Some time ago I started following Emily Enger from Good Enough Book Marketing. We both apparently like the color yellow (though I go a bit more mustard and she goes a bit more lemon) and we both work with authors getting their books out into the world. While marketing books is not my shtick, I often end up in conversations with my clients about marketing ideas and I feature their best marketing ideas in my newsletter. And so it was time to talk to someone who knows more about all of this than I do, and pick her brain for some advice for you. Marketing your book should start before you're ever ready for my services but never really ends. No matter where you are on your author journey, I hope you’ll find Emily’s marketing tips and tricks in this article helpful!
Emily, I was interested in your business as soon as I saw the name “Good Enough Book Marketing”. How did you pick that name and why?
Haha. I knew that name would be a risk: people would either love it or hate it. So I really debated whether to use it. But I am a recovering perfectionist, so my journey into the marketing mindset I have today was hard-won. And I wanted to honor that journey in the name of my business. There have been a few negative comments from people who think I may be teaching authors to be lazy with their marketing or that success is bad, but overall I get great feedback on my business name. I think it gives authors permission to prioritize their writing. The marketing gets to be secondary when you’re an author. That’s okay.
Yes, the vibe I get from you is that book marketing is important, but not the be all and end all of being an author. I like that.
Maybe a good initial topic is developing a brand guide. What is this and how can an author or content creator develop this?
A brand guide is a document authors create to help them define what they want their “brand” (or public image) to be. It helps authors figure out things like:
Who is my target audience?
What is my professional “tone” or voice that I use when marketing my books?
What is the mission statement that is driving my desire to be a writer?
What do I want to be known for?
Many people think the idea of a “brand” is too business-focused to apply to authors, but the truth is that all of us are a type of personal brand. Especially if you are on the internet.
By gazing inward to develop a “brand guide,” authors learn more about who they are both personally and professionally. And it helps them keep their messaging on-point (no distractions) as they market their books.
Once a writer or author has thought through their brand guide, they can start to think practically about marketing their book. The biggest mistake I see first-time authors make is thinking they only need to start marketing once they have their book in hand. Can you talk about when book marketing begins?
The success of book marketing really does hinge on how early you start. Marketing is like a slingshot—the farther you pull it back before your book is out, the farther your book will launch on release day.
Is there such a thing as too early? Yes, there can be. When you are writing the first draft of your book, it is important to remove any distraction—and that includes marketing. So if the marketing is getting in the way of your creativity, then it’s time to hit pause. Just hone in on your craft and enjoy the story.
Once you have an initial draft created, then I recommend some “light” marketing, usually in the form of networking (or building relationships). Go to a few writing retreats, which will provide both connections as well as support for your craft as you are revising your book. You can also create social media accounts or a newsletter at this point, if you don’t already have them. Since you have at least one complete draft, you can be confident that your book is coming together and feel less imposter syndrome about showing up online as a writer.
Once your final draft is done (and you have had it professionally edited and proofread), the marketing will vary by publishing path. If you are going to traditionally publish, then keep maintaining the “light” marketing as you pitch to agents. If you are self-publishing, it’s time to research and submit your book to professional reviewers or trade magazine reviews (Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, etc.), because you won’t have a publisher to do that for you.
Do you have any advice for an author who is wanting to get his or her online presence set up? What is needed and what is the best way to go about it?
I believe websites are an important part of an author's online presence. While they are not a big connection point with one's readers, they go a long way to make a positive impression with other professionals inside the book industry, including journalists, book reviewers, book event coordinators and more. I even had a client's website help land his publisher! Websites used to be much cheaper to set up than they are now. If you have some technical abilities, Wordpress is still the cheapest route for DIY options, but it can get complicated. Take the time to price out some local web designers in your area, because they might be cheaper in the long run than doing a more expensive drag-and-drop website building platform—those have started getting pricey. I would also be cautious about platforms that "specialize" in websites for authors. They are usually priced high, too, in exchange for the convenience. Remember that you will have this website forever, so that monthly fee to maintain/host your site matters. Sometimes paying a large amount up front to a designer, but smaller maintenance fees going forward actually ends up being less money long-term.
The other piece about an online presence that is often forgotten is high-quality photos! In order to have a professional, engaging social media presence or website, you need to have several photos of yourself. These photos should not just be boring headshots! Go on a fun photo shoot with a friend and find some of your favorite spots—a state park? a coffee shop? a bookstore? Stage some photos that match your personality but also look like you are an approachable, engaging person. Maybe you are laughing or rolling your eyes or enjoying a giant cup of coffee with your eyes closed and a relieved expression on your face. You will want an entire folder of fun photos that you can pull from at a moment's notice when you need something to post.
