Author Marketing 101

I was on two marketing panels at Creatures, Crimes & Creativity (C3) this weekend. One was social media, while the other was generic marketing. Both are huge topics. There are so many things to consider, and often the focus is on the activities (e.g. social media, newsletters, etc.) and not enough on understanding how marketing works to sell books. The problem with focusing only on tasks is that many authors do activities with no real rhyme or reason, which is often ineffective.

In this post, I want to take a step back and discuss the various stages of reader attraction and engagement and what you need to consider at each of these stages in terms of tasks you can do to sell books. Then we’ll talk about readers and how to find them, and what question you need to answer before you set out to do any marketing tasks.

What is the point of marketing?

The short answer is to sell books. But posting a tropey graphic of your book on Instagram won’t sell many books if you don’t already have fan followers.
When I think about marketing, I break it down into three basic stages:

1. Attract new readers. These are the readers who have never heard of you.
2. Befriend new reader acquaintances: These are readers who are aware of you, but don’t know you yet.
3. Party with your fans: These are reader fans with whom you have a relationship and have built a community around.

Each of these stages requires different marketing strategies. It’s sort of like dating. You’re not going to get in front of a reader who’s never heard of of you and say, “hey, buy my book and be in my fan group.” Or you could, but they don’t know you. They might be put off by the equivalent of marriage proposal on the first date.
Instead, you need to be introduced to readers, befriend them, and hopefully, they’ll become your superfans. So how do you do this? By taking in consideration what readers need at each stage.

Stage 1: Attract New Readers

I’m of the belief that except maybe for TikTok and Facebook Author Takeovers, social media isn’t the best way to get in front of NEW readers. Most posts you make on social media aren’t seen by people who do know you! Even if boost your post, not all your followers will see it.
To attract new readers, you need to go out into the world where they hang out and get in front of them. The best ways to do this are:

1. Being a guest on podcasts targeting readers of the type of book you write
2. Outreach to influencers on social media who talk about the type of books you write
3. Newsletter swaps with authors who have the same target reader as you do
4. Asking your reader group to share your social content with their sphere of influence
5. Guest blog posts with authors who have the same target reader as you do
6. Blog tour with book bloggers who promote the same type of book you’ve written
7. In person events (Get on a panel, which gives you more exposure to readers. I always sell more books after a panel)
8. Ads targeting your ideal reader

Each of these options should not only include links to your book, but links to your newsletter sign up and social media where allowed. If you just send them to your book, you have no way to move them to stage 2 (unless the book info is on your website and you get their info there). So while ads can generate sales, the retailers don’t share those buyers with you, which is really what you need to move to future stages.

Stage 2: Befriend New Reader Acquaintances

A reader is now aware of you, and your goal is to become a friend. You want them to get to know you and bring them into your inner reader circle. At this stage, you’re sharing anecdotes, exclusive content, insider access, behind the scenes, specials and more. The best way to do this is:

1. Social media. While a follow on social is nice, consider starting a group (you can do this at Facebook, Discord, or set up something through your website–through Facebook is ideal because so many readers are already there).
2. Newsletter. You absolutely need a newsletter. These readers have raised their hand and said, “yes, I want to get to know you.”

Stage 3: Party with Your Fans

At this stage, you want to build a community that offers something unique and special to these great supportive readers of yours. The best way to have your readers feel connected to you and to other readers is through platforms that allow for conversations. Facebook Groups has a basic ability to do this. Discord is another way to gather your readers to talk about your books.

For years, authors have built street teams to develop this level of reader-author engagement, but a growing trend in community building with authors, especially romance authors, is to create a special, exclusive relationship that makes them feel extra special. This type of community can lead to additional income through a paid subscription component. Platforms such as Patreon and Ream Stories (like Patreon but specific for authors) are two ways you can do this.

These communities often have a free component, such as on Ream Stories where reader fans can “Follow” to get access to any free content you provide including the ability for the reader to comment on your writing (similar to Wattpad) and access to your community board where you can post questions, polls, and more. With Ream Stories in particular, followers are emailed each time you post in the community or add/update content.

For superfans on both Ream Stories and Patreon, you can offer paid tier options with more cool stuff as another way to make money. This content can take more time to create, but it’s usually exclusive to your fans who support you through a subscription.
Note that you can offer subscriptions through other sources such as Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-Fi, and Substack, but the community/social element isn’t quite as robust.

