Do you want to sell more books and reach more readers?Do you want to discover how to build an author career for the long-term as well as spike your book sales right now? If you don’t know much about marketing, don’t worry. We all start with nothing.I’m Joanna Penn and back in 2008, I had no book sales, no audience, no website, no social media, no podcast, no email list. No nothing.Now I’m a New … podcast, no email list. No nothing.
Now I’m a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers and non-fiction. My books have sold over 500,000 copies in 83 countries, and I’m an award-winning creative entrepreneur and international speaker, making a multi-six-figure income with my writing.
Learning how to market my books and my personal brand changed my life. Yes, you need to write an awesome book, but you also need to know how to get it in front of the right readers.
How to Market a Book is for authors who want to sell more books, but it’s also for those writers who want to think like an entrepreneur and build a long-term income. It’s for traditionally published authors who want to take control of their future, and for self-published authors who want to jump-start a career.
There are short-term tactics for those who want to boost immediate sales, but the focus of the book is more about instilling values and marketing principles that will help your long-term career as a writer.
It’s also about going beyond just the book, because these methods can take you from being an author into making money from other products, professional speaking, and creating opportunities that you can’t even imagine yet.
In this completely updated Third Edition, you’ll discover:
˃˃˃ Part 1: Marketing Principles
Book marketing myths, how discoverability works, and the polarities of marketing that will determine what you choose to implement
˃˃˃ Part 2: Your Book Fundamentals
Prerequisites for success, how to optimise your book for online sales, categories and keywords, exclusivity, pricing and use of free, box-sets and bundling, and writing series
˃˃˃ Part 3: No Platform Needed. Short-term Marketing
How to get customer reviews and find book bloggers, paid advertising with email blasts, paid advertising with Facebook, Amazon Ads and ad stacking, algorithm hacking, big data, and production speed
˃˃˃ Part 4: Your Author Platform. Long-term Marketing
Building an author brand, author website, list-building and email marketing, content marketing, blogging, audio and podcasting, video and book trailers, social networking, professional speaking, marketing audiobooks, PR and publicity, TV, radio and traditional media
˃˃˃ Part 5: Launching Your Book
Why launching is different for indie authors, soft launch, launch spikes, post launch, how to relaunch backlist books. Includes an example book marketing strategy and launch plan checklist.
˃˃˃ Other books for authors by Joanna Penn. Available in ebook, print and audiobook.
How to Make a Living with your Writing
Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur
The Successful Author Mindset
Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives and Other Introverts
Co-writing a Book: Collaboration and Co-Creation for Writers
Successful Self-Publishing
Career Change: Stop hating your job, discover what you really want to do with your life, and start doing it!
Joanna’s website for authors, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted one of the Top 100 websites for writers by Writers Digest several years running, and The Creative Penn podcast is one of the top podcasts for writers and indie authors.
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What a book of tremendous insights from an established International author! This a must read for every author wanting to effectively market their books
I recently read “How to Market a Book” while completing research for my upcoming book “Self-Publishing Simplified.” As always, Joanna Penn provides highly valuable and highly actionable guidance that writers at nearly any stage in their creative journeys can employ to increase their reach, readership, and revenue.
One of the best for indie authors!
This is a great book for all authors who want to know exactly how to market their books and get them into the hands of readers. This is a must have for authors!
How to Market a Book was an informative read about marketing. I do feel that it mostly gives you a very broad scope of marketing possibilities and what to try, but doesn’t go super deep into some of the topics or how to apply them. What it might lack in depth it definitely makes up in the sheer amount of possible marketing techniques. It also has some great parts about how to approach marketing, social media and your author career. I also found the author really honest about what worked and not and even how those things which didn’t have an immediate ROI might still be worth it, depending on your situation and what you like to do.
Marketing books are always a bit difficult for me to read as I already know a lot about marketing and thus it’s harder to find ones that have new to me information. This book didn’t have as much new to me information, but I do like how broad the book covers the whole topic of marketing. And there was definitely some pieces I didn’t know yet. Mostly I think this is a good book to pick up when you’re starting out and what to get an idea of what’s possible. On the other hand it might be a bit overwhelming as it addresses a lot of topics and it doesn’t really give as much of a guide of where to start, you have to decide that for yourself. the author does recommend to not do everything in the book or not all at the same time.
I liked the few case studies where she described what’s she’s doing and also what she does for each of her pen names, so you could see the difference per brand. There also is a big load of questions toward the back of the book that’s a nice way to look back on the content as well as recommendations for other resources.
I liked that the book also dipped into the topics of marketing physical copies and audiobooks as most marketing books focus on digital format. On the other hand I do think it’s better to focus on digital format most of the time. And for audiobook marketing Joanna Penn’s book about audio is a better one to pick up as this book felt a bit outdated and limited compared to her Audio for Authors book.
I didn’t really care about the part where she discussed traditional media marketing. I just don’t think that’s something a lot of authors want to do or will have a lot of success with. She does mentions that it might not lead to sales, but there’s still a piece of the book that details these options. I also felt that there are a few newer techniques or additional techniques that were missing in this book, but that’s probably because a book like this gets outdated fast. On the other hand it is nice she showed what’s possible for those who are passionate about exploring those marketing venues.
To summarize: this book is a good one if you want to see the broad scope of marketing possibilities. There is a big variety of marketing techniques that gets discussed, but the strength of the book lies in it’s broadness instead of the depth. So you hear a bit about huge variety of techniques, but not enough to really master any of them or figure out where to start. As I know a lot about the topic already, there wasn’t as much new to me information, but I still enjoyed reading this one and liked the way the author addressed the topic. I liked the part where she mentions how she handles her own marketing for her different pen names and there is some great advice in this book on how to approach your author career and marketing. I didn’t really care about the section on traditional media marketing and would’ve liked to see a bit more direction and general advice. All in all this book is definitely a good one to pick up if you want to know more about the variety of marketing techniques you can employ as an author.
Joanna Penn conveys a wealth of information to indie authors in her books: How to Market a Book, The Successful Author Mindset, and How to Make A Living with Your Writing. Her advice is always actionable and practical, from believing in yourself with a positive mindset, marketing, and making a living from your writing. She has been an inspiration to me since I began my writing career by generously providing information about what she’s learned from her successful publishing practice. If there is one