Too many independent publishers use the Christopher Columbus method of planning. They do not know where they are going. When they get there they do not know where they are. And when they return, they do not know where they have been. This is not a good way to run a business.

You can avoid this situation by creating a strategic, functional plan to market your books. Your plan should identify the most promising business opportunities. It should clarify your goals and the procedures you will use to move toward them efficiently. And it should integrate all the elements of a complete promotional mix into a strategic program to launch coordinated action.

If you have not already done so, this is a good time to write your plan for the remainder of 2003. But as you get started, do not think of the word plan as a noun – a document created at the beginning of a fiscal period. Instead, think of it as a verb, a technique to help you organize and direct your thinking so you can prepare to implement your future activities.

From this perspective planning is a process that forces you to focus on important issues and answer tough questions that you might have otherwise avoided. It requires that you take an objective, critical look at your business, markets and competition and create ways to improve your position in each segment.

While there are several ways of organizing the information, the problem with most plans is that they are written and filed away until the next planning period. Once a plan is finished, most people see their job as complete and they go back to their habitual ways of dealing with the daily fires that seem to overpower logic and control.

The act of planning is simply setting a general direction for your business and then creating the actions you must take to get there. Start by deciding what your business will look like at the end of the planning period. Then ask yourself, and answer, questions stimulating innovative ideas. What do people want to read? What titles can I publish to satisfy that need? How will my books be distributed in traditional and nontraditional markets? How can I use publicity, advertising and personal selling techniques to promote them? What will all this cost and how much can I expect to make at the end of the year? How will all that position me for future growth? This is a creative process and you build your plan as you go through it.

Your final marketing plan is simply a written record of all the answers to your questions. In itself it has no worth. The value resides in the insight you get from creating the strategy and the results that occur from doing everything you said you would.

While a written plan is the outcome of a planning session, the planning process is a course of action, a path that leads you to the final document. For a view of an easy-to-use planning process, look through these “ize.”

Recognize. A basic premise for successful marketing is to find a need and fill it. You do this by researching three major areas. First, discover what product opportunities exist. Second, learn as much as you can about your prospective customers. Finally, determine your potential market’s size, growth and competitive status.

Crystallize. According to a proverb, a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. But what if that step is in the wrong direction? Start your trip by deciding where you want to go. Write a specific objective and the date by which you will accomplish it.

Strategize. With your destination etched in your mind, begin to plan how you will reach it. Start by creating strategies in each of the Four Ps of marketing: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Should your product be a book, an audio package or a video program? Will you market it through the traditional distributor/wholesaler channels or directly to selected niches? Answers to these questions will dictate your distribution network and discounts, which in turn impact your pricing strategy. Finally, describe how you will coordinate the elements of your promotion mix by manipulating your advertising, publicity, sales promotion and personal selling strategies.

Organize. Once you determine your general strategies you must plan the specific actions you will take in each of the four strategic areas. If your product is to be a book, what size, color and shape will make it most saleable? At what price? Which distributors will you contact? To which reviewers will you send galleys or review copies? What will be in your press kit, and to what television and radio stations will you send it? Which trade shows will you attend? Will you conduct a direct mail campaign?

Prioritize. Opportunities abound, particularly in non-bookstore markets, and you could easily end up with thousands of potential customers for your title. Unfortunately, not all are equally interested in buying your books. Any time you spend trying to persuade an uninterested buyer detracts from the time you could spend toe-to-toe with an interested prospect. Therefore, you need to rank potential customers in the order in which you think they are interested in buying. This takes some practice, but there are ways to qualify your prospective buyers. Once this is done, you can create a more accurate forecast and marketing timeline.

Capitalize. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of actions you can take to market your books. However, most publishers do not have unlimited funds with which to perform them all. Therefore, you have to create your financial statements to determine how to allocate your existing money as well as when and how much you will need to borrow.

This is a good time to review your entire marketing program. If expected revenue will not cover your planned expenditures and no outside funds are available, what tactics will you eliminate and what impact will they have on your income? For example, if you eliminate a planned direct-mail campaign, you will also have to reduce your revenue by the amount you forecasted that program would generate. And do not forget to account for returned books.

Energize. Without action, planning only gives the illusion of progress. Now it is time to put your plan into action. Marketing a book successfully requires perpetual promotion and it is up to you to do it. Perform each step according to the way you planned it.

Scrutinize. Action is not synonymous with accomplishment. You may be busy promoting your book but you may not be getting closer to your goal. Periodically assess your progress and make any changes that are necessary.
Realize. This planning formula organizes and directs your thinking and actions to best exploit available opportunities. It coordinates and unifies your efforts to make your budget more efficient. And it helps you regain your bearings and look back to see how far you have come.

Last 5 posts by Brian Jud

• Focus on Non-traditional Marketing - April 17th, 2008
• Sail the Seven Cs to Media Performances - March 24th, 2008
• Goals are Worthless… - February 11th, 2008
• Why Bad Things Happen to Good Titles - December 5th, 2007
• Practice Makes Permanent - October 22nd, 2007