Smith Myth: 3 Myths about Book Promotion

By Olivia McCoy

As an author you are constantly exposed to expert advice—“Do this! Don’t do that!”—especially from other authors. You may have a friend, family member, or colleague who successfully published a book years ago deciding to offer you some sage advice, but we caution you to take everything with a grain of salt. Publishing is a slow process, but it’s an industry that changes drastically, and the reader landscape is in constant flux. What may have worked even a year ago for an author of the same genre might not work today. Below are three common pieces of outdated advice for you to second guess:

Myth #1: A Good Book Will Market Itself.

This might have been true once upon a time, but in today’s media landscape, it’s impossible to break through the noise without conscious effort. A book without promotion from the author is a book that sits on a virtual shelf, unnoticed and unread. Word-of-mouth is still the most effective way to promote a book, but first, you have to get people talking about the book.

We often inform our authors that the most successful books have the busiest authors, even if they’ve hired outside promotional help like Smith Publicity. While professional support can help with getting you and your book in front of readers and buyers, branding is something unique to you—your website, your newsletter, your blog, your social media, your VOICE! Even a publicist pitching the media on your behalf will require you to speak and write on a regular basis. Some things every author should do to help spread the word include growing your social media and engaging with your audience there, making sure your website is up-to-date with new publicity placements, responding to Q&As and encouraging reviews from your readers.

Myth #2: Publicity, Marketing, or Branding is Enough on its Own.

It takes the confluence of marketing, branding, AND publicity for a book to succeed today, from both the publisher and author teams. An old way to think of this Venn Diagram of promotional efforts is by referring to it as Earned (Publicity), Paid (Marketing), and Owned (Branding) Media. Your Branding is all the pieces that you own and are in control of: your website, blog, newsletter, social media, book, business, etc. Marketing usually concerns paid promotion like advertising and paid reviews, while Publicity is focused on earned media like reviews, interviews, events, and more. Each piece plays its part and all three work together to promote your book to the right people.

Your branding should be the first piece because you can start building your platforms before you even write the book or have anything to promote. It’s never too early to start building up a list of readers and contacts and begin making connections with groups of people who are interested in your expertise and writing. Then, one day, when your book is ready to be shared, you already have a dedicated audience excited to read!

Marketing gets your book in front of more readers, focusing on impressions and clicks. It takes someone seeing something multiple times before they make that purchasing decision. Ads and paid placements are a great way of getting that extra visibility so that your ideal readers start thinking, “I’ve seen this book everywhere! It must be good!” and then have an easy way to make that impulsive purchase. It does help if your book already has reviews and your brand has a good reputation to back it up, which is why…

Publicity is important to build up credibility with your target audience. Don’t just write a book and say, “I’m an expert!” or “It’s a good read, trust me!” You have to actually prove it with feedback from your audience. This is why it’s so important to speak and write about your topics of expertise, or, if you’re fiction, ask your readers for their honest thoughts in the form of a review. Not only do reviews and media placements increase your credibility, but they also inform algorithms on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, and Google (which helps marketing efforts) and give you something to share with your network (which grows your branding). 

It all comes full circle in the end!

Myth #3: It’s Not a Race, It’s a Marathon.

If you’ve talked to anyone about writing a book, you’ve probably heard this advice, but it’s not true. Saying that publishing a book is like running a marathon implies that there is an end in sight, but in fact, once you’re a published author, you are forever more a published author. That is a permanent title that will follow you long after the book has faded into obscurity. Which means that promoting your book(s) and yourself as an author is something that you’ll always be doing for the rest of your career at least. So take your time and try for a long tail as opposed to a short burst. As publishing professionals, we’d always prefer to see 5 new sales and reviews a month for a few years after promotion than to see a big spike right at the top during pub month and then nothing after. Continue asking for reviews after the book is out because they tell retail algorithms that your book is still relevant and help readers make purchasing decisions. Keep on posting about your book and quotes from your book on your platforms because it will keep you from having to create new content day after day (reduce, reuse, recycle!). Always offer to see a digital or print copy of your book to anyone looking to learn more about your work because it’s more proof of your expertise and offers an idea of what you can bring to a talk/keynote/interview/consultation. But our biggest piece of advice is to focus on the long term and avoid burnout as much as possible. Make your promotional efforts manageable for your schedule. Even 10-15 minutes a day is better than a flash in the pan and then nothing at all.

The best piece of advice we can give any author looking for book promotion services that work to help promote their book is to listen to your audience and make a plan that works for your unique situation. Every book and every author is different, so the same promotional plan won’t work twice. So listen and learn, but take everything with a grain of salt and do what works best for you and your book(s).

Olivia McCoy (they/them) is the Marketing Manager at Smith Publicity and host of their All Things Book Marketing podcast. Their professional background is in book marketing and independent publishing and their in-depth knowledge of the publishing industry allows them to educate and consult with authors from all genres including business, lifestyle, memoir, and fiction throughout their book launches. Consultation topics have included Amazon optimization and bestseller strategy, social media design and posting, author branding, book distribution, website creation and development, newsletter setup, advertising strategy, and building pre-publication buzz among others. Olivia’s publicity clients have received national media placements in outlets such as The New York Times, Fast Company, Built In, Newsweek, HuffPost, and HOLA!. When they’re not at work, Olivia is at home in Philadelphia with their dog, Rudy.