book marketing tips
Before I became an author and wrote The Elf Witch, I worked in marketing and PR at large, global agencies for 15 years. My clients included international consumer brands, like Mars Wrigley, Anheuser-Busch, Serta Simmons Bedding, and more. I’d love to help other authors with my expertise, so here are my top marketing tips for launching a book (I could talk about this all day, so this is a long post):
First, I decided on primary and secondary goals. What did I ultimately want to achieve if I were to spend time and money on marketing activities? My primary goals for the first year were twofold: brand building and maximizing book visibility, with sales as my secondary objective. Sales are obviously important, but since this was my debut, I wanted to focus on building a foundation before aiming for substantial profits, as I knew it was unlikely.
Then, I drafted a sharp, multi-pronged, 360-degree strategic marketing plan that laid a roadmap (i.e., tactics) for what I felt would be most effective in achieving those goals within my budget.
Here are the levers I pulled as part of that plan:
Author branding: I created an author brand for myself. I love stories about villains and antiheroes, so I really leaned into that brand identity. I want everyone to know I’m rooting for the bad guy in my writing, and be very blunt about that. So, figuring out what you want to be known for as an author is key, as is creating a consistent look and feel for any marketing assets you’ll use to promote your author brand. I paid a designer on Etsy to create a brand asset package for me for less than $20.
Book branding: I invested a substantial part of my budget in ensuring the cover was eye-catching and gorgeous, drawing people in. I hired a professional designer on Etsy for this, and my cover was around $300. I actually commissioned her for all five so they would look and feel consistent. Then, I made graphics around the cover to brand everything. I also hired someone to help me with my blurb to ensure it was simple and enticing. Everything is branded to be consistent in look and feel, including the future covers, which I had made all at one for consistency.
Owned channel marketing (social media, e-news, etc.): I leaned into channels I owned, i.e., ones that didn't require money or anyone else's involvement. For example, I employed comprehensive social media activities, including consistently posting on social (every day, sometimes multiple times a day), analyzing analytics on my posts to see which performed the best (then repeating those types of posts), strategically paying to boost posts that did well, branding the posts to be visually consistent, and constantly engaging with anyone who engaged with me. I started a street team with an Instagram chat and an e-newsletter as another way to spread the news beyond my own pages. I chose to focus on just four social platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Pinterest) to ensure a comprehensive analysis. One easy way to update your Pinterest is to connect your Instagram, and boom! Tons of content, updated in real time, that people can react with on that platform - and they do! The data for my Pinterest looks good!
I do a little bit on Facebook to maintain a presence, but I mostly focus on cross-promoting between Instagram and Facebook. Part of this involved understanding my audience and what content resonated with them. I am lucky to have a seriously amazing PA who really knows Bookstagram social media marketing. Her counsel was invaluable in jumping on trending topics, leaning into what readers want to see in books, and other related areas. It was also amazing to have someone help respond to comments, questions, DMs, likes, etc., because that can be a time suck, but it's super important. If you don’t have time, use a service called Manychat to send automated responses to common messages you get on the platform (especially with scammers).
Sales/E-news Swaps: I participated in a few “Stuff Your Kindle” days, making my books $ 0.99 for a day to increase visibility (not necessarily to make money). This enabled me to reach bestseller lists on Amazon, further increasing exposure and credibility for The Elf Witch. Even as a pre-order, this worked incredibly well. It’s worth noting that I didn't make the book free, as that would have put it on the “free” bestseller list rather than the standard ones in the total Amazon store. You also can’t make a book free in the pre-order stage. The jump in sales and visibility on the bestseller list landed me an audiobook deal with Simon and Schuster. E-news swaps have also been effective as it’s great to get the recommendation of another author and use their fan base to expand yours.
