4 Problems with Most Book Marketing Advice

Being an author is a bit of a crazy undertaking.   

We face a ton of obstacles to getting a book into the world and finding an audience for it. 

Since helping writers is my thing, I get annoyed when I see stuff online that's purported to help authors, but instead sends them down a rabbit hold that leads to confusion, frustration and maybe even giving up altogether.

This bugs me whether we're talking about writing advice or marketing advice. But, since I'm the resident book marketer at Pages & Platforms, let's focus on marketing for today.

Much of what's on the interwebs related to book marketing makes me cringe.

I see four main problems (and lots and lots of little problems) with the marketing advice out there today. 

Let's look at the top four problems one by one...

1. It's all tactics and no strategy.

I guess it's the nature of the internet; people want bite-sized content. Therefore, the web is jam-packed with articles and blog posts that address one-off book marketing tactics without helping authors understand the picture strategy that's necessary to grow an audience and sell more books. 

But when it comes to book marketing advice, the best thing you can do is take a step back and wrap your mind around a fundamental strategy. Once you know that, you'll be able to look at the latest tactic and determine if it's worth it for your particular situation. 

I use a marketing strategy developed by my mentor, Tim Grahl, called the Connection System. It’s a four-part framework to help you focus your efforts on what works.

2. It doesn't address MINDSET.

Look, I can make you a cheatsheet or give you a spreadsheet that details absolutely everything you could do to effectively market your book, and it's entirely possible you'd never do any of it.

Why?

Because something about the way you're thinking about marketing is preventing you from actually doing it. I haven't really done you any good unless I've given you the tools to address any self-sabotage you may have going on when it comes to marketing your book. And there are LOTS of ways your brain will attempt to sabotage your marketing without you even realizing it.

This is why I think of myself as part book marketer, part mindset coach. I have to be if I want to see my clients succeed.

If you want a taste of my approach to mindset, read this post I wrote for booklaunch.com.

3. It doesn't emphasize the need of knowing your ideal reader.

If you're reading an article about how important it is for authors to be on Twitter, you're probably going to hop on Twitter and start devoting some time to growing an audience there. But, if your ideal reader is not on Twitter, you've just wasted a ton of time and energy on something that's not going to move the needle on book sales (in general, social media does NOT move the needle on book sales). 

It's risky to do any marketing without taking some time to figure out your ideal reader persona and your minimal viable audience. You will very likely waste precious time, energy and money if you just start implementing random tactics without any thought to who you're trying to reach and what they actually want from you.

If you want to learn the whys and hows of creating a reader persona, check out this free webinar from yours truly.

4. It's not data driven.

And finally, most of the book marketing advice you see out there is anecdotal rather than backed up by real numbers. One of the things I love about Tim Grahl (who developed the Connection System I use for book marketing) is that he's a numbers guy. He loves split testing and uses data to back up his approach to book marketing. This allows authors to spend their limited marketing resources most effectively. 

And if you happen to also be a data geek, you'll have an advantage over most authors, as you'll be willing to test within your own marketing plan to hone what works best for your unique career.

Okay. End rant.

If you know you need to tackle your marketing to either get an agent or sell more books AND you want some guidance in doing it as effectively and painlessly as possible, then you'll want to take a look at our monthly membership group for authors serious about doing their marketing and growing their audience.

It’s called the Happily Ever Author Club, and it’s designed to help you do your best work and actually make an impact and sell more books.