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In this last post of our series on the costs associated with self-publishing, we are going to talk about the most daunting part of the publishing process for many authors: marketing your book. While traditionally published authors can expect a professional marketing strategy and often-impressive budget (hence the whole reason for selling the rights to their book, to begin with), self-published authors are doing it all on their own—and there are a lot of paths to take.

Marketing Your Book: Invest or Save?

While some self-published authors out spending thousands of dollars on advertising, in-person events, and lots of swag and merchandise, at Midnight Publishing we uphold a golden rule: if you’re tight on funds, always spend the money on the next book. The reason for this is simple—more books readily available for purchase extends your marketing efforts that much further, and multiple books in a series sell themselves. Sinking hundreds of dollars into a marketing campaign when the sequels aren’t written or close to publication isn’t the best use of your funds. Build your backlist first, and when you have 3+ books to sell at once you can launch a costlier marketing campaign.

#Marketing your #book doesn’t have to be too expensive if you #selfpublish. Click To Tweet

The Typical Cost of a Marketing Campaign

Because of the variability involved with marketing a book, we’re going to list some of the most popular and easy-to-execute marketing strategies commonly utilized by self-published authors. You can do a few of them or all, keeping in mind what we mentioned before in terms of budgeting for your backlist. If you’re willing and able to put money toward a really impressive (and expensive) campaign to market your book, a public relations company may be the choice for you.

Marketing strategies you can complete yourself:

  • Social media posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat (personal/business page): Free!
  • Launching and maintaining an author website with a personalized domain name: $100-$200/year.
  • Automating posts on the aforementioned social networking sites above through Buffer, Hootsuite or others: Free or $15-$599/month depending on business plan/other factors.
  • Setting up a newsletter and subscriber list with MailChimp: Free or $10-$199/month based on size of subscriber list and other capabilities.
  • Customized Facebook ads targeted to specific audiences: $0.58 per “click.” Read more about the fluctuating cost of Facebooks ads and how best to utilize them in this fitsmallbusiness.com article.
  • Personalized bookmarks, stickers, etc. from a graphic designer and/or printing service: $25-$150.
  • Requesting a Kirkus Review of your book: packages range from $425-$1149.
  • Self-Publishing Review campaign and starred review: packages range from $159-359.

Marketing packages from professional public relations companies:

  • PR campaign including press release, reviews, media coverage, blog tours, social media management, scheduling public speaking engagements, etc.: an average of $3,000-$30,000/campaign.

**For more information on what a marketing campaign entails and the positive results to be expected by working with the pros, schedule a consultation with Midnight Publishing’s publicity/marketing experts today. Our professionals will work with you to streamline a strategy, budget and your target audience to get the most out of your book launch and campaign.**

Whether you’re just getting started with a book idea/outline, have a completed manuscript that needs several rounds of editing, or are almost ready for publication and want to explore self-publishing and hybrid options, Midnight Publishing’s award-winning staff of editors, ghostwriters, and marketers are here for you. Contact us today to discuss your book needs and how we can assist you in your author career!