I cannot stress enough how crucial publicity and marketing are to life as an author these days.
The fact that almost 600 books were released by trade publishers in the UK on September 3, 2020, after being pushed back due to COVID, not to mention the supersaturated state of the self-publishing market, should convince you that, if you don’t hype your book, there’s no way anyone will hear about it, let alone buy, read, and enjoy it.
Perhaps you know this and have even tried your hand at promoting your books on social media, with a blog or other source of dynamic content, or with a good, old-fashioned hand sell. Perhaps, since you’re competing against roughly 600 billion other authors, it felt like you were shouting into an obnoxious, self-absorbed void, one that you had no clue how to navigate.
The following resources, priced from free to paid, should be helpful to you.
Free Publicity and Marketing Resources.
Reedsy's Marketing Blog. Written by Ricardo Fayet, Reedsy's marketing director, this blog is chock full of helpful hints and all the latest marketing news. For instance, I just learned through them that Amazon now allows authors to customize their series pages, which can help incentivize fans to find new series to binge their way through. Reedsy also has a learning section broken into categories like Marketing and Distribution. Each course within these categories is made up of email-based learning modules so that, each day, you open your inbox to learn a little more about a different element of the publishing journey.
Pat Flynn's Smart Passive Income site's Book Publishing section. Flynn seems to cater to business books, but my client Kay Dew Shostak, who writes Southern women's fiction, swears by him and has cultivated a fan following through social media, light publicity efforts, interacting with her local bookstores, doing book festivals, and other forms of hand selling. A good place to start is Flynn's uber-post that seems to be a collection of other blogs he's written on book marketing. It covers a number of topics, from Amazon sales to social media marketing. You can find that super post here.
"Your Six-Month Timeline for Successful Book Publicity." I wrote this blog post a few years ago with a mind to take trade publishing PR best practices and make them accessible for self-published authors.
Use the Void to Your Advantage. I would also suggest a "follow the leader" technique. That is, find the authors similar to you that you admire, and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and other social media. See what they're doing that you like, and emulate that behavior.
Paid Publicity and Marketing Resources.
When you’re paying for publicity or marketing, it’s likely because you’ve hired a book publicist or marketer. There are a ton of options out there, and I encourage you to do your own research before reaching out to professionals that catch your eye. That said, I wanted to share some possibilities from my own network. If you would like an introduction to any of these firms, contact me, explaining your project, and let me know.
Beverly Bambury Book Publicity. Based in Toronto, Canada, Bambury provides publicity, media tour, and PR coaching services for creative professionals. She especially loves working with writers of romance, horror, crime, and thriller novels, and has pricing available for all budgets.
Mind Buck Media. This is a boutique firm founded by Jess Glenn. Though based in Portland, Oregon, Mind Buck has remote staffers throughout the world. Each of Glenn’s publicists has a publishing superpower to share, like MFA credentials, web design abilities, past experience in trade publishing, or being an author themselves, and the team prides itself on working socratically to score the biggest wins for their clients. In addition to book publicity, they offer social media marketing and events marketing expertise.
Hatch Editorial Services. Yep, that’s me. Though most of you know me as an editor, I worked for St. Martin’s Press’s publicity department before launching my freelance business. At SMP, I assisted the director and deputy director of the department (I booked so many flights for authors one summer, I swear the customer service people at Delta knew me by name). In addition I had up to fifteen of my own books per season. Two highlights of my time there were getting my authors into Real Simple Magazine and reviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered, back when Alan Cheuse was the book reviewer. (RIP, sir.)
In my time as a freelancer, clients have self-selected so that I’m chosen for editing more often than I am for publicity, but I have provided clients with events marketing and earned media assistance, even landing some in the Miami Herald, Writer’s Digest, and Publishers Weekly’s BookLife.
Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes a habit of getting their clients on national bestseller lists like the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. They offer media packages and have an impressive list of contacts, from producers at national morning shows like Good Morning America and news vehicles like Fast Company on down to an impressive list of podcast hosts. Their services are pricier and come with a money back guarantee, so they make more sense if your primary goal is to use your book as a stepping stool to boost your authority as a thought leader in your field, not to make a lot of cash off book sales. (Note: A longer post on Authors Unite is in the works. Stay tuned!)
Like I said, I’m personally connected to the publicity directors at each of these firms, so if you’d like an introduction, feel free to contact me so that I can set them up. (Or at least let them know I said hi!)
At press time, I’m not available for full-time Book Publicity/Marketing clients or in-depth assessments till February, but my coaching schedule is always open.
If you'd like for me to address your concerns and next steps more specifically, we can always set up a coaching session. They’re also more affordably priced! Coaching calls start at $105, with à la carte options to choose from.
You can book an appointment here. Simply choose "PR & Marketing Best Practices" from the list of schedule types, pick the date and time that work best for you, and select any or all the à la carte options you're interested in.