If you are going to start a podcast, the most important thing you need is a quality microphone—you can find lots of inexpensive options online or at Target. You don't need the fanciest one out there. Any external microphone is going to be good enough and much better quality than your computer's internal mic. There are a lot of other podcasting tools you will find for recording or uploading each episode. Whatever you choose to use, I always recommend using either the cheapest option or tools that are free. Remember that you can upgrade as you get more confident and your platform grows, but when you are just starting, you don't even know if you like podcasting yet. So don't throw a lot of money into something until you have been doing it for awhile and know that it fits your style and is actually helping your career grow.
Whatever you decide for an online presence, remember to start small and attainable. The key to marketing has always been consistency. If you do too many things and can't regularly show up for them all, your career will not grow. It is better to pick a couple of paths and regularly give them your attention.
What are the book marketing strategies that you think are working best right now?
The best strategy to focus on before your book comes out is your platform. Your "platform" is any online presence you have that connects directly to your readers. So that could be social media, a Youtube channel, a podcast, a newsletter, a blog, etc. Pick just one or two places you want to show up online and give it/them your attention. What do you talk about before your book is out? You have to find topics that those who enjoy your future book will also love—because you only want your audience to be made up of people who will eventually buy your book. So you could recommend books by other authors who are similar to you (maybe even interview some of those authors on your channel!) Or you could focus on topics that come up in your book. Will your book deal with women's issues? History? Food? These are all things that could make great angles for your posts/episodes now, too!
My favorite strategy is applying to have your book promoted on a promotional email list. There are so many, but here are a few of my favorites for you: BookBub, Written Word Media, Robin Reads. These companies email their massive list of followers, segmented by genre, about really cheap ebook deals currently available. And they are pretty good about only including a handful of books per email, so if your book is listed, it won’t be lost in a huge sea of other books. And remember: these emails are opened by people for the express purpose of finding a book to read today. So the conversion rate is usually great. It is worth it to put your ebook on discount to be included in these!
Another important marketing strategy people forget about is building relationships with bookstore owners, particularly at local bookstores. Book sellers love pushing local books because readers typically enjoy discovering local authors. When you make a relationship with a bookstore, you have salespeople who are pushing your book on your behalf, so you don’t have to do so much of the “sales” talk. Do keep in mind that bookstores need a wholesale distributor to buy your book from, not Amazon. So if your book is exclusively on Amazon, you won’t be able to pursue this path. (I recommend IngramSpark as a print on demand wholesale distributor.)
You talk about book marketing activities you can stop doing today. Can you tell us about some of those and why?
Which activities you can stop doing depends heavily on your genre. It also depends on your goals for that marketing strategy. Is your goal awareness or is it book sales? Those are very different things—both important, but they require different marketing tactics.
Let’s start with social media ads. These are not very effective at selling books, and they are getting more and more expensive. Why are they ineffective? Because when I am scrolling Instagram, I am busy looking at photos of my friends and tutorials from influencers. I am not thinking about buying a book in that moment and am not in the mood. Save your ad money for places like Amazon or another bookseller site—or for websites like BookBub that email subscribers good deals on books. Those ads will target readers right when they are looking to buy a book, thus will have a better conversion rate.
However, if your goal is not book sales, but platform growth, then social media ads are very effective. So if you just need a little boost in followers, then go ahead and take out an ad on the social media platform of your choice.
Another marketing tactic I find unnecessary is the trend of “writing to market.” This is when an author researches the topics and genres that are currently popular and then writes their book along those lines. It’s meant to be a way to “crack the code,” per se, of writing a bestselling book. And it could work if you are a very fast writer. But trends are changing faster than ever before and the market is bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. So getting your finger on the pulse of what is truly popular is difficult to do. I recommend writing the book you want to write, the one that keeps you up at night. Because the more you love your book, the more that love (and excitement) will be noticed by others.
When an author publishes with a publishing house, what is their responsibility in terms of marketing?
This varies from publisher to publisher. It also varies based on how valuable an author is to their publisher. Traditional publishing can be very unfair and biased when it comes to marketing, I’m afraid. If you are a publisher’s golden goose, they are going to fully take care of you so you can keep laying them golden eggs. But if you are a debut author that they are taking a risk on, the marketing support is going to be more limited for you.
The most important thing you can do in a traditional publishing deal is communicate well. Make sure there have been discussions—ideally in writing—about which party is going to do what. And don’t be afraid to nag or remind them of what they promised to do if you notice they aren’t fulfilling their end.
