DIY AUTHOR MARKETING TOOL
Your author marketing command centre.
Your books are in one place. Your website analytics are somewhere else. Your email platform has another set of numbers. Social media has plenty more. And somewhere in your notes is a list of marketing things you meant to try three months ago.
The Indie Author Marketing Dashboard brings the important pieces together in one reusable Google Sheets system so you can organize your marketing, track the numbers that matter and make better decisions about what to do next.
$49 CAD
Google Sheets • Reusable • Built for independent authors
COMMAND CENTRE OVERVIEW
Google Sheets Workbook
MORE DATA ISN’T THE ANSWER
You don’t need more data. You need to know what the data means.
Author marketing can generate an impressive number of numbers.
Website visitors. Email subscribers. Open rates. Social followers. Engagement. Clicks. Sales. Ad results. Search performance.
The problem is that those numbers usually live in different places—and looking at them individually doesn’t necessarily tell you anything useful.
A number matters when it helps you answer a question.
Is my audience growing?
Are readers finding me?
Which marketing activities are worth repeating?
What deserves my attention next?
That’s what the Dashboard is built to help you see.
ONE PLACE TO SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE
Organize it. Review it. Decide what happens next.
The Dashboard gives you one place to:
- Keep your books and series information organized
- Record the marketing activities you’re actually trying
- Track audience and discoverability growth
- Review meaningful marketing performance
- See your key information in one Dashboard
- Complete a simple monthly marketing review
This isn’t about tracking everything you possibly can.
It’s about keeping enough useful information together that you can start noticing patterns.
WHAT’S INSIDE
Six tabs. One marketing system.
01
Start Here
A simple introduction to the Dashboard, what belongs where and how to start using it without filling in everything at once.
02
Books & Series
Keep the core information about your books and series together so you have a clear reference point for the work you’re marketing.
03
Marketing Activity
Record the marketing activities you actually try so you can look back at what you did instead of relying on memory.
04
Audience & Discoverability
Track the meaningful signs that your audience and visibility are changing over time.
05
Marketing Performance
Bring together the performance information that’s useful for understanding how your marketing efforts are behaving.
06
Dashboard
See the key information from across the system in one place so you can review what’s happening without digging through every tab.
Behind the scenes, a Settings tab supports the system without adding another place you need to manage.
THIS IS NOT A DAILY TRACKER
Your Dashboard doesn’t need another habit streak.
You do not need to open this spreadsheet every morning.
You do not need to record every Instagram post.
You do not need to turn writing books into a data-entry job.
The Dashboard is designed around a simple monthly rhythm.
STEP 01
Update
Add the marketing and performance information that’s actually useful.
STEP 02
Review
Look at what changed, what worked, what didn’t and what you’re learning.
STEP 03
Decide
Choose what deserves your attention next month.
MONTHLY MARKETING CHECK-IN
Monthly Review & Priorities Framework
For most authors, the useful question isn’t:
“Did I track everything?”
It’s:
“What did I learn?”
Plan on roughly 20–30 minutes for your monthly review once your Dashboard is set up and you’re familiar with the system.
MEANINGFUL NUMBERS, NOT EVERY NUMBER
Track what helps you make a decision.
Depending on the marketing channels you use, the Dashboard can help you organize and review information related to:
Your Books
Your books, series and the core information you need to reference.
Marketing Activity
The meaningful marketing efforts you’ve tried and when you tried them.
Audience Growth
The growth of the audiences you’re building, such as your email list and relevant social channels.
Discoverability
Signals that help you understand whether readers are finding you and your website.
Website Performance
Useful website information that helps you understand how people are reaching and using your site.
Marketing Performance
Relevant performance information from the marketing activities you’re running.
You do not need to use every field.
You do not need to track every channel.
Track what supports the marketing you’re actually doing.
MORE THAN A BLANK SPREADSHEET
You won’t open it and wonder what you’re supposed to do.
Your purchase includes:
CORE SYSTEM
Indie Author Marketing Dashboard
The reusable Google Sheets system itself.
Quick-Start Guide
A practical introduction to setting up and using your Dashboard.
Metrics Cheat Sheet
Plain-language guidance to help you understand the marketing numbers you’re looking at.
