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Marketing ROI Calculator

Use this formula for finding out the Return on Investment for your book production and marketing.

We all know that we should calculate our book promotion costs (and production) before spending willy-nilly on ad campaigns.
So here is a quick guideline for that very calculation.

When you don’t know the number sold yet, it’s a bit hard to work out. So take a figure like 200 sales to work it out. If you do NO marketing, you won’t even achieve this, but if you take my advice below and also contact library suppliers, this is quite doable.

Print on Demand Typical Calculation:

Book Production Costs + stipend for Book Marketing Costs, less sold price after tax, * 200, less retailer’s cut & wholesale printing = your profit or loss.

e.g. $3,000 + $500 ($3500) – total costs outlaid

Sales 19.90 x 200 – 45% cut = $2,189 – printing of 200 books $840 =  $1,349

Does this equal the $3,500?  No.

So a print on demand author would be in the red, however some people would rather fulfil this dream and will wear the risk. Or, go back to the planning board and see if you can:  sell more or get cheaper production, design and marketing costs.

If sociable, you could ask all your friends to share it on their emails with other friends. This is much more powerful than sharing it on socials, although this is good too, as it cuts down the clutter while viewing and is searchable.

Don’t forget the costs of:
* Production of book / ebook, editing, formatting, etc.
* Print and shipping costs — if POD, also see the IngramSpark print & ship calculators here.
* Marketing costs (e.g. Amazon advertising, Bookbub advertising, blogger review payments, Facebook boosts, Canva account, etc)
* Sales taxes – and some may only be apparent after the fact

And the possible returns of:

  • Book sales at full cost (not giveaways)
  • New leads, e.g. new people who find your book fascinating and want to hire you
  • Increase in numbers of people who sign onto your email list who are YOUR target market, whom you can sell to any future products.

A wise man once said to put aside at least a third of your book production budget for marketing costs. This would be dandy, but most of us are running dry after all the production/editing and pro photography costs. Think creatively and get learning about digital marketing.

There is a good ROI calculator below, so be sure to check it out.

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