Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Harbour Line
From$6.99
Book Marketing
A defined 90-day campaign of listing optimization, reader outreach and launch assets, reported on activity delivered.
- Price From $1,450 per campaign, from
- Typical timeline 90-day campaign
Book marketing is sold dishonestly more often than any other publishing service, so here is exactly what this is and is not.
It is a defined programme of work over ninety days, run by a marketing coordinator, covering four things.
Retailer optimization. Your listing is the shop window and most independent listings are weak. We rewrite the description for how people actually read a retail page, research and set categories and keywords deliberately, and test alternative descriptions to see which performs better.
Advance reader copies. Review copies go out to readers and reviewers in your genre ahead of publication. Early honest reviews matter because they are what a browsing stranger uses to decide. We solicit; we never pay for reviews, script them, or promise how many will arrive.
Launch assets. Designed social graphics, a posting calendar, an announcement email sequence and a press-ready book information sheet. Yours to keep and reuse.
Coordinator time. Someone who has launched books before, working on yours, telling you what to do in what order.
What it is not: a guarantee of sales, rankings, reviews or coverage. We report on activity delivered — outreach sent, assets produced, listings optimized, tests run — because that is what we control. Anyone selling you a sales figure is selling you something they cannot deliver.
What you receive
Deliverables
Exactly what lands in your inbox, listed the same way it appears in your written scope.
- Retailer listing rewrite with A/B tested descriptions
- Category and keyword research and implementation
- Advance reader copy programme with outreach to genre readers
- Twelve designed social media assets plus a posting calendar
- Launch email sequence templates
- Press-ready book information sheet
- Fortnightly activity reports across the 90 days
What we need from you
Requirements
Having these ready before we start is what keeps the timeline honest.
- A published or imminently publishing book with final files
- Author biography and a usable author photograph
- Access to your retailer dashboards, or willingness to apply our changes
- Some willingness to appear — books with an absent author are harder to market
Production timelines are estimates. Actual schedules vary with manuscript length, revision rounds, author response time and third-party retailer processing.
How it works
Book Marketing, stage by stage
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1
Positioning session
We work out who this book is genuinely for and what would make that person pick it up.
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2
Listing optimization
Description, categories and keywords rebuilt, with alternatives prepared for testing.
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3
Pre-launch outreach
Advance copies distributed to readers and reviewers in your category.
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4
Launch window
Assets deployed, sequence run, listing performance monitored and adjusted.
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5
Post-launch review
A report of what was delivered and what the data suggests is worth continuing.
Examples
Browse the bookstore
Books this service has shaped
Sample catalog titles. Replace with a real portfolio of work you have permission to show before launch.
Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Second Tide
From$6.99
Sample cover — replace with client asset
The Evidence Gap
From$9.99
Sample cover — replace with client asset
Decision Debt
From$11.99
Cheaper as part of a package
Packages that commonly include book marketing
If you need several services, a package is usually less than buying them individually.
Foundation
A complete, professional first edition
First-time authors with a finished, self-edited manuscript who want a properly produced paperback and eBook without paying for services they are not ready to use.
From
$1,690
Placeholder price. $400 reserves your slot; balance invoiced against milestones.
- Professional proofread, up to 60,000 words included
- Documented style sheet applied consistently throughout
- Original front, spine and back cover design
- Two initial cover concepts, one selected and refined
- Paperback, Reflowable eBook (EPUB) for major reading apps
- One ISBN assigned for the paperback edition
- Listing submitted to major online retailers
- Timeline: 10–14 weeks from manuscript handover
Craft
Deeper editorial and a design-led jacket
Authors who want their manuscript genuinely improved before it is produced — a full copyedit, more design exploration, and a hardcover edition alongside the paperback.
From
$3,450
Placeholder price. $750 reserves your slot; balance invoiced against milestones.
- Full copyedit, up to 90,000 words included
- Tracked changes plus an editorial summary letter
- Three original cover concepts, one selected and refined
- Competitive category research informing the design brief
- Paperback, Hardcover with dust jacket, Reflowable eBook (EPUB) for major reading apps
- Three ISBNs assigned (paperback, hardcover, eBook)
- Listing submitted to major online retailers
- Timeline: 16–22 weeks from manuscript handover
We genuinely do not know, and neither does anyone else. Sales depend on the book, the category, the price, the season, the cover, the competition and a large amount of chance. We commit to the activity in the deliverables list, report on all of it, and leave the forecasting to people willing to make things up.
Never. Paid reviews violate every major retailer's terms and can get your book delisted. We send review copies to real readers and they write what they think, including when that is unflattering.
Campaign management can include advertising setup, but ad spend is paid by you directly to the platform so you keep control of the budget. We will advise on a sensible starting spend for your category.
Ideally eight to twelve weeks before publication. The advance reader programme needs lead time, and pre-orders accumulate. Marketing a book that came out last year is possible but harder.
Often bought together
All services
Related services
Public Relations
Public Relations
Targeted media outreach, press materials and interview preparation — pitching honestly, with no coverage promised.
Marketing
Social Media Marketing
A sustainable content plan and designed assets for the platforms where your readers actually are — not all of them.
Websites
Author Website Development
A fast, accessible website you own outright — with the mailing list that is the only audience nobody can take away.
Marketing
Author Branding
A consistent visual and verbal identity across everything with your name on it — because readers follow authors, not just books.
Talk it through
Not sure whether you need book marketing?
Send us the manuscript. If this is not the service that would help your book most, we will tell you which one is.
Your manuscript stays confidential. We claim no rights in your work at any stage.