Much has been written about book proposals. But less has been written about book marketing plans. This is wrong!

A book proposal is a direct-marketing document intended to persuade publishers to edit, print and distribute your book. It's a sales piece intended to communicate the inevitability of your book's success.

Your book's marketing plan, however, is intended for an audience of one - You! It's not intended for your publisher. Rather, it's intended to identify the revenue streams that you will develop after your book is published.

Your marketing plan should describe profits you will earn above and beyond royalties from sales of your book. It should describe in detail your market and the steps you will take to earn this income.

The reason to prepare your marketing plan now, before you sign a publishing contract or write your book, is that the success of your marketing plan depends on the way your book publishing contract is negotiated.

Coaching and consulting

The new development editor then informs you that author's URL's can only appear in one place, in the author biography hidden toward the rear of the book. When this happens, what happens to your coaching and consulting plans?

If you know you want to offer telephone coaching at $75.00 a call, for example, you can negotiate written permission to promote this service within the body of your book.

Remember: promises are written on air. Only written agreements count!

• Articles, columns, newsletters

• Yearly updates

• Special Reports

• Teleclasses and seminars

• Speaking and training

• Audio/video recordings

• Choosing a web site address based on your book's title

• Free downloads of sample chapters from your web site

• Fee-based web site services

The possibilities are endless, but nothing can happen if, after signing the contract, the publisher limits your ability to promote your business and your website in your book.

Thus, it's imperative that you start by preparing a marketing plan that analyzes post-publication profit opportunities and describes the steps needed to make them happen. Only then are you in a position to decide if the publisher's 'boilerplate' contract meets your needs.

The stronger your book proposal and the more experienced your agent, the more likely you'll get what you want (need) in your contract.

Jay Conrad Levinson says the first volume of his Guerrilla Marketing series earned him thirty million dollars. But only about $35,000 came from the book itself. All the rest came from back-end profits.

That's how important this issue is!

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