What Can Good Book Promoters Do?

 

Authors, depending on their abilities, may need professional help in a lot of areas in order to get their books ready for publication, marketed, and promoted.  

Many writers will need help with a dozen or more areas, such as: 

·         Creating or updating a web site

·         Making a book available for sale on many retail platforms

·         Creating social media accounts and crafting content to post

·         Ghostwriting blogs for their site

·         Advertising books on Amazon, Google, and Facebook

·         Applying to book awards

·         Finding free or paid book reviewers

·         Seeking out speaking engagement opportunities

·         Putting together a best-seller campaign

·         Reaching out to book clubs

 

Book promoters can do a lot of things. They can: 

·         Advise an author of what needs to be done

·         Coach them on how to do these things

·         Share resources and/or ideas and strategize on how to craft and execute a strong marketing campaign

·         Execute whatever needs to be done to complete a specific promotional task, such as getting an ad created and placed

·         Writing and distributing a press release

·         Connecting with a bookstore to set up a speaking engagement 

Book publicists/promoters tend to focus on the news media, identifying the appropriate news media outlets to approach, crafting targeted pitches building relationships with key journalists and influencers, securing media coverage, and monitoring the media landscape for relevant opportunities to capitalize on.  

A good book promoter brings in outside experiences, knowledge, skills, energy, and a network that can be used to help authors build a brand, obtain more readers and increase book sales. 

Authors, when seeking to hire outside help, need to understand that: 

·         Not all book promoters are good or honest.

·         Each promoter may be good at one or a few things, but not everything.

·         You should be aware of what you need and be clear on what you are looking for.

·         Marketing, like the medical world, is becoming so specialized and focused that you may need two, three, or four different experts to each help you get pieces of what you want or need.

·         No matter what a hired gun does for you, continue to do as much as you can on your own to service other areas that need attention.

·         Whatever is done to promote one book can also help grow your brand to market prior or future books. 

When looking for a book promoter, you will want to find someone who sounds savvy, has a personality that you can get along with, is affordable, seems responsive and reliable and has a decent track record. Avoid those who run off of hype, profusely praise you and your book, and always act like you will be on the best-seller list by tomorrow. You need someone who is cautiously optimistic, grounded in reality but not afraid to reach beyond your means, and who seems to believe in you but does not kiss your butt to the point you find them to be disingenuous. 

Finding a good book promoter is like dating. You may get lucky, even get married, or, you may not get a second date. Just keep trying! 

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum 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 7,300,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 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 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

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) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, 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