Monthly Marketing Review
A guided review that helps you turn the information you’ve collected into decisions for the month ahead.
Walkthrough Video
A step-by-step tour of the Dashboard and how the pieces work together.
Populated Sample Dashboard
A completed fictional example featuring author Elena Hart, so you can see what the system looks like when it’s actually being used.
Because “here’s a spreadsheet, good luck” is not a marketing system.
KEEPING THIS DELIBERATELY SIMPLE
This is a marketing dashboard—not a second job.
The Indie Author Marketing Dashboard is designed to help you organize and review your marketing.
It is not:
- A daily content tracker
- A social media scheduler
- A project management system
- A CRM
- An ARC or reviewer manager
- A book launch calendar
- An accounting system
- A revenue forecasting tool
- A replacement for the analytics inside the platforms you use
It won’t magically combine every platform into one live feed.
And it won’t tell you that every number deserves your attention.
The point is to make your marketing easier to understand—not more complicated to manage.
IS THIS FOR YOU?
Built for authors who want to manage their own marketing without managing a marketing department.
The Dashboard may be a good fit if:
- You’re handling most of your own author marketing.
- Your marketing information currently lives across several different platforms, notes or spreadsheets.
- You want to understand whether your audience and discoverability are changing over time.
- You have trouble remembering what marketing you’ve already tried.
- You want a simple monthly routine for reviewing what’s happening.
- You like the idea of making marketing decisions from information instead of instinct alone.
- You want more organization without adopting a complicated new system.
You do not need to be “good at spreadsheets.”
The supporting materials are there to help you understand how the system works and what the information means.
DO YOU WANT A SYSTEM OR A STRATEGIST?
Both can create clarity. They do it differently.
DIY SYSTEM
Indie Author Marketing Dashboard
“I want a better system for managing this myself.”
A reusable DIY tool for organizing your marketing, reviewing meaningful information and making your own decisions over time.
$49 CAD
Best for authors who are comfortable managing their own marketing but want a better way to organize and understand it.
PERSONALIZED STRATEGIC REVIEW
Author Marketing Audit
“I want an experienced marketer to tell me what they see.”
A personalized review of your specific author marketing ecosystem with priorities, recommendations, a 90-day roadmap and a 30-minute review call.
$249 CAD
Best for authors who want professional strategic direction based on what they currently have in place.
You don’t need both to get started.
Choose the kind of support you actually need.
MEASUREMENT & STRATEGY
The Dashboard helps you turn information into direction.
Measurement & Strategy is one of the five pillars behind the Rise & Shine approach to author marketing.
But measurement isn’t useful just because you can collect numbers.
The point is to understand what those numbers are telling you and use that information to make a better decision.
The Dashboard gives you a practical place to do that while also keeping information from the other parts of your marketing system within reach.
More data isn’t automatically better data.
Useful data helps you decide what happens next.
START WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
You don’t need to fill in your entire marketing history.
Once you have your Dashboard:
01
Make Your Copy
Create your own working copy of the Google Sheets Dashboard.
02
Start With Your Books
Add the books and series information that gives the system its foundation.
03
Add What You’re Currently Using
Set up the marketing channels and information that are relevant to what you’re doing now.
04
Use the Sample When You Need It
Refer to Elena Hart’s populated Dashboard when you want to see how a section can be used.
05
Come Back for Your Monthly Review
Update the useful information, complete your review and choose what deserves your attention next.
You can build out the Dashboard as you use it.
You don’t need to spend an entire Saturday reconstructing the history of your marketing career.
YOUR MARKETING COMMAND CENTRE
Indie Author Marketing Dashboard
$49 CAD
Google Sheets • Reusable • Built for independent authors
Your purchase includes:
- Indie Author Marketing Dashboard
- Quick-Start Guide
- Metrics Cheat Sheet
- Monthly Marketing Review
- Walkthrough Video
- Populated Elena Hart Sample Dashboard
No subscription.
Use your Dashboard month after month as your author marketing evolves.
KNOW WHAT’S WORTH REPEATING
Your marketing doesn’t need another place to create more work.
It needs somewhere to make sense of the work you’re already doing.
Update it. Review it. Choose your priorities.
Then close the spreadsheet and get back to writing.