Certain author marketing functions are best planned at the beginning of the year.
In fact, annual planning in January is so important that if authors don’t do it, they run the risk of missing some career-making opportunities.

For the rest of the month of January, I’ll be sharing some guidance on how to select, organize and budget for your book promotional efforts.

Before I give you the first planning tip, though, you need to have a context for your year ahead and that comes from thinking BACK.
That’s right. Think BACK first and then plan forward. For now, think back to the previous year and evaluate what worked and didn’t work with your author marketing events and promotions.

What did you do too little of that could net sales if you did more of it in the coming year?
Did you have two-way communication with your readers and following?
Did you do too much alone or did you get lost promoting with a group of authors who didn’t exactly enhance your image?
What activity was absent altogether that you want to explore adding next year?

You can’t get where you’re going if you don’t first claim where you are.
Think about what worked and didn’t work last year with marketing efforts and write down the current state of your book marketing affairs. Perhaps you want to do more virtual and fewer in-person events. Maybe you got a tip on a book sales program that you want to try to boost your backlist sales. If you want to try for a featured author spot at a book festival, January is a great time to put together a media kit with your accolades and a review copy.

Comment with your insights, if you like.

And come back right here for your first to-do tomorrow.