletters and blogs that already reach your reader. Pitch with a specific idea for their audience, not a request to promote your book.
3. Libraries and bookshops. Local shops and libraries often like a local author. Offer a signed copy, a talk or a reading. Make sure the book is available through the wholesale and library channels they order from.
4. Events and talks. A talk to fifty of the right people sells more than a post to five thousand of the wrong ones.
5. Paid ads. Add them last, once the book page converts. Start with a small daily budget, one audience built from your comparison titles and one tracked link. Stop what loses money and fund what repays.

The numbers worth checking each week

• New email subscribers and the percentage who open your launch email.
• Visits to the book page and the share who buy. If visits are healthy and sales are weak, the page needs work, not more traffic.
• Number and average rating of reviews on each store.
• Cost per sale for each paid campaign, set against what you earn per copy.
• Where each sale came from, using a separate tracked link for each channel.

Write the figures in one sheet and review it every Friday. After eight weeks, keep what worked and drop the rest.

Questions about writing a book marketing plan

When should I start marketing a book?

Start when you know the reader and have a title, which is usually three to six months before launch. The author site and the email list take the longest to build, so they come first.

How much should an author spend?

Decide a total before you begin and split it between the cover, the editing, a small ad test and events. A plan that depends on a large ad budget from day one has the order wrong.

Does a self-published book need a different plan from a traditionally published one?

The plan is the same. A traditional publisher handles distribution and some publicity, and the author still owns the email list, the author site and the relationships with readers.

How many reviews are enough?

Gather as many honest reviews as your advance readers will write, then keep asking readers after launch with a short note at the end of the book.

Is a book launch event worth it?

Yes, when it brings the right readers together. Hold it in a place your reader already goes, and record the talk so it keeps working afterwards.

What an assistant says when a reader asks for a book like yours

Readers now ask assistants for books in sentences: a good book on managing a first team, a mystery series set in a village, a novel about a family business. The reply names a few titles and authors, and the ones named are those whose book page, author site, reviews and library listings all say the same thing about the book. Type those sentences for your own subject into ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity and note whether your title appears and what the assistant says about it. For a publisher, a bookshop or an author who sells under a business name, AI Knows Us (aiknowsus.com) asks the same kind of question across five assistants and reports which names come back.