This weekend I’m heading to Newcastle for Once Upon A Tyne, a new romance and fantasy festival, where I’ll be talking about one of the subjects that comes up again and again in my work at Literally PR: how authors can market themselves and their books without becoming completely overwhelmed by it.

Because writing the book is only one part of the job. And let’s be honest, the rest of the job isn’t always as appealing/exciting/interesting as the writing part.

You can spend months, sometimes years, developing characters, building worlds, rewriting chapters, working with editors, choosing covers, sorting metadata, uploading files and finally getting that book out into the world.

And then comes the terrifying question: Now what?

Marketing is consistently one of the biggest challenges authors report, and that really doesn’t surprise me. One survey of more than 1,300 authors found that well over 80% described marketing as one of the hardest parts of being an author.

Most of the authors I’ve ever worked with didn’t start writing because they desperately wanted to become experts in social media algorithms, email marketing, publicity, Amazon, websites, video editing, advertising and content creation.

They wanted to write. They had a story to tell and they wanted to share it with the world. They love the idea of being a full-time author.

But the reality of being an author is that you also need to find readers. Regardless of how you’ve been published.

The good news is that effective book marketing does not have to mean doing everything, all the time. To be honest, one of the biggest repeated mistakes I see is authors trying to do far too much.

At Literally PR, we always say that we are marketing people more than products, and talking to real people rather than avatars. That distinction matters to us but also to our clients. The aim isn’t just to push a book towards as many people as possible and hope it sticks. The name of the game is to find the right readers, start conversations with them, build relationships and ultimately create a community that wants to come with you to your next book.

BOOK → READER → RELATIONSHIP → COMMUNITY → NEXT BOOK.

That, for us at LitPR, is the foundation of sustainable author marketing.

KNOW IT

My first question to you sounds like it’s too easy, but it’s really not!

Who is your book for?

I’m not asking who could potentially read it but who is most likely to LOVE it?

There is a big difference. You’re not on a fishing trip, casting the widest possible net and hoping that a few readers happen to swim into it. Trying to market a book to “everyone” usually results in marketing that speaks to no one in particular. It’s a marketeer’s worst nightmare to be sat opposite a client who believes hand on heart that their product or service will be loved by everyone, from 0-99, all around the world.

Instead, it’s time to get serious about your ideal reader (especially if you don’t have any real data to base the target reader on i.e. sales data, social media insights, direct reader feedback at events, reviews etc).

Questions to ask yourself:

What are they already reading?

Which authors do they love?

What tropes instantly get their attention?

Where do they discover books?

What accounts do they follow?

What emotional experience are they looking for?

Comfort? Escapism? Romance? Chaos? Adventure? Female rage? Found family? A villain they absolutely know they shouldn’t like but do?

Romance, fantasy and YA authors have a real advantage here because readers often already have a very specific language for what they love:

Enemies to lovers.

Forced proximity.

Found family.

Slow burn.

Morally grey characters.

Dark academia.

Cosy fantasy.

Forbidden romance.

Those descriptions are not there to reduce a complex novel to a handful of tropes. They are entry points – gateways for readers to recognise whether an author/book could be for them.

One of the exercises I’ll be asking authors to do in Newcastle is pretty straightforward but powerful:

Readers who love ______ will love my book because ______.

If you can’t quickly complete that sentence, your positioning defo needs more work.

And if you’re already published, don’t forget to look at who is actually reading your work. Authors can become too attached to the audience they imagined while writing the book, but your reviews, messages, event audiences and social engagement may be telling you something slightly different.

It’s important to listen to those real readers because they’re giving you valuable market research for free.

PACKAGE IT

Once you understand the reader, you need to think about what they see when they discover you.

Here’s one of my go-to author-brand tests.

Imagine removing your name from your book cover, website, Instagram account and Amazon page.

Would somebody looking at them believe that they all belonged to the same author? Is there consistency across the different touch-points? Would they understand the type of books you write?

Branding isn’t a logo or a Canva colour palette. It’s the consistent feeling someone gets from you:

Your cover.

Your imagery.

Your website.

Your author biography.

Your retailer pages.

Your social content.

Your language / voice.

Your positioning.

They don’t all need to look identical, but they should make sense together. You also don’t have to reinvent your genre or try to be something you’re not. There is significant marketing value in familiarity. A reader needs enough recognisable signals to understand where your book belongs, while seeing sufficient individuality to remember you. And that balance between recognition and distinction is incredibly important.

Your packaging should be confirming that they know this kind of book, like this kind of book, but haven’t read THIS book yet.

SHOW IT

Now we get to the bit that sends many authors into a mild panic imho.

Social media.

First off, please know that you do not need to dance. Or point at floating words on a screen like a crazy person. You do not need to turn yourself into a full-time content creator. And you definitely don’t need to be everywhere.

You are far better being interesting and consistent in one or two places than exhausted and average across six.

