What Are Your Options For Marketing A Book?

Millions of authors will take a variety of paths this year to market and promote their books. Hope is not a strategy. You need to have a thought-out, actionable approach to selling your book.  

Some will do nothing and pray for discovery.  

Others will rely on a publisher, if they have one, to do everything for them, which is not realistic.  

Many will do something, but often it is not enough. They didn’t do the right things nor did they do them well — or they just ran out of time, energy, and focus in their attempts at success.  

Some outsource their marketing, but they often choose a bad vendor, the wrong services, or they only retain help for a brief period.   

So, what is an author to do? 

Most want to wish marketing away and are clueless as to what to do or whom to even listen to for guidance. 

Here are some approaches authors might be contemplating: 

A Magical Formula
Authors think or hope there is a magical formula for unknowns to shoot to fame and fortune. This does not exist, and if it did, it can only work a few times before competitors catch up. Further, let’s face it. There is no way that a book marketer, publisher, or author reveals any major trade secrets for free, so don’t expect some magical answer to just appear.

Grass Roots, Multi-Book Approach
It takes time for authors to build a brand. Often, they don’t start to see traction until their second or third book is out. Slow and steady could win the race. Diversify your efforts and see what works best for you — and then concentrate on those areas.

Genius Idea
Yes, there are always a handful of books that break away from the pack because the books are so unique or the creative way in which they were marketed was so special. Again, this can only happen a handful of times.

Lucky Break
This is the most common form of success. The right timing of a book’s publication or something happening in the author’s life that suddenly turns the ordinary into coveted gold is hard to plan for, predict, or guarantee.

Buy Your Way In

You can attempt to buy your way to success. Start with purchasing a half-dozen or more professional book reviews. Apply to as many book awards as your budget allows. Build a soup-to-nuts web site. Participate at book fairs and conferences with a booth and an advertisement in the program. Donate physical books to various charities or organizations that you hope will spark the posting of book reviews, sharing on social media, or providing you with testimonials. Hire marketing professionals to guide you and/or execute a campaign for you. Pay influencers or celebrities to speak up about your book, give you testimonials, or be your spokesperson.

Network To Sales

The bigger and more targeted your network, the better. You will lean on these people to buy your book, sell your book to people they know, post reviews and write testimonials, give advice, introduce you to people who can help you, and show support for you. Dig your well before you are thirsty. That means create mailing lists, socialize in the world, and build up your social media following way before you have a book come out.

Give Away A Lot Of Books or Content

Free stuff can eventually lead to more readers and more sales. Offer downloadable content on your site that people have to sign up for. This helps you build a media list and allows you to showcase your writing style and voice. Some authors will simply give a book away for a certain period of time, hoping it leads to creating a word-of-mouth buzz. Others, who maybe have four or five published books may permanently give one away hoping it leads people to discover and pay for the other books.

Underprice Competition

Many authors practice this, so it gets harder to underprice others, but by charging more than others you may limit your sales.

Go Viral

Are you relying on your book to get discovered because a video, blog, or social media post got shared and viewed hundreds of thousands or even millions of times? Well, you need amazing content, a way to push it out there, and luck for that to happen. Then, once you get eyeballs on your post. How do you translate that attention into book sales? Is your next question.

Write What People Desperately Need Or Deeply Desire

One of your best weapons to market a book is to in fact, have a great book, one that people a actually need or want. Write books that fill a void, where the contents can’t be provided somewhere else or in some other format.  

Advertising
Advertising will not pay-off for most authors, but it can help generate brand awareness, get a message out, and compile book sales (though at a loss). However, it can be cost-effective if you have a large series of related books (advertise one as a loss-leader to generate interest in the other books). It also will put ka-ching in your purse when your book can lead to the sale of more expensive products, services, books, courses, etc. For an author with one or two books, don’t bother with pay-per-click ads on amazon, google, or facebook, and definitely avoid costly display ads in magazines, newspapers, and web sites.

Link The Book To Another Product, Service, Or Book

Your book might just be a calling card to get attention for a more expensive course, book, product, membership, or service. That is fine. You may also want to partner with someone else who sells something that complements, but does not compete with, your book. A package deal. Or, do co-promotions and split the costs. 

Here is where more authors can have more success in their book marketing:

* Be extreme in your marketing approach. Don’t be tame or modest. Take risks and go for broke.  

* Hold attention-grabbing events or stunts.  

* Make a scene publicly — perhaps get arrested.  

* Say outrageous things.  

* Show off your alluring beauty or sexuality.  

* Associate with high-powered people. 

Whatever you do to market your book, it likely should include these elements:

1. Have a website and update/expand it.

2. Create a business card and an email signature.

3. Be active on at least one social media platform.

4. Seek out speaking engagements.

5. Submit your book for awards.

6. Seek out professional book reviews, including paid opportunities.

7. Have your own blog, podcast, or newsletter. 

8. Seek news media coverage through TV, radio, podcasts, websites, newspapers, magazines, newswires, and trade publications via quotes in articles, interviews, feature stories, and bylined pieces.

9. Guest-post on other people’s blogs and be interviewed on their social media.

10. Network your contacts and expand beyond them. 

As you can see, there are many ways to market a book. Which path will you choose?  

Take a step today to get somewhere tomorrow.

Do You Need Book Marketing & PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum