Saturday, July 7, 2018

Interview With Greenleaf Book Group Director of Marketing & Branding, Corrin Foster




1.        How do you work with authors to make sure they are doing all that they can to promote and sell their books? We spend a significant amount of time with our author discussing goals – both for their book and their overall brand. Once we have a firm understanding, we customize marketing initiatives and really get creative with messaging, promotions, and opportunities to grow their platform, which in turn leads to a community of potential book buyers and brand ambassadors.  Another big part of our job is to educate our authors on trends and best practices within the publishing industry and to share our experiences and successes marketing similar books. We take ideas and inspiration from all of our authors and use those as jumping-off points to help new authors reach their goals.

2.        Which big books were recently published by Greenleaf Book Group? I’m continually excited by our title list and the passion each author brings to their expertise and storytelling.  Greenleaf CEO, Tanya Hall, recently published Ideas, Influence, and Income: Write a Book, Build Your Brand, and Lead Your Industry which gives authors a comprehensive guide to publishing and brand building. Michael Jordan’s The Company of Demons is receiving rave reviews from thriller readers. Both Becoming Whole: A Healing Companion to Ease Emotional Pain and Find Self-Love by Dr. Bruce Kehr and Elevate: An Essential Guide to Life by Joseph Deitch are helping people to take control and improve their lives.

3.        How would you describe Greenleaf – publisher, distributor, hybrid?  Greenleaf is a hybrid publisher, offering our authors the best of what both tradition and self-publishing have to offer. We have the editorial, design, distribution, and marketing muscle of traditional publishers and our authors maintain the creative control, and rights, afforded to self-publishers.

4.        Corrin, what changes have you seen over the past five years with how a book is marketed? We’re much more focused on consumer marketing than ever before – it’s about connecting directly with readers rather than advertising to them. Book clubs are cool again and we’re flooding voracious and influential readers with early reviewer copies to build pre-publication buzz which drives early reviews and preorders, which then feed Amazon’s algorithm to reach new readers.

5.        What must authors and publishers get better at doing when it relates to promoting a book? Patience. Overnight success happens for a very lucky few authors, and that can be frustrating, particularly for first-time authors. But each fresh review, podcast interview, out-of-the-book marketing opportunity – they all move the needle forward. Stay engaged and open to new opportunities, and your book will find its audience.

6.        Do most authors understand what it takes to build their brand?  I think most authors have an understanding that building their brand takes an investment – time, money, passion. Where I see authors get discouraged or overwhelmed is when they try to build a brand that is separate from who they really are a person. It’s like leading a double life. You are your brand – openly share yourself and your ideas. You’ll build a more engaged and loyal community and you’ll enjoy doing it.

7.        What do you love most in working with authors and with books? Getting the opportunity to learn from each new author. Their expertise is so varying and vast that I take some nugget of information away from each and every project that I’ll never forget. I’m great at cocktail parties thanks to my authors!

8.        What advice do you have for authors who are struggling to breakthrough with the marketing of their book?  Step back, re-evaluate, and try again. While timing is important for the success of some books, many books are evergreen, so if you need to take a breather, that’s okay. Book marketing and the publishing landscape is always changing, which means there are always new opportunities to reach readers.

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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”

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