At the end of April 2024, we hosted four free marketing-focused events. We hosted three conversational workshops to help authors make marketing decisions. We also talked with Melanie Hershorn of VIP Book Marketing, who showed us her “Marketing Your Signature Book” webinar.
Throughout all of our conversations, we noticed our authors struggled with the marketing mindset. Our authors worried about:
annoying loved ones by posting about their book too often
making strangers uneasy with pushy sales tactics
getting overwhelmed by doing every marketing tactic at once
Those worries come from genuine places. You may have never marketed a book before. You’ve definitely been on the receiving end of a pushy marketer who will not take “no” for an answer. You’ve probably been on the end of good marketing too. It's easier to remember the bad times.
To succeed in marketing your book, you need to know what you can do, what others do with you, what others do for you, and what you are not going to do. That means you need to discover your marketing mindset. Colleen McCubbin used to say that she was a starter of projects, not a finisher of projects. One of her business coaches pushed back on that idea. Instead, Colleen learned to ask, "What's mine to finish?"
The Scripts
Do any of these statements resonate with you?
I’m bothering people.
I’m interrupting.
I’m pestering.
I’m manipulating people into buying things they don’t want or don’t need.
I can’t promote myself.
I’m not a “salesperson”.
Why do you believe those things? What evidence suggests they are true?
Some Flips
Let’s try flipping these statements.
Marketing is not about bothering people or interrupting people’s days with constant sales pitches. It’s about forming connections with readers. It’s about showing up to places where readers are and being curious about who they are. It’s about contributing to conversations about things you already enjoy.
Marketing is not about pestering people until they buy something they don’t want. It’s about finding the people who are interested in your book and reminding them about it. Do you always buy a new product when you first hear about it? Probably not, even if it’s something you like or need. You might see a product a few times before you buy it. This is especially true with entertainment products like books.
Marketing is not about becoming a completely different person. It’s about finding a way to talk about something you love in a way that you find comfortable. Some authors love being in the spotlight and giving presentations to readers, like Kathleen Templeton of Lemons and Sunshine Press. She talks to children about grief, since her novel Jar of Tears is about a girl grieving the death of her mother. Other authors might prefer to post on a blog, appear on podcasts, or communicate over social media. You can’t do every type of marketing, and that’s okay. Any author who looks like they are doing everything has a team of experts helping them.
The only types of marketing we recommend for every author are a website and a newsletter. A website is your home base online. Many companies offer inexpensive website creation tools, and your website can be simple. A newsletter is a direct line of communication with your most interested readers. If people are interested in hearing from you, they will join. Lisa May LeBlanc gained more supporters for her crowdfunding campaign for The Ninth Child's audiobook release when she told her newsletter subscribers about it.
Developing a Marketing Mindset
Learning how you prefer to market your book takes time. Sometimes, it can be stressful. If you’re considering book marketing, you’ve already done difficult, stressful things. You wrote and edited a book. Believe us, you can do this too!
At Siretona Creative, we like to divide marketing decisions into four categories:
Done By You (DBY): tasks that you will do on your own
Done With You (DWY): tasks that you will do with somebody else, such as a consultant or a close friend
Done For You (DFY): tasks that you pay, trade for, or ask somebody else to do
Do Not Do (DND): tasks that you won't bother with nor get someone else to do
These categories simplify the marketing process and help you filter your decisions to make doing tasks more enjoyable. They keep the marketing mindset clear. That motivation will lead to you meeting your goals.
To learn more about our marketing process, download our 2025 Book Marketing Planner, which is free when you sign up for our newsletter. The guide includes a list of marketing options and a marketing plan template. You’ll receive regular updates, more marketing advice, and offers for new marketing products and services.
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