Typically, though, at bare minimum a publisher will distribute ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies or Advanced Review Copies of your book) to media and trade magazines, they will reach out to their media contacts list requesting feature interviews or their bookstore list for reading events. This could be personalized emails to those contacts on your behalf, or as basic as a mass email blast listing all their upcoming titles for the year. You don’t really know how hard they are going to advocate on your behalf, so it doesn’t hurt to follow up to some of those known bookstores or reporters yourself, too. In fact, it can only help your odds because it will remind the reporter about you and increase your name recognition in their mind.
Regardless of your publishing house, it is always the author’s responsibility to do any direct-to-consumer (or direct-to-reader) connecting. This could be through social media, a newsletter or blog, a podcast, etc. The way in which your nurture relationships with your fans is all on you.
Do you have any tips in particular for authors who are publishing for the first time or only publishing with Amazon KDP or another print-on-demand service? What are some tips to help your POD book get found on Amazon?
Amazon wants to make money off your book. But their best chance of making money is to push the titles that are already selling because there is some safe, “guaranteed” popularity there.
So if you want to stand out from the noise on Amazon—and have Amazon’s algorithm organically feature your book to new audiences—you have to prove that your book is popular through reviews. You need to convince your audience to not only buy your book, but to then leave a review once they have finished it.
The other important way to get Amazon to notice your book is to make your book available for pre-order before it launches and focus substantial marketing effort to convince readers to buy in that window. A bunch of early sales gets the attention of Amazon’s algorithm and they will then favor your book in hopes to keep making money off of it.
Can you share any tips for getting Amazon reviews and Amazon preorders, since these seem to be central to being successful with Amazon sales?
The key to success with Amazon reviews is to concentrate on them early. Although no one can leave a review until your book is live, you can start preparing to get reviews during the pre-order phase or when you are sending out ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies or Advanced Review Copies of your book). I like Book Sirens , which distributes your ARC to interested reviewers whom you would otherwise have no contact with. They are fully compliant with Amazon's Terms of Service and are very affordable. But you need to submit to them before your book is officially launched. So it requires some preparation. There are other services you can use that connect you to book influencers on social media. These influencers usually also post their review to Amazon and Goodreads (if they don't, just ask them to!) The service I have used is Book Influencers. However, this is also paid and will end up being more expensive than using Book Sirens. So it always helps to be "on the ball" and start working on this stuff as early as possible.
Of course, don't forget to just ask your current fans and friends to leave a review: make social media posts about it, newsletter topics, etc. And if someone mentions liking your book, follow up with them and ask that they leave an honest review on Amazon. I don't recommend immediately begging for a review the minute they give you a compliment—that can come off as desperate. But maybe a day or two later, send them an email saying "Hey, I was thinking of your kind words about my book. I really appreciate your feedback. Would you be willing to leave an honest review of your thoughts as an Amazon review, too? That would mean so much to me."
Sometimes my clients even ask for reviews on the final page of their book or journal. Depending on the genre, this can be effective, too!
Do you think book merchandise or swag is worthwhile to create? If so, what works best?
This also depends on your goals as a writer, as well as your genre. Some audiences adore swag, while others would never consider purchasing it. Knowing your audience is key to understanding if it’s worth it for you.
The other big piece to consider is what your goal with the swag is. Swag makes great pre-order bonuses, which encourage more pre-order sales and can help you get the attention of Amazon or land bestseller lists. So even if you don’t make your money back on the swag, if it increased the number of pre-orders enough to open new doors or hit important goals, then the expense was worth it.
I also think swag makes good “awareness” marketing—meaning your goal is not book sales, but just to get your name out there in people’s minds. But when you are choosing swag for awareness, keep in mind that you need to find products that are both useful and long-lasting.
I do not recommend bookmarks or stickers. Paper products tear too easily, only to end up in the garbage shortly after they’ve been given away. Those things don’t last long enough to get you a good ROI (return on investment). Look into things like pens, t-shirts, tote bags…things that people would use regardless of whether or not they like your specific swag. For example, your t-shirt might not be the favorite shirt I own, but I will probably wear it anyway, even if it’s just on laundry day.
My favorite swag is pens. They are cheaper than t-shirts or tote bags, but very useful. Until the ink is dry, no one throws away a pen!
Agreed! I recently had to go out and buy a bag of everyday pens because some swag pens that had served me for almost a decade all started to die at once!
Thank you so much for everything you have shared about book marketing! Where can my clients/readers find out more about you and learn more from your marketing insights?
They can learn more about me at emilyenger.com. I have a free download they can get titled “7 Book Marketing Activities You Can Stop Doing Today.”
Thanks for reading this post about book marketing! For more marketing insights, follow Emily Enger! Check out these ideas for journal marketing and how to use the final page of your book for marketing. Dig through my case studies for more ideas (search for the word “marketing” — most of my featured authors have shared their best marketing tips!)