Building a Marketing Budget How much is too much or too little

Building a Marketing Budget How much is too much or too little Often, I’m asked The reason behind the research is two-fold. One, it allows you to know the cost needed to reach your intended audience. Two, should you need to cut your budget, you can make an informed decision. One marketing piece every writer should have is a website. It’s a must! Aside from a website and the costs for keeping it reliably hosted, you may also want to consider researching the costs for the following: Advertisement placement (print, digital, or both) Advertisement creation Listing in BookBub, if book is free or discounted. Contest prizes for readers Author photos Travel Book Trailers Book release parties Freelance publicity (publicist) services Virtual assistant fees Promotional items (bookmarks, pens, giveaways, et al) Social Media (boosting posts, sponsored tweets, advertising) Fan club/ Street team rewards and supplies Mailing/Shipping A rule of thumb when building a budget is to research all of the costs for the above items you intend to use. Add them together. Then add an additional 20 percent to the total. The added percentage will allow for and offset unexpected expenditures. Researching any and all free places to promote is to your advantage and can help you defer money to other line items in your marketing budget. Some ideas for free promotion are: Create a hashtag on Twitter for your book Upload a chapter of your book to Wattpad Encourage friends, fans and readers to post reviews online Leave your book name/website address on all voicemail and email messages Offer to   meet with book clubs via Skype Solicit radio show interviews Create and submit press releases to local newspapers Celebrate your release with a Facebook party (ask fellow authors to join in) Submit articles to writers’ associations Submit for a listing on addictedtoebooks.com If this book is currently available for free, submit the book to be featured on Free Book Friday and/ or fill out the submission form for a free listing on Digital Book Today. No matter which promotional efforts you choose to promote your book, try to focus on discoverability rather than sales. When readers discover you, read your work and like it, they are more apt to tell their friends there