Who are Your Readers?

Knowing the stages of the marketing journey is just the start. The truth is marketing only works if the right person gets the right message at the right time. Scattering your content like buckshot won’t work as well as targeted marketing to readers who like what you write.
Successful marketing, particularly stage 1 attracting new readers, starts with you answering the following questions:

1. How do you want to be known? If I say Colleen Hoover or Nora Roberts, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When your name is said, what do you want readers to think? Romance author? Romantasy author? Sweet cowboy romance author?
2. Who is the mostly likely reader of your book? This is self-explanatory. Not all romance readers read all romance books. Some want spice and angst. Some don’t want any spice or angst.
3. Where can your reader be found? This is the crucial question. If you wanted to hangout with these readers, where would you find them? Importantly, where do they go to learn about books? I know many authors don’t like TikTok, but I was at an event where I spoke to a young man who told me all his book buys were based on reviews/recommendations from TikTok. I too have bought many books the last few years based on BookTube and BookTok.
4. What is the best way to engage your reader? Now that you’re where your reader hangs out, what message can you put in front of them that will make them interested in you? Do they like short teaser videos? Seeing review posts? Cover reveals?

If you’re unsure about who and where you readers are, and how to communicate to them, study successful authors who write in your genre. Do a search on their names and/or books and see where they pop-up. When you come across social content posted by the author, pay attention to what they’re posting and the types of engagement they’re getting.

What is Your Goal with Each Marketing Task?

You now have a sense of each stage of the reader journey and ideas on how to reach new readers and keep them engaged. But you still want to avoid sending out content willy nilly. Each time you appear somewhere or post something, you need to have an idea of why you’re doing it (hint: it isn’t always about buy my book).

When you’re doing a marketing task, ask yourself what you want the reader to do. Yes, it could be “buy my book” but again, someone who has never heard of you may ignore that message. In that case, a better message is to download your free lead magnet (subscribe to your email), follow on social media, join in the fun (asking a question or sharing a meme) etc.

The stages of marketing hint at your goals:

1. Attract New Readers
2. Befriend New Readers – Keep attention with engagement content
3. Party with Fans – Build a sense of inclusion and belonging with special content
4. The fourth goal is promoting you or your book specifically

Each time I post something, I think about which of these goals I’m focused on. For example:

• If I’m on a podcast or at a live event, I’m attracting new readers. While this goal can include info on my book, I also want to encourage them to follow me on social media or get my lead magnet to move them from stage 1 to stage 2.
• If I post a poll about favorite romantic couples on social media, I’m engaging with my reader friends with the goal of strengthening my relationship with them. Or I might post a snippet of a bonus chapter that they can read the full version of in my reader community, to lead them from stage 2 to stage 3.
• If I post an alternate POV to a chapter of my book for my super fans, I’m building my fan community (stage 3)
• If I post about the special sale of my book, I’m putting out core promotional content with the goal of buying my book.

The point is, each time you do anything marketing wise, you should be able to identify a goal and measure if it’s working. If I post a picture of myself at an event, my goal is to share something that helps readers get to know and like me (stage 2). Perhaps in my newsletter, I remind people about my reader group (stage 2 and 3). I can post my lead magnet on social media with the goal of gaining subscribers. All these “goals” I can measure through likes, follows, and subscriptions.

I find marketing the most difficult part of being an author, mostly because there’s so many aspects to it. It’s not just about selling books anymore. It’s about reaching new readers, cultivating a readership, and building a community that will not only buy your books, but will be evangelists for your books. All this takes time…time to find podcasts to pitch…time to befriend book influencers…time to create social content…etc.

The Author’s Social Media & Community Building Planner

For help in your marketing planning, especially around blogging, email and social media, check out The Author’s Social Media and Community Building Planner.  The first part covers marketing topics such as platform building blogging, email marketing, and more. It provides lists of content ideas, worksheets, and checklists to help you organize your marketing efforts. Finally, it includes a 12-month calender to help you plan your marketing activities.

Because of the time it takes to market, you don’t want to waste it on ineffective activities. Make your marketing work for you by being strategic in your goals, and getting the right messages to the right people.

If you have questions or feedback about marketing, please let me know in the comments below.