A book launch marketing plan template you can print and fill in

A plan, a timeline, and how they fit

People search for a "book launch planning template" and find two different things. One is a strategy: the goal, the reader, the channels. The other is a schedule: what happens in which week. You need both, in that order, because the schedule depends on the choices in the strategy.

• The marketing plan (this page) is one page you fill in by hand. It forces the decisions: which goal, which reader, which two or three channels, how much money, and how you will know it worked.
• The launch timeline turns those decisions into dated tasks. The free launch planner builds one from your launch date, formats and the channels you choose, and warns you when a deadline set by someone else (Amazon, a reviewer, the Library of Congress) is already too close. The timeline guide explains each step.

Scribe Media's own launch checklist says six weeks is the bare minimum for a launch and recommends starting a few months ahead. Fill in this plan before that clock starts.

Print the template, or copy the headings into a document. Printing this page prints only the blank template.

How to fill in each part

1. Goal

Start with why you wrote the book. The Scribe Method's chapter on book objectives says it all begins with what you want to accomplish, and lists six common objectives: visibility, authority, new clients or opportunities, speaking, a legacy, and impact on readers. Then pick one number that would show the launch served that goal: calls booked, talks requested, copies sold, emails gained.

Keep the number honest. The Scribe Method's chapter on realistic expectations says the average nonfiction book sells fewer than 250 copies a year and fewer than 2,000 over its lifetime. If your goal is clients or speaking, a launch can succeed on far smaller sales.

2. Reader

One reader, described specifically enough that you could find them: their role, their problem, and the places they already gather (a newsletter, an association, a podcast, a conference). The Scribe Method chapter on figuring out your audience argues for being as specific as possible, partly because a specific reader makes marketing easier to aim.

3. Channels

This is your launch strategy in one table. Choose two or three channels where your reader already is, not every channel there is. For most nonfiction authors these come from four families: your own list (the launch email plan), other people's audiences (podcasts and media), people in a room (a launch event), and the store itself (your Amazon page, categories and reviews, covered in how to launch a book on Amazon). If you are short of options, book launch ideas groups 28 by what you already have. Write who does each one. If the answer is "me" for everything, cut a channel.

4. Assets

Everything a channel needs before it can start: copies for advance readers, a pitch for hosts, the emails, the book page. The common bottleneck is advance copies. Scribe's guide to Amazon book reviews suggests a launch team of 30 to 50 people, who need the proofread book about a month before release.

5. Fixed dates

Write the deadlines you cannot move first, then plan around them:

• Publishers Weekly asks for galleys three, preferably four, months before the first day of the month of publication.
• A Library of Congress PCN is free but can take up to 30 calendar days.
• KDP requires the final ebook file at least 72 hours before a preorder's release date, and locks print books five days before release.

6. Budget

Many of the most useful launch steps cost nothing but time. When you do pay, write the price and where you found it next to each line, and say what result would make it worth repeating. Published prices for common items, checked October 20, 2026: a Goodreads Standard giveaway is $119 in the US, BookFunnel starts at $30 a year for sending ebooks, a NetGalley listing is $575 for six months, and Amazon's Sponsored Products ads have a $1 minimum daily budget. The launch budget guide lists more, and what to spend at each budget level.

7. Measures

Pick three numbers at most, and a date to check each. One should be the goal number from part 1. The others should tell you which channel worked: reviews by day 60, sign-ups from a podcast's link, copies sold at the event. Put the 90-day check in your calendar now; the first 90 days guide covers what to do with the answers.

A worked example (an illustration)

A consultant who helps operations managers at mid-sized manufacturers is publishing a practical book for that reader, in ebook and paperback, launching on a Tuesday in March.

Notice what she left out: no paid publicist, no social media campaign, no attempt to hit a bestseller list. Her reader is not looking for books on social media, and a list ranking does not book calls. A plan is as much about what you will not do.

Real launches built on a clear goal can pay back in ways sales numbers miss. Mike Brunel sold 100 copies at his launch, then booked a talk series. That is one author's result, not a typical one.

What most authors get wrong

• Starting with tactics. "Do a giveaway, run ads, post daily" is a list, not a plan. Goal and reader first.
• Too many channels. Three channels done well beat eight done halfway.
• Unsourced budgets. A line that says "marketing $2,000" cannot be checked or cut. Price each item.
• No measure, or the wrong one. Launch-day rank is easy to watch and rarely the goal.
• Planning after the deadlines pass. Trade reviews and PCNs need months or weeks of notice. Write the fixed dates down first.

Once the plan is filled in, the launch planner turns it into a week-by-week task list for your launch date. Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells book publishing and marketing services; if you want a person to look at your plan, book a free consult.