ABSTRACT
Marketing planning is a structured way of looking at the match between what an organisation has to offer and what the market needs. Preparing a marketing plan is a common activity within the publishing industry and one on which many future developments may be based. Retailers being asked to invest in new product lines will want to know the wider marketing planned by the publishers, in order to stimulate demand for products they agree to stock or promote. Early in-house forms and the author’s publicity form should list any major competitors to a forthcoming title, or say if a publishing project has been started to meet a major market opportunity. Marketing theory emphasises the importance of segmenting the market into different groups of people, and then targeting those most likely to purchase. Increasingly, a variety of overlapping methods of reaching the market are used, in a staged process.
