Book Marketing Red Flags
EPISODE FIFTY EIGHT
Authors are bombarded with information, but sometimes it can be difficult to determine what is true and what might be a scam. In this episode, we discuss four red flags that authors should be aware of when it comes to book marketing.
Podcast episode cover image photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash
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Transcript
We are inundated with so much information on a daily basis, not just as authors, but as human beings. And when it comes to marketing, it can be very difficult to differentiate what good information is compared to the bad information. And so today I wanted to focus on four red flags that I see in book marketing, specifically within the social media realm and within just being approached by companies or individuals that you need to be aware of.
The first red flag that I want to point out is something that many authors have approached me about asking, “Is this worth it? Is this the real deal?” And it's this: When a company or person DM’s you or emails you or shows up in your comments saying, “Hey, let us know if you want us to tweet about your new book or to help you promote your book on our social media accounts.”
So the reason why this is a huge red flag is that many times these companies are really just fake accounts. And what they do is they buy a lot of followers or they have just a bunch of bots behind them, and they boast that they have hundreds of thousands of followers. And if you pay them X amount of money, they will share your book or help promote your book and get you out to the masses.
And this is most definitely a huge waste of money, mainly because it's landing on deaf ears and it's not going to do anything for you and your book. I have yet to see anyone who has actually used one of these services to see any results. And a couple of authors that I have worked with have fallen prey to this in the past. And it was just a huge, huge, huge mistake. So avoid that at all costs.
The second red flag is when you are told that there is only one way of marketing a book or that every single author needs to do this certain thing in order to market their book. This is absolutely not the case when it comes to you and your book. You are unique and who you are writing for is unique. And so if someone says that every author needs to be on tik-tok or every author needs to be on a certain website, it's not true because your ideal reader might not be hanging out there. And so when you are approached or when you have a team behind you that kind of seems to be using just random tools or has sort of a cookie cutter approach, really reexamine it and ask them to consider your ideal reader, because that is what is going to determine the success of your book. Because when you know exactly who you want to reach, it's going to show you exactly where you need to be.
And that leads us into the third red flag: is not considering who your ideal reader is. When we only talk about a general demographic or when we only talk about a general group of people that is not specific enough in order to stand out in an already oversaturated and noisy online world. When we throw a bunch of ideas or things at the wall and try to see what sticks, that's not going to be effective with your marketing. When you can have an ideal reader and know exactly what they are going to respond to, what they're interested in and where they are online. It's going to make your messaging and how you connect with people so much more powerful and effective. So having an ideal reader profile is really, really important.
And if you are wondering how you can actually find your ideal reader, that's something that you can learn more about in The Author Circle. It's our monthly membership and it is a very affordable way for you to really nail down exactly who your ideal reader is, as well as learn just an abundance of other marketing, social media and news that are information. So be sure to check that out.
And the fourth red flag is only talking about your book. I've heard from many other marketing firms or even other marketing experts said really hound at the fact that you need to just really power through and only talk about your book specifically on social media. And this is a massive mistake for a few reasons.
Number one, people do not want to be constantly marketed to put yourself in your audience's shoes. If you saw someone who is always just hounding at someone and only talking about one specific topic, it would really land on deaf ears. And you don't want to be marketed to. You want to be connected with on social media.
And second, when you only use social media to promote your book, you are not going to get that connection that you really need with your ideal readers when you can connect with them as a human being, as someone who has similar interests and likes and passions, you are able to really make a deeper connection. And when we're only promoting, it's only going to do so much. It's going to be very surface level and you're not going to have those solid connections to build a career on.
Yes, there absolutely is a time and a place to promote your book, especially around a launch or when you have a special event coming up. But you really need to sprinkle in other things and other topics within your marketing, and that is one of the best ways for you to deepen your connections and to really establish a career rather than just selling a single book.
So to recap the four red flags that you need to stay away from within your marketing is if a company or person approaches you promising to promote your book around their social media. Second is that there is only one way of doing things when it comes to marketing your book or that you have to do a certain thing within your book marketing. And third, not having an ideal reader or when someone just creates a marketing plan is very general and seems to talk to a large group of people rather than just talking to a single person. And the fourth is when you only talk about your book or when you're told that that is the best way to market your book.
So overall, remember that marketing is about connecting with people that have the same interests as you do. You don't have to reach everyone. When you try to market your book to everyone, you're actually marketing it to no one. So when you can get specific and when you can know exactly where your ideal readers are hanging out and how to connect with them, that is by far the best way that you can market your book. It's different for each individual. So taking a little bit of time to really lean into who your ideal reader is and learning more about them and just learning a few key details about how to best connect with them is going to do so much more for your book and your overall marketing than just blasting out a message to the masses to see what sticks.
And always keep in mind that we are not just talking about a single book. We are talking about your entire career. You need to remember that as an author, all of your books work together. It's all about building a career rather than just focusing on this one singular book. So focusing on how you can build a platform that's going to last your career and continue to grow is so much more important than just trying to sell a single book.
So I want to know, have you received any questionable DMS or emails or comments or just regular interactions with people that you have wondered, is this as good as it seems to be? Or if you've ever questioned something within your book marketing or even within book publishing, let me know in the comments. I would love to hear what those questions are because your question might be something that really helps out another author. And we're all in this together.
(Automatic transcript by Adobe Premiere Pro’s Speech to Text)