The biggest problem that authors confess to me is not knowing what to talk about. But there’s an easy solution and I’m happy to share! Introducing: CONTENT PILLARS!

For a fantasy author, for example, I’d start with five.

THE BOOK: characters, quotes, tropes, settings, themes and inspiration.

THE AUTHOR: writing life, personality, routines, successes, failures and the human being behind the books.

THE READER: recommendations, questions, memes and fandom conversations.

THE WORLD AROUND THE BOOK: folklore, mythology, history, fashion, locations and research.

THE JOURNEY: drafting, editing, publishing, cover reveals, proofs, events and reviews.

When these content pillars are established and understood, you don’t need to wake up every morning wondering what the hell you’re going to post today because you already know what you need to focus on next. Then you rinse, repeat and adapt them.

And remember, think conversation rather than broadcasting.

“My book is available now” is information.

“Would you forgive him after chapter 27?” is a conversation.

“Here’s another five-star review” is information.

“Someone has just described my heroine as a wrong ‘un and I have never been prouder” serves personality.

Marketing works better when readers feel invited in and part of a conversation rather than being told/sold something.

CONNECT IT

This is where the numbers obsession can become dangerous.

Ten thousand passive followers might look impressive. Five hundred people who genuinely care about your books could be considerably more valuable.

Audience size and audience depth are not the same thing. The way to test it is by being open and honest to the following questions:

Do real people respond to you when you post?

Do they open your newsletters?

Do they leave reviews?

Do they tell friends about your books?

Do they come to events?

Do they recommend you?

Because one of the most important things I know after 25+ years working in media, publishing and PR is that the best marketing usually happens when somebody other than you (or me!) starts talking about your book.

So rather than constantly asking, “What can I post about myself today?”, start asking: “What can I create that gives other people a reason to talk about my work?”

That might be through reviewers, bloggers, BookTokers, Bookstagrammers, podcasts, libraries, booksellers, festivals, author collaborations, newsletter swaps, reader groups, ARC teams, playlists, character aesthetics, bonus content, fan art or simply asking great questions. Building a community is vital to the success of an author for the long term.

KEEP IT GOING

Friendly reminder to all authors:

Books are not yoghurts – they do not suddenly expire.

Publishing puts an enormous amount of emphasis on one date: publication day. But it’s just a line in the sand day where your book goes from being on pre-order to being available to buy.

It’s important, of course, but the readers don’t care about whether they’re discovering you on launch day or three months or three years later. They’ve found a book/author they like.

Marketing is therefore typically considered across three phases:

Pre-launch.

Launch.

Post-launch.

But, one of the biggest mistakes authors make is spending every penny, every idea and every ounce of energy before publication, then running out of steam and budget almost immediately afterwards. This is when there’s so much more you can be doing. Getting reviews, podcasts, events, using seasonal/timely hooks, entering for awards, collaborations and partnerships, reader content, PR, awareness days, interviews, etc etc etc.

And eventually another very useful thing happens – you publish another book! When book two arrives, book one becomes marketing material – your backlist becomes an asset. Someone discovering you as an author at book three may immediately go back and buy books one and two.

This is why I much prefer to talk about building long-term author careers rather than simply building book launches.

YOUR HEADLINER PLAN

And finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by everything you’ve just read, please don’t respond by creating yourself another enormous marketing to-do list. Unless you’re like me and a to-do list is actually one of the only ways to calm me down when overloaded!

Try to focus on addressing the following questions:

Who is my ideal reader?

What is the one thing I want my author brand to be known for?

Which social platform (2 max) am I actually going to focus my energy on?

Which relationship or community do I want to build?

What is ONE thing I will do in the next seven days?

And what am I going to stop doing because it isn’t working for me or because I absolutely hate it?

Marketing needs to be sustainable. There is no prize for being burnt-out across six different social-media platforms.

Please remember that you do not need to be the loudest author online, nor do you have to be ‘everywhere’. You don’t need millions of followers (and you defo don’t need to buy followers). You just need more clarity, to know your reader better, package your work properly, be consistent and give people repeated reasons to connect. Keep going – don’t give up when it gets tough. Don’t just focus on the launch – build your audience and know that all the marketing work you’re doing now will help future you.

The book might be the product but your author brand—and the relationship you create with readers—is what gives them a reason to come back.

I’ll be talking about all of this, plus answering questions from authors, at Once Upon A Tyne in Newcastle this weekend in my session From Hidden Gem to Headliner: Indie Marketing That Actually Works.

https://www.maidenmotherandcrone.co.uk/once-upon-a-tyne

And if you’re not going to be there but this has made you realise your own author marketing needs a rethink, come and say hello to us at Literally PR or email kaykett@literallypr.com to book a free discovery call with one of our team. We’ve spent the past 15 years working on more than 1,000 book campaigns, helping authors develop their brand, marketing and publicity strategy.

You can find us at literallypr.com or @LiterallyPR.