LAUNCHING ... Developing A Budget
A Launch Plan is like a Mini-Marketing Plan
TUESDAY
As we talked about last week, a LAUNCH Plan is basically a mini-marketing plan. Each week I will discuss in more depth one of the bullet points from the first S2: Launching article. You can go back and review it by going to posts heading at the top of the the page.
To really be successful as a self-publisher or indie author, you need a Launch Plan to get off on the right publishing foot so to speak and to keep yourself on track.
It is very easy to get distracted, however, if you have carefully developed a plan and then you work your plan you will be less distracted by shiny object syndrome or chasing activities that will not benefit you, nor help you achieve author success.
Today, I am going to discuss the first thing on our LAUNCH Planning list:
Budget
In addition to costs, you might also want to include a column for who will do the task and a column for a time of delivery. Some tasks have to be accomplished before the next task can be done.
BUDGET
The reason you need to create a Budget 3-6 months out from your Launch date is so that you can get some tasks done during that time. Many successful authors do this simultaneously while they are having their manuscript edited by a professional or a readers review group (I will talk more about editing in a future S1": WRITING article).
You might be thinking “but I don’t have a Launch Budget or any other kind of Publishing Budget.”
This is a mistake I see a lot of new authors make. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing you cannot learn to do yourself and that is why it is a great time to publish. However, doing certain tasks might not be the best use of your time or energy. Do what you do best … and beg, barter or buy the other skills you need.
If you don’t have a Budget that is ok, I am going to help you create one. Basically you want to write down all the things you might need to successfully launch your book. Things like:
an email sequence,
an email list,
the cover of your book in different formats,
a book flyer with your book cover, your name and a link where they can purchase the book,
social media graphics similar to the book flyer but formatted to fit the platform where your audience hangs out (see here it is again audience),
a place to have a book launch party (home, restaurant, event space, church, book or other retail space),
books, decorations, food and/or drinks for the book launch party,
a street team (5-10 people) who will help you promote or advertise your book,
scheduling podcast and livestream interviews to pre-promote your book,
category research to determine where you want your book to show up on Amazon, Ingram or other online platforms
designing an author website,
sending a media kit out to traditional magazines, newspapers, radio station and television stations,
and any other activities you can think of to add to your Launch Plan.
The Launch Budget needs to include everything you would need to pay for to be successful. Doing this exercise will help you understand more what the options are when publishing and all the moving parts that are involved and what things actually cost.
You may not have to pay for some of these tasks. You might be able to do some of them yourself, you might have a partner, family or friend who can do certain tasks or you may just have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do the task for you because you don’t have the skill or the time.
It is better to know upfront what cost range is acceptable, so you don’t get taken advantage of by any unscrupulous internet connection, email requests from strangers or weird phone calls offering to help you. I will share a couple of sample budgets in next week’s article.
At the end of a few weeks we will circle back around and put all the pieces back together again for a complete Launch Plan.
Cheers to your launching success, Liz