Where Authors Can Find and Connect With Readers
EPISODE EIGHTY TWO
Feeling overwhelmed by all the marketing platforms out there?
You’re not alone. Many authors burn out trying to be everywhere at once—but the ones who thrive know exactly where to focus their efforts.
In this episode, we’ll break down how to choose the right platforms for your book marketing based on what actually works for you.
You'll learn how to:
Cut through the noise and focus on what truly moves the needle
Choose platforms that fit your strengths (and ditch the ones that drain you)
Align your marketing strategy with your long-term goals
If you’ve been wondering where you should be marketing your book - both online and offline - this episode will give you the clarity and confidence you need.
Tune in now and download Pick Your Platform to map out your ideal marketing strategy!
Links
TRANSCRIPT:
Marcus dePaula: Jenn, do authors need to be everywhere online?
Jenn Hanson-dePaula: In short, no.
Marcus: Then how do we decide which platforms we choose to spend our time doing book marketing on?
Jenn: I have a non-traditional way of determining where authors should be online because it's really about reverse engineering the process. When an author comes to me asking, "Where do I need to be? Do I need to be on TikTok? Do I need to be here or there?" I say, "Where do you want to be? Where do you feel most comfortable?" We really need to reverse engineer the process.
Marcus: All right. Where do authors start to figure out exactly where they need to be online?
Jenn: The questions that you really want to ask yourself are, where do I enjoy hanging out? Where do I enjoy consuming content? Also where do I feel I would enjoy participating in the conversation? You don't have to be someplace where you are not comfortable. When you are comfortable someplace, you're more likely to actually show up. That is the absolute first thing that you should be thinking about.
Marcus: I do hear a lot of coaches and even publishers saying you have to be on BookTok or you have to be-- What do you say to that type of advice that authors are getting?
Jenn: Forcing yourself to be on a platform is really counterproductive. It's not going to be someplace where you enjoy hanging out, so you're going to keep putting it off. This really leads to the second point that you want to consider, and that is your goals.
Many times authors just roll their eyes and go, "Oh boy, why do I need to think of goals?" It helps in many, many areas of your marketing. When you think about your goals in regards to the platform that you want to be on, thinking about how do you want to connect with people? How do you want to show up as an author and as a person? Within your goals, thinking also about what it is that you want to accomplish. Thinking about where you want to end up. When we have a destination in mind, we can create a path through. If you're just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, that's not going to get you to where you want to end up or to help you reach your goals. Knowing where you want to end up is really a key into figuring out how you actually get there.
Marcus: To give people some ideas on goals for themselves, you've been working for authors now for 15 years. You worked with thousands of authors. What are some of the goals that them setting for themselves? It's not just like, "I want to grow my following."
Jenn: When we say things that are very general like that isn't specific enough. We want to be specific and thinking about, okay, I want to reach the New York Times bestseller list. That's a huge goal. Thinking about, I want to sell 10,000 copies of my book in the next three months. Those are very measurable. You have a timeframe that you want to work within. We need to be specific. Some others, I've had authors who have said, "If I can sell a thousand books, that will be a dream come true." "If I can speak at this certain event or be featured in this certain magazine," that is a goal.
Thinking about very measurable goals and giving yourself a timeframe, it's a smart goal if you've ever heard of that. That is how we can really start to outline what goals we want to reach within a certain timeframe and measure them.
Marcus: You mentioned the New York Times bestseller list, which is automatically what a lot of authors set as a goal. That's really ambitious like you mentioned. What do you usually tell authors that set sometimes an unrealistic goal like that?
Jenn: It's not that it would be unrealistic, but it's just a bit more ambitious than what an author who might just want to write just for the pure enjoyment of it. A very ambitious goal like that is going to take a lot more effort and sometimes more time. Taking that into consideration, you wouldn't say if you're just starting your marketing journey a month before your book releases and saying, "I want to sell 10,000 books," when no one knows who you are, that is going to be very difficult to obtain.
You can always have ambitious goals, but also take into account the timeframe that you're working with and also how much time do you have to actually put towards your marketing and your budget and all of that stuff that you have to keep in mind.
Marcus: All of it takes being aware of what it's actually going to take to attain that goal, not just blindly setting, oh, I'm going to run a marathon next week or whatever.
Jenn: That's exactly it. I wouldn't say I want to run a marathon and then immediately get up and run 27 miles. That's not smart. It's not healthy, and I'm going to hate every single minute of it.