ARCs: I went extremely wide with distributing ARCs. I was on every site (Netgalley, Book Sirens, Hidden Gems), participated in several ARC programs through PR companies, and coordinated one independently using my social media and Google Forms. In total, I sent out about 2,000 eARCs and 100 paperback PR boxes. If you have the money to create a nice PR box that’s visually appealing and comes with goodies, that’s great, but I don’t think this is necessary (if you need to cut something from your budget, I would cut branded PR boxes and use padded envelopes). A significant cost of sending out physical ARCs was the cost of getting the books printed by IngramSpark. However, I wanted to point out that sending eARCs is still perfectly adequate. I noticed a marginal increase in posts from physical ARCs, but it wasn't enough to justify the cost of printing and shipping the book, unless reviewers left feedback (which is why I always require that). Also, KDP is cheaper, so don’t make my mistake and use them off the bat.
Influencer marketing: This one was huge. I spent a significant portion of my budget on this, working with over seven PR companies to find bookstagram influencers to hype up the book before, during, and after the launch. They did reviews, giveaways, aesthetic posts, etc. I wanted the book to be seen everywhere and get people talking. My aim here was for people to think, "I'm seeing this book everywhere, and it's making me curious to read it, too."
In-person events: I applied to attend every BookCon event I could and was accepted into seven this year. This was great because we cross-promoted each other on social media, which built my credibility as a new author. I will say - don’t expect to make money at these events. If you’re traveling from out of state, you have to pay for your flight, hotel, transportation, food, and shipping your books/booth materials. It adds up. The primary reason for attending the event is the third-party credibility you get. It boosts your author brand’s legitimacy, and of course, to sell a few books and network. But I’ve never heard of anyone selling over 250 books, and I usually sell around 100-120 AT MOST, so don’t expect to do anything but MAYBE break even.
Advertising and your own store: We started this late because I only have one book out, but now that I’m about to have three, it’s become advantageous to market my backlist. We’ve actually hired someone to handle our AMS ads because they are so complicated to get right. You really need to research them or already know your stuff to get it right. We interviewed three people and hired an expert freelancer on Upwork for a three-month trial to see how it goes. We also started selling our products on our website. The margins are SO MUCH higher than with Amazon, and people are excited to get a signed, personalized copy direct from the author. We integrated Shopify into our website, and it was super easy, and also connected it to our TikTok shop. We use TikTok and Meta ads to drive people there, and within a month, have seen over 12 sales.
A few things I wish I’d done differently…
Investing in a map and character art, investing in setting up my advertising strategy across AMS and Meta earlier, and creating my owned storefront, and reducing the number of international PR packages I had to send (this ended up costing a ton of money, and I'm not sure the ROI was there). Next time, I'll likely partner with a single PR company for ARCs and manage the rest independently. As I grow my backlist, I will reinvest that budget into advertising.
I also don’t think I’ll attend as many shows next year as I did this year, because, as I mentioned, the ROI isn’t there unless it’s local. Luckily, I live in Texas, where there are tons of shows to attend, but it was a significant financial strain to sell only 100-120 books. Here’s a list of all romance (and some more general shows) across the country: https://www.romancingthedata.com/events/.
The other mistake I made, which I discussed in a recent Instagram post, is not positioning my book effectively. I did a good job of positioning what type of author I am and the books I write in general, but when it came to specifically marketing The Elf Witch, I didn’t make it clear enough that it was a high-fantasy with lots of complex world-building. (I also skipped having real readers volunteer to beta read, and I wish I hadn’t). Also, like most high-fantasies we all love (LOTR, GOT, etc.), it starts off a bit slow as things ramp up, so I don’t overwhelm you with the world. I wish I had been more blunt and upfront with what readers were getting into, because I think it turned some of them off, and they left poor reviews (the lack of glossary and map didn’t help either). So, my advice is to be very clear about what readers are getting into when they pick up your book, even if it scares them away. Good. It might not have been for them, and that's okay. Not every book is for everyone.
Also, please do not ever use Book Sirens. I can’t stress this enough. The readers were not a high-fantasy demographic, and they decimated my early reviews; my book was also pirated through them. I would stick with Netgalley (the only reputable service in my opinion after hours of research) if you're going to use a site, or manage your own ARCs, either solo or with a PR company (or both).
Please note that these are not the be-all and end-all of marketing approaches - just my two cents. Your plans will differ depending on whether you’re an established author, your budget, the type of book you wrote, and your goals. I hope this was helpful for some folks, though! Feel free to email me questions at hello@jacquelyngilmore.com or DM me on Instagram.
