The New Author Marketing Playbook
You've been waiting until your book is done to start marketing. Partly because you're not sure what you'd even say about it yet.
This playbook was written for exactly that.
You have poured yourself into this book…
Late nights. Early mornings. Hours of writing and rewriting and doubting and writing again. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a quiet voice has been saying:
“I'll figure out the marketing part later. Like when the book is done. When I actually have something to sell.”
That feels logical. It feels responsible even. Finish the thing first.
But here's what that plan actually leads to: launch day comes, and you post about your book, and you wait. And the likes come in from your mom and a few friends. And the sales are not what you hoped. And you start to wonder if you did something wrong. If your book isn't good enough. If you somehow missed the window.
You didn't do anything wrong. But the launch came and went, and the readers who would have been waiting weren't there yet, because there wasn't time to find them. That's not a permanent problem. But it's a harder place to build from than if the work had started earlier.
This is exactly what this playbook is for.
Marketing isn't about having something to sell. It's about having people who are already waiting to buy.
This is the thing most new authors don't know until after their first launch.
The authors who have strong launches, who sell 94 copies in their first week instead of 12, who have readers reaching out before the book is even available, they didn't do anything magical. They started before they had a book in hand.
They built an audience of people who knew they were coming. Who cared about their story. Who were already invested in seeing this book exist. So when launch day arrived, it felt like an event, not an announcement to strangers.
That audience doesn't magically appear on launch day. It's built in the months before.
And if you're still writing, or revising, or waiting on your editor, or just not there yet, those months are right now.
Here’s the problem with almost every book marketing resource out there…
It's written for authors who already have a published book and an existing audience. It assumes you have something to sell and people to sell it to.
You're in a different place. And that place needs a different approach.
You need to know how to build an audience when you don't have a book to offer yet. What to post when you have nothing to announce. How to start an email list when you have no lead magnet, no launch date, and no idea how to explain what you're writing. How to create content that builds real anticipation, not just noise.
That's what this playbook covers, in full, from wherever you are right now.
✨ You're still writing your book and you've been telling yourself you'll worry about marketing later. (Later is here. The good news: you have more time than you think, and that's an advantage.)
✨ You're a few months from publication, you don't have an email list, and the quiet panic is starting to get louder.
✨ You're traditionally published and you thought your publisher would handle this, and now you're realizing that's not quite how it works, and no one handed you a roadmap.
This is for you if…
✨ You've finished your draft and you know you need to build an audience, but every time you try to figure out where to start, you end up overwhelmed and close the tab.
✨You're a debut novelist who has dreamed of launch day for years and you want it to actually feel like something.
✨ You're a nonfiction author who knows your book solves a real problem, but you're not sure how to find the people who need it before it's available.
✨ You write fiction, nonfiction, Childrens/MG/YA, memoir. Either way, you're here, you're pre-publication, and you need a place to start that actually makes sense.
Section 1: The three phases of book marketing, and which one you're in right now
Most authors only ever work in the last phase. This section lays out all three, where they start, what they're for, and why the phase you're in right now is actually the most powerful one if you use it.
Section 2: What changes when your book isn't published yet
Your marketing foundation doesn't disappear because your book isn't done. It shifts. This section shows you exactly how to build the pieces you need now, including how to talk about your book in a way that creates genuine excitement without giving everything away.
Section 3: What to offer when you don't have a book to sell
This section exists because "build your email list" is useless advice without an answer to the next question: what do I offer people to get them to sign up? Four specific options for where you are right now, mapped to your timeline, for both fiction and nonfiction authors.
Section 4: Your welcome sequence, written for pre-publication authors
A complete 5-email welcome sequence framework so the people who join your list feel like they actually know you by the time your book exists. What to say, when to send it, and how to make it feel like a conversation and not a marketing campaign.
Section 5: Content that works when you're not selling anything yet
The three types of content you need, what each one looks like before you have a book to sell, and how often to post each. This is the section that turns "I don't know what to post" into a clear, manageable plan.
What’s Inside The New Author Marketing Playbook…
Section 6: How to talk about your book without giving everything away
25 fiction book hook templates. 25 nonfiction book hook templates. A dedicated section for children's, middle grade, and YA authors. These are done-for-you frameworks built around how your type of book works, not vague prompts with empty brackets.
Section 7: 30 "coming soon" content ideas that actually build anticipation
Exactly what to post when you have nothing to announce yet, organized so you can pick what fits where you are in your timeline.
Section 8: Your beta reader recruitment campaign
How to find your first real readers before your book is out, how to turn them into your launch team, and how to use that group to create the kind of pre-launch momentum that makes launch day feel like an event.
Section 9: Your 90-day pre-publication roadmap
Week by week. Adapted to where you are. Whether you're 12 months from publication or 3, this tells you what to do next, and the week after that, and the week after that.
Section 10: What comes next when your book launches
What changes at launch, what stays the same, and how to move from pre-publication momentum into consistent, ongoing book sales.
Meet Rachel…
Rachel was a debut novelist nine months away from publication.
No social presence. No email list. No idea where to start.
She kept telling herself she'd figure out the marketing after the book was done.
Then she decided not to wait.
She worked through the pre-publication framework, built a lead magnet around the reading experience she was creating, started showing up for the audience she hadn't yet built. One piece at a time. Consistently.
By launch day, she had 187 email subscribers who were already excited about her book. A small but genuinely engaged social following. Real pre-launch buzz from people who'd been following her journey.
Her first week of sales: 94 copies. She had expected 20 to 30.
Rachel didn't go viral. She didn't have thousands of followers. She just started nine months before anyone could buy the book, and she had a plan.
That's what this playbook gives you.
You've probably seen resources that give you a template with [insert your unique value proposition here] and leave you staring at the same blank page you started with. The frustration just moves one step to the right.
That's not what this is.
Every template and framework in this playbook is built so that by the time you reach it, you've already done the foundational work that makes it fill in naturally. Your ideal reader. Your book's promise. Your message. You identify those first, so when you get to the content templates and the hook templates, you already know what goes there.
You're not guessing. You're filling in what you've already worked out.
A Note on the Templates Inside…
✔️ A clear picture of the three phases of book marketing and exactly which one applies to you right now.
✔️ A lead magnet that fits where you are in the writing process, whether you're 12 months out or three.
✔️ A welcome sequence so the people who find you actually stay and care.
✔️ A content framework so you never stare at a blank caption wondering what to post about a book that isn't out yet.
✔️ Hook templates for your book so you can talk about it in a way that makes the right reader think "that's exactly for me."
✔️ A 90-day week-by-week roadmap so you know what to do this week, and next week, and the week after.
✔️ And the feeling of relief that comes from having a real plan. Knowing you're not behind. Knowing that when launch day comes, you won't be announcing your book to strangers.
What You’ll Have When You’re Done…
One more thing worth knowing…
This playbook covers the pre-publication phase completely. But there's a full system for what comes after.
The 90-Day Book Sales System is the natural next step once your book is out, or nearly there. It's a complete post-launch marketing framework that maps out 90 days of content, email sequences, and sales campaigns so you can sell books consistently without it taking over your life.
Everything you build in this playbook, your audience, your email list, your content foundation, feeds directly into that system. Think of the Playbook as laying the foundation. The 90-Day Book Sales System is where that foundation goes to work.
When you're ready for it, it's there.
$37. Instant Download. Yours to
“My book isn't published yet. Is it too early for this?”
This playbook was written specifically for pre-publication authors. The earlier you start, the stronger your launch will be. If you wait until the book is out, you're starting the audience-building process at the exact moment you need the audience to already exist.
“But I’m Not Sure If This Will Work For Me…”
“I write children's books, middle grade, or YA. Will this work for me?”
Yes. Section 6 includes a dedicated section specifically for children's, MG, and YA authors that shows you how to adjust the hook templates for the unique challenge of marketing to both the young reader and the adult who makes the purchase decision.
“I write nonfiction. Does this apply to me?”
Yes. Nonfiction is addressed specifically throughout, including 25 nonfiction hook templates and guidance on how to find the readers who need what your book teaches before it's available.
“My publisher handles marketing. Do I still need this?”
Traditional publishing marketing support varies a lot more than most debut authors expect. Understanding how to build your own audience and talk about your book effectively is not in conflict with what your publisher does. It compounds it.
“I write fiction. Does this apply to me?”
Yes. There are sections written specifically for fiction authors throughout, including 25 fiction-specific book hook templates and guidance on how to build anticipation around a story rather than a solution.
"I have no email list and no social following. Where do I even start?"
Section 3. That's exactly what it addresses. Rachel had zero of both. The playbook gives you a starting point that works for authors building from scratch.
Your book is going to keep moving toward publication. Your launch date is going to keep getting closer.
The only question is whether you arrive there with an audience already waiting, or whether you arrive and start trying to find readers after the fact.
$37 is the price of not having to figure this out from scratch, not staring at a blank content calendar, not having launch day feel like shouting into a quiet room.
You've put everything into writing this book. Let's make sure the right readers are there when it comes out.
Immediate access. Start in the next 5 minutes.
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Who You’re Learning From…
Jenn Hanson-dePaula has spent 25 years in marketing (specifically 17 years in book marketing) helping hundreds of authors build audiences, launch with momentum, and sell books consistently without a massive following. The New Author Marketing Playbook is her complete pre-publication framework, available to every author who's ready to stop waiting and start building.