Marcus: And probably hurt yourself. [laughs]
Jenn: Exactly. The same goes with your book marketing. You have to plan ahead and you have to really think about what is it that I'm aiming at and plan accordingly to that.
Marcus: Yes. You mentioned planning. How do authors get started with their plan?
Jenn: The core of everything that you do within your marketing really boils down to content. I know content is a very vague word, but when we are talking about marketing, we're really talking about your messaging; what it is that you want to connect with readers on, the information that you're sharing, the way that you want to connect with them as a human being.
When we make our content more of the focus rather than what outlet we are going to be posting on, that is really going to help us to be able to go anywhere within what we're talking about. When we make our content really that center focus rather than the outlet, you're going to be able to move more freely between outlets. You'll be able to actually accomplish what it is that you're trying to accomplish through social media or through your blog or whatever it is. That really needs to be the next step.
Marcus: I tend to think of content as like the blog or the podcast episode, or the YouTube video, or the TikTok video, whatever it is that I'm making. What you're saying is the content is actually the message and the ideas that you're conveying and not the actual media itself.
Jenn: Exactly. TikTok is an outlet. Your content is the what, the how. It's the communicating message. If I were a basketball player, I would learn how to dribble. I would learn and practice how to shoot a free throw. I would do all of these things. I would develop the skill of playing basketball. If I were a professional basketball player and I was traded to another team, I would not have to relearn how they dribble, how they shoot, all of that stuff. You've developed that skill.
Thinking about your content as that skill, that is the messaging that you are conveying and how you're connecting with people. That stays the same. If you were to go on Instagram and then go, "Hmm, do I want to be on TikTok," you wouldn't have to completely train yourself in a completely new way with the content that you're sharing. Yes, how you deliver that content is a little different. How you present that information might be different, but the content is the core. That is why focusing more on the content is so much more powerful and it helps you really steer the boat rather than the boat steering you.
Marcus: Along with that basketball analogy, to get back to your first point about the enjoyment factor of which platform you're on, if you're not enjoying developing that skill, maybe that content piece or skill isn't a good fit for you and you need to adjust that and find something that's more fitting and comes more naturally to you.
Jenn: Absolutely. It's something where if an author tells me, "I would rather eat glass than be on camera," then that's when I say, "You don't have to be on camera, let's figure out what you do enjoy."
Again, when we focus more on the content, we can come up with a ton of topics that we can talk about that will fit for any outlet that you want to be on. If you are doing TikTok and then you're all of a sudden, "You know what? I just don't feel like being on camera anymore," that information, that content, will still work on your blog or on Substack or whatever it is that you are creating content for. It's more about when we focus more on the outlet and we make that the center, we end up working for the algorithm. You end up scrolling forever and trying to get ideas for what videos that you want to make.
Marcus: Chasing trends.
Jenn: Exactly. When we focus on the content, we make the algorithm work for us. That is what I want for authors because that makes it more enjoyable, it helps you to be more sustainable within staying consistent, and it helps you to reach your goals as an author rather than just chasing views and likes and all that other stuff.
Marcus: Instead of just scrolling and wasting time looking blindly for ideas, how do you recommend authors make most of the limited time they have as they try to plan out and figure out content ideas?
Jenn: That leads really into one of my favorite elements is the observing and the researching. When I say research, many authors shriek back and go, "Oh, this is going to take forever." No, it doesn't. Once you have your goals and you know, okay, I don't want to be on video, or I don't want to do this or that, but I do enjoy creating images or I do enjoy writing, you will be able to push aside, okay, if I don't want to do video, I can push aside TikTok, I can push aside YouTube. You'll be able to weed out which outlets might be a better fit for you.
Let's say you enjoy writing more. You don't necessarily want to be on video. You could say, "Okay, Instagram, I can post some images, or Threads, I can type out my posts. I also enjoy writing more in-depth and more detailed blog posts.
Marcus: Long form.
Jenn: Yes, long form content. I'll do a blog or I'll guest post or I will write articles.
Marcus: Substack?
Jenn: Exactly. You can think about the outlet more critically, and then you can sign up for that and you don't jump into it right away, but you observe. You just start looking and using that time of observation as gathering information. You're not just mindlessly scrolling, you are learning. You're seeing, okay, this is how people are using it. This is what people are posting. You educate yourself more in how to best use it first before you jump in. The observation time within this whole process is key.
Marcus: You use the word research. For a lot of us, you think, oh, well, I'm going to start this new venture. I need to do my research first. You're saying that doing the research once you have figured out what you enjoy doing, what your goals are, and how those intersect, and then what you have to say in your content, having that all in mind first before you do the research will actually save you time.
Jenn: Absolutely. It will help you to come at it from a different perspective. You aren't just an author sitting there trying desperately to make your content fit into--
Marcus: Shoehorn it.
Jenn: Exactly. You are coming at it from a more educated perspective. You are not just wasting time. You'll be able to very quickly see, oh, what, this would work for me. I think I would enjoy this. It's also something where you might not even be aware that, for example, on Substack, they've added this element called Notes. It feels almost like a Threads or a Bluesky where it's a little bit more interactive. You realize, oh, they have this element in this. You can come at it from a learning perspective rather than an author frantically trying to fit themselves into something that they don't know if they fit into.
If you are sitting there thinking, well, I don't even know what outlets there are, we have a brand new free resource called Pick Your Platform that will help you walk through all of this very easily to help you decide where you need to be online. It's free.
Marcus: Okay. We've figured out the places we enjoy spending time. We've set our goals that align with those places and how we can then use our content and what we're saying to engage with the people in the most effective way possible on those places that we like spending time. Then we've done research to make sure that we're getting the most out of each of those places. What are some other takeaways that you think authors might find helpful as they're choosing which platforms they need to settle in on for their book marketing?
Jenn: The first thing is to focus on one outlet, especially if you're just getting started. We tend to think that-- Again, you don't need to be everywhere online or offline to be seen. Being in one place will help you to not only get used to that outlet and to find your footing and to get into a good rhythm, but it also helps you to really focus. You aren't spreading yourself too thin. When you're trying to be on five different outlets, it becomes overwhelming, you are fried, and you just want to up and quit. Focus on one outlet at a time.
I try to not do more than two or three. That's really pushing it, especially if you're just getting started. Focus on one outlet. It's like working a new muscle that you haven't worked in a long time. It's being consistent and just showing up and really giving yourself that time to see what works for you to, again, get your footing. When an author says, "Oh, Instagram isn't working for me," and I go and look and they've only posted twice in the past three weeks, yes, it's not going to work for you. You have to show up and it does take time. Giving it that time, keep those reps in and keep working it.
Then really just trying to enjoy the connection with the readers. This is what it really boils down to because you're really connecting with people. These aren't just book buyers. Yes, they're book buyers, but they're real people. As you use these outlets to form friendships and connections and community, it's a slow build. It's just a wonderful way to really connect with people in a genuine way.
Marcus: This is an ongoing process. Like you said, we may find that something's not working and then we have to adjust our goals, adjust our content maybe a little bit, and maybe even switch platforms.
Jenn: Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. That is something where if you get started and you realize, I'm not enjoying this as much as I want, or I'm not getting the engagement that I want, try another outlet and put your focus on that so you can absolutely change directions and move your way around. You're not throwing all of that work away. It's such a learning process that you're gaining really valuable information. Also remembering that outlet is not always the answer, the content is. What your messaging is, what you're talking about. It's more focusing on adjusting your content. Maybe if you're not enjoying the process or if you're not getting that engagement, also look at your content to see how you might make some adjustments with that.
Marcus: This isn't like a distinct thing, oh, now I'm marketing my book. This actually feeds back into your writing itself and your future projects. All of this is skill building. It's all feeding back into how you connect with your readers and then ultimately how you can sell more books.
Jenn: Exactly. Even if you look back at some of my posts or any author's posts who has been around for a while, you'll see that they change, they grow, they make adjustments. It's not something that is one note all the way through.
Also, if you are just starting and if you have a smaller audience, I find that to be a huge blessing right at first because you can try some things. You aren't broadcasting it to the world and getting a ton of views. You can use this time to try some new things and to experiment. That's really the fun part. If you focus again on the core content, your messaging, you can play around with the different videos or different sounds or different graphics that you can use. This is really where you can have fun and really just let it loose there at the beginning.
Marcus: Even us, we're in the process of playing around with new things, new formats, and you have some great new resources that are going to be available soon. I just wanted to encourage everybody to subscribe to the newsletter, if you haven't already, join the Author Circle, follow Jenn on social media, all the things.
Jenn: The Author Circle, if you are looking to really dig deeper into this, what we're talking about, finding where it is that you should be online, how do you actually connect with readers, how do you build that audience, the Author Circle is one of the best places for you to be. If you want to get started, you can always start with the free download Pick Your Platform to help you outline your process with picking out your platform for you to be on.
[music]
Marcus: We look forward to sharing with you all the great stuff that Jenn's got in the works. As always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
Jenn: Bye.