WordPress Plugin • Digital Product

The Author Marketing
Planner Plugin

You already have a WordPress site. Now put it to work for your writing business. Install this plugin and it builds your private planning page for you, hidden from readers and search engines. Inside is a permanent home for your entire book marketing strategy: author profile, content pillars, social media calendar, book details, and performance tracking, all in one place, saving as you work.

6-Tab Workbook
Auto-Save to Database
Print or Save as PDF
Private Page, Built Automatically
Any WordPress Theme
Lifetime License


See Pricing & Licensing Options →

WHAT IT IS

A workbook tool built for authors who are serious about their marketing.

Most authors plan their marketing in scattered notes, forgotten spreadsheets, and documents they can never find again. This plugin gives you one permanent, organized workspace right on your own WordPress site.

01

Persistent, Per-User Storage

Every entry saves to your WordPress database automatically, about 1.2 seconds after you stop typing. No Save button. No lost work. Log back in from any device and everything is exactly where you left it.

02

Clean Print and PDF View

One button opens a clean, branded version of your completed workbook in a new tab, with no website navigation, no sidebars, nothing but your plan. Print it, or choose Save as PDF in your browser to keep a dated copy.

03

Private From the Moment You Activate

You do not have to configure anything. Activating the plugin creates your planner page and sets it to Private automatically. Your readers, search engines, and anyone else visiting your site will never know it exists.

04

Works on Any WordPress Theme

The plugin and its print view are completely independent of your theme. It has been tested and confirmed to work cleanly on multiple themes including Kadence.

05

Author Photo Upload

Upload your author headshot directly in the workbook. Stored as a standard WordPress media attachment so it appears in your printed copy alongside your profile information. JPG or PNG, 300 by 300 pixels or smaller, under 2 MB.

06

Add as Many Books as You Need

Add book entries dynamically. Each one has its own synopsis, hashtag bank, and six post ideas. Add monthly and quarterly analysis entries as the year progresses. No caps, no limits.

INSIDE THE WORKBOOK

Six tabs. Your complete marketing plan.

Each tab covers a different layer of your book marketing strategy. All data saves independently per tab.

Tab 01

About You

Author profile, pen names, website, genres, social media links, short bio with character counter, long bio with word counter, and author photo upload.

Tab 02

Trends & Tips

Reference content covering TikTok/BookTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, and BlueSky, with 2026 platform strategies for book marketing.

Tab 03

Content Pillars

The 30/40/30 framework, with five self-knowledge questions plus three fillable idea banks covering personal content, educational content, and book promotion ideas.

Tab 04

Workbook

Dynamic book entries with title, synopses, purchase link, target audience, 10-hashtag bank, and six labeled post ideas per book. Add as many books as you need.

Tab 05

Calendar

Monthly content calendar with columns for post title, time, and platform. Navigate forward and back by month. Every month saves independently.

Tab 06

Analysis

Dynamic monthly and quarterly performance entries plus a year-end review with revenue and ROI fields. Add entries as the year progresses.

Note for Individual Authors

You don’t need a course site. Your author website works just fine.

This plugin installs on any WordPress site, including the author website you already have. Activate it and it does the setup for you: it builds a page called Author Marketing Planner, drops the workbook onto it, and sets the page to Private. There is no page to create, no shortcode to paste, and no settings screen to work through.

Your readers never see it. Search engines never index it. No separate subscription, no third-party app. Just your plan, on your site, reachable from any device where you are logged in.

REQUIREMENTS

What your site needs to run it.

The requirements are minimal. If your site runs modern WordPress with user accounts, you are ready.

WP

WordPress

Version 6.0 or higher

PHP

PHP Version

7.4 or higher

DB

Database

MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB

URL

Permalinks

Must not be set to Plain

LOG

User Accounts

You must be able to log in to WordPress

What to Know Before You Buy

  • !
    You must be logged in to WordPress to use the workbook. Anyone who visits your site without logging in will not see the planner content at all.
  • !
    A Private page in WordPress is visible to Administrators and Editors only. WordPress does not extend Private page access to the Author or Contributor roles, so if someone on your site holds one of those and cannot see the planner, nothing is broken. Either raise their role to Editor, or switch the page to Published from the admin screen so every logged-in user gets their own. Logged-out visitors still see only a login prompt.
  • !
    The plugin does not include hosting or a WordPress installation. You install it on your own existing WordPress site.
  • !
    The Trends & Tips tab contains content written for 2026. All other tabs are evergreen and contain no dated material.
  • !
    No refunds on digital products after download. Please read the requirements above carefully before purchasing.

PRICING & LICENSING

Three tiers. One plugin.

Every tier is the same plugin. What changes is how many sites you can install it on and whether you can put your own branding on it. All three are one-time payments. Your license never expires, and updates are free for as long as the plugin is maintained.

Tier 01

Single Site

For the author with one website. Your strategy, your data, your plan.

$97

One-time payment. Lifetime license.

  • →Use on 1 WordPress domain
  • →Full plugin and all source files
  • →16-page setup and user guide (PDF)
  • →Free updates, license never expires
  • →30-day email support
  • –Rebranding rights


Get Single Site License →

Tier 02 • Best Value

Multi-Site & Pen Names

For the author running more than one site, and the pro who builds sites for authors.

$197

One-time payment. Up to 5 domains.

  • →Everything in Single Site
  • →Use on up to 5 WordPress domains
  • →Perfect for pen names, or a personal site plus a course site
  • →60-day priority email support
  • →One content update request included
  • –Rebranding rights

Please list your domain names in the note to seller at checkout. That is how your five domains are recorded, and it makes any future support request faster to answer.


Get Multi-Site License →

Tier 03

Book Coach & Educator

Put your own name and logo on it and run it inside your own school or program.

$497

One-time payment. Unlimited sites you own or manage.

  • →Everything in Multi-Site
  • →Rebrand it with your name, logo, and colors
  • →Unlimited installs on sites you own or manage
  • →15-page rebrand checklist covering every element to change
  • →90-day priority support and one content rewrite session
  • –Selling or redistributing the plugin file

You are licensed to deploy it inside your own program, not to distribute it. Building a product on this codebase is a separate conversation, so write to me first.


Get Book Coach License →

All prices in USD. Checkout handled securely by Payhip. No refunds on digital products after download.
No tier includes the right to sell or redistribute the plugin as a standalone product.
WAG, First Coast Romance Writers, and Sisters in Crime NE Florida members receive 50% off. Contact Jolene directly before purchasing.

FAQ

Honest answers.

Can I use this on my author website instead of a course site?
Yes, and this is the most common use case. Install the plugin on your existing WordPress author website and activate it. The plugin creates the page, adds the workbook, and sets the page to Private for you. A Private page is visible only to Administrators and Editors, so your readers, Google, and anyone else visiting your site cannot see or find it. You get a fully functional personal planning workspace on your own domain, reachable from any device where you are logged in.
I activated it. Where is the planner?
This is the question I get most, so here it is plainly. The workbook is a page on your website, not an admin screen. Go to Pages and you will see Author Marketing Planner in the list, marked Private. Hover the title and click View to open it.

Separately, look down your admin sidebar for a book icon labelled Author Planner. That is the control panel, not the workbook. It gives you a direct link to your planner, lets you change who can see it, and reports how many fields you have filled in and when you last saved. If that report looks empty when you first open it, nothing is wrong. It fills in the moment you start typing in the workbook itself.

Do I need a developer to install this?
No. Installation is the same as any WordPress plugin: Plugins, then Add New Plugin, then Upload Plugin, then Install and Activate. The plugin creates its own database table and its own page automatically. No FTP, no command line, no coding, and no settings to configure. The setup guide walks the whole process step by step and names what you should expect to see on screen at each stage.
Can other people on my site have their own planner?
Yes. Every planner is stored against an individual user account, so each logged-in user gets a completely separate copy that nobody else can see. To turn this on, open the Author Planner screen in your admin sidebar and switch the page from Private to Published. Logged-out visitors still see only a login prompt, never the workbook. This is how it runs on a course or membership site.
Will the print and PDF view work on my theme?
Yes. The print view opens in a completely separate browser tab with no involvement from your WordPress theme. It is a self-contained document built from your live data. Print it on paper, or choose Save as PDF as the destination in your browser’s print dialog to keep a file. Each of the six tabs starts on its own page, so the result works as a real binder. It has been confirmed to produce clean output across multiple themes, including a specific fix for a print conflict on the Masteriyo elearning theme.
What happens to my data when I upgrade the plugin?
Nothing. The plugin never drops or modifies the database table on upgrade. Your saved data survives every version update, and it survives deactivating or even deleting the plugin. This was a deliberate design decision built in from the beginning.
Do I have to pay again next year?
No. Every tier is a one-time payment and your license never expires. Updates are free for as long as the plugin is maintained. The support window is separate from the license: 30 days on Single Site, 60 on Multi-Site, 90 on Book Coach. After that your plugin keeps working exactly as before, you just are not in the priority support queue.
Can I change the workbook content, the questions, labels, and tab names?
Yes. All workbook content lives in a single template file and reads like plain HTML, so no PHP knowledge is needed for text changes. If you would rather not touch code at all, the Multi-Site tier includes one content update request where I make the changes for you, and the Book Coach tier includes a full content rewrite session.
What exactly does the Book Coach tier let me do?
It lets you make the plugin look like yours. Rename it, replace the Southern Dragon Publishing branding with your own name, logo, and colors, and run it on unlimited sites you own or manage, including client sites you build and maintain. Your students and clients use it inside your school or program and never see my name anywhere. You get a 15-page rebrand checklist naming every function, database reference, and branding element to change.

What it does not include is the right to sell or give away the plugin file itself as a standalone product. You are licensed to deploy it, not to distribute it. If you want to build a product on this codebase, write to me and we will discuss terms.

Does the plugin send my data anywhere?
No. There is no license check, no activation server, and no analytics of any kind. The plugin makes no outbound connections. Everything you type stays in your own WordPress database on your own hosting, and I have no way to see any of it.

Built by someone still in the trenches.

The Author Marketing Planner Plugin was built by Jolene MacFadden, owner of Southern Dragon Publishing Services. She has been working in digital marketing since publishing her first book in 2014, has consulted with more than 100 authors on building platforms and marketing their books, and is completing a Master’s in Social Media at the University of Florida. She builds tools that work because she uses them herself. This plugin was built for her own courses site first. It works because it had to work.


Visit the Store on Payhip →

WAG, First Coast Romance Writers, and Sisters in Crime NE Florida members, contact Jolene directly for your 50% member discount before purchasing.