We’ve come to part 4 of our 4-part series on book proposals: your promotion plan. In case you missed the first three parts, read:

• The Nonfiction Book Proposal, Part 1: Your Project
• The Nonfiction Book Proposal, Part 2: Positioning
• The Nonfiction Book Proposal, Part 3: Platform

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Writing out a promotion plan can be one of the hardest parts of a book proposal because it happens far in advance of when the book will actually publish, long before you will carry out your plans. Who’s to say that the strategies and tactics you employ will be relevant in 6, 12, or 18 months? And, ideally, your platform will continue to get stronger while you’re writing the book, perhaps opening up new doors for promotion later on.

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You’re not expected to have a crystal ball, and most publishers will understand as things change (hopefully for the better!). When COVID hit, all of the authors who’d planned book tours and in-person events to launch their books understandably had to change their plans last minute - or simply cancel. Life happens! 

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Your goal for outlining your promotion plans should be to share the ways that you can leverage your platform to get books in readers’ hands - i.e. what you feel confident that you can realistically do to partner with your publisher in the marketing of the book. If you think of your platform as a collection of tools you can use to get the word out, then the promotion section of your proposal is where you'll lay out the plan for actually using those tools.

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Promotion vs. Publicity

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Simply put, publicity is a specific type of promotion that focuses on media coverage. Promotional efforts often include publicity, but are not limited to it.

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Frequently Asked Question: Should I hire a publicist?

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Yes. If you have the means, do it. It is a lot of work to promote a book, so if you have someone who can help you develop your objectives and use the right strategies to hit those objectives, then absolutely yes. I’ve seen a book that sold just a few thousand copies in its first year go on to sell tens of thousands of copies in subsequent years because the author hired a publicist to help her promote.

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Promotion

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Promotion often starts long before the book publishes, so it's good that you're thinking about this now! I recommend that authors lay out a plan that covers what you'll do before, during, and after your book launches.

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Pre-Launch Activities

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Before your book launches, you'll want to start coordinating the logistics of your launch. These activities might include:

• Building a dedicated book website or a landing page on your website
• Conducting multiple pre-order email campaigns. The more people pre-order your book, the more Amazon and other retailers will keep in stock!
• Creating a book trailer video, especially for story-driven books.
• Creating bonus materials like an extra chapter, an audio recording of you reading part of the book, an exclusive video interview with you, or a fun chart/poster to download. These can be used as incentives to encourage people to pre-order!
• Social media campaign to drive awareness and pre-orders.
• Do a cover reveal on social media to get people excited.
• Asking for endorsements from well known thought leaders and influencers.
• Doing interviews on podcasts.
• Gathering a launch team of people who will review your book as soon as possible after it publishes!

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Launch Month Activities

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For about a month after your book launches, you'll want to push your book hard! Don't act like your book is an afterthought. This is HUGE and you want everyone to know about it! This month, you might be busy:

• Sending complimentary copies of the new book to influencers and your launch team so they can review it.
• Posting excerpts, order information, great endorsements, and pictures of you and others with your book on social media.
• Sending excerpts and information about your book to your email list (don't forget to tell them where to buy it!).
• Doing an interview for your local paper about your book.
• Holding an in-person book launch event at your local bookstore.
• Reminding your book launch team to post their reviews!
• Being on even more podcasts to promote the book.

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Post-Launch Activities

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I recommend trying to keep this book front of mind for your audience for about a year after it publishes. A lot of authors enjoy the writing, but not the promotion, and they give up on their books too early. This may be the hardest part - after the initial applause dies down, and suddenly you're the only one continuing to promote the book out of sheer determination. But believe me - this might make all the difference! I have seen books that started off as slow sellers pick up and become bestsellers because the author continued to keep it front of mind and put it in readers' hands.

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So for the following year, you might be:

• Continuing to post on social media, especially pictures of readers with your book and reviews from Goodreads/Amazon
• Encouraging more reviews - always.
• Recommending your book to book clubs for discussion, and creating a discussion guide to go along with it.
• Speaking at relevant conferences about your book.
• Speaking on relevant podcasts.

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This is by no means an exclusive list of possible activities. Every day, I see authors doing creative things I never even thought of. I encourage you to watch what other authors do on social media to promote their book, and brainstorm even more ways that you can engage and involve your readers. Make the book launch fun for them - make them feel like they have a stake in it and that their participation matters.

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Again, don't forget that, for right now, we're just making a list for the proposal. You'll be able to add to your promotion plan throughout the whole publishing process so that when it comes time to get started, you've got a long list of wonderful ideas.

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Up next in Part 5, we'll be talking about the final pieces of your book proposal: your sample content!

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