Today I received one of those big-scary presents from my publisher. The Marketing Plan.
I don’t know if this calls for a squee or and EEEK!
I was a little surprised by the magnitude of it. Everyone says writing the novel is the easy part. Now’s the time for the work. And this isn’t something you can’t put off. Anything you do wrong (or right) now can affect how your novel sells.
I have a 20 week marketing plan leading right up until the release date of December 3rd. 20 weeks equates to 50 pages of reading. Did anyone else just cringe?
The good news is a lot of this I have done already, or have already planned to do and it is on my schedule. The bad news is, there is a lot of stuff that I haven’t done, and some of it is scary.
It’s time to plow ahead. The good news is that I can draw on experiences of others, and I am not floundering in the dark.
Keep your fingers crossed!
Jennifer M Eaton 
Jennifer When you return I have a request. Can you post your marketing plan? I think it would be of interest to writers as marketing plans seem to be the norm when submitting these days. fran metzman
Sure, Once I make sense of it. 🙂
Congrats. Just put your nose to the grindstone. I’m sure you have what it takes.
This does sound very scary indeed. I am glad you on track and congratulations 🙂
Congrats to you! I have a children’s book coming out in September and, well, I find the marketing end of things far more unnerving that any other part of the process thus far. Good luck!
I was just talking to someone who nearly wet her pants going into a BRanes and noble and asking them to carry her book. Guess what? They asked for four copies. It’s a start! Good llucj with your book. What grade level is it? I have three little ones.
It’s a picture book about Sarah Josepha Hale, the popular editress of the 1850s and 60’s who convinced Lincoln to turn Thanksgiving into a national holiday. It’s good for kindergarten through third or fourth grade, I’d say.
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What’s on it? I’m dying to know.
Ugh. Too much to put into one post. Maybe I’ll go through it another day after I digest it all.
Don’t be afraid! I see much strength in your writing. You are a strong woman. Besides, God is with you. Sandy
He is totally with me. I’ll have to tell you that story someday. He rocks. Sometimes, you just don’t realize he’s rocking on your side until that epiphany happens.
That’s why I’m going to let Him lead me. I want to do something with all this writing I’m doing. MY desire is to write a 365-day devotional for women. I don’t know what God’s desire for me is…yet. Pray for me. Sandy
Wow… That’s a big undertaking. Thank goodness for me, the Big Cheeze just keeps sending me amazing stories, and then tells me what to do with them (and asks me to share the wealth, which is why I do this blog thing)
Combine the two … Squeee-eeek 🙂
AARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH! Squeeeeeeeeee-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK-AAAAAAAAAA!
Good luck Jennifer. You will get there.
Thanks. It’s just daunting.
Good luck . . . maybe the blue alien lady can help you? 😉 Now you’re kinda making me scared though–hope the marketing plan my pub sends me isn’t quite so long. Eek is right! Keep us posted so we can learn from your mistakes, um, I mean . . . . experiences:):) I have TOTAL faith you got this!
No! no more mistakes… at least on this marketing thing!
Good luck, Jennifer!
Thank you!
Keep on truckin’ girl! 🙂
Toot Toot! or is that Honk Honk?
As long as the wheels keep turning you’re putting miles on the odometer, it doesn’t matter WHAT noise you make. 😉
Rattle rattle clang Boom!
Oh Oh… that didn’t sound good. ***Gack***
I look forward to hearing updates on how it’s all going! It probably sounds a lot more scary than it actually is once you get going on it – easy for me to say I know, but I’m sure it’s all well within your capabilities!
The early stuff is easy. Some of the later stuff…. I just don’t know.
All the best Jennifer M Eaton… Marketing is the author’s kryptonite… but we live in the digital world now, its easier to post about our books… but since its easier, many does it, and thus it will be hard to be heard in the crowd, thus, the effort is still the same… So I hope you are up for it, you are in the last mile in your marathon, so give it all you got.
Best of luck again, and I hope your work will find its way to my shelves
Thank you. I’m looking forward to some of it. nervous about a lot, though.
Its natural to be nervous about it, that’s how you know you are heading to something meaningful… it is as if you are standing far high on a diving platform, looking down at a swimming pool, feeling all scared and hesitating… but once you leap in, you get this very unique mixture of fear and enjoyment, followed by complete happiness.
That’s how life is, a platform to leap from, followed by mixed emotions… but in the end, as we get to land on our goals, we feel the joy of the journey.
So have fun with your marketing plans… 🙂
Wow, what a lyrical way to think about it. Thanks so much!
It’s great to have this ringside seat as you head into the published world. 🙂 We’re all cheering for you—you can do it!
Thanks so much. Enjoy the tickets. They are free!
Do they give you enough information in the packet to make the process easier? Let me know how you do. Best wishes, but I see you coming out of this a shinning star.
Yes, they give step by step directions on what to do, and how to do it. They are also there to help and answer questions, which is great.
Well that is great. I thought you were left to do everything on your own. You hear all kinds of stories about this.
Yes, I’ve heard that to. I was pleasantly surprised to have it all mapped out for me, and even scheduled.
Hey, Jennifer! I love Merilee’s response. Think five years down the road and you’ll be thinking, “Ho, Hum. Another marketing plan.” Until then, breathe in, breath out…
And tackle this with the same can-do attitude you had when you first looked at that picture. (That last sentence was unnecessary. You would have attacked it anyway. Right?)
This is the first of what I hope will be many, many publication credits you’ll have to your name.
Ha Ha! I hope so… and then I will be able to afford that plane ticket so we can have lunch.
Better yet, get your novel finished so we can both buy plane tickets and have that lunch in Hawaii instead.
Don’t think of it as scary. Enjoy every minute of it! Because in 5 years, you’ll be saying “oh, ANOTHER marketing plan?”
Yay! That’s the spirit. Feeling better now that it is sinking in a little. I just feel like such a newbie!
Everyone’s a newbie at something. 🙂
So true, so true!
Take it one bite at a time, you’ll get there
Crunk Crunch. Nibble Nibble.
Good luck!
Thanks!
I feel your ‘scary’, as I am afraid of the whole mysterious marketing thing myself, but it has to be done, so good luck with all of it 🙂
Thanks. Is it all in the stars for me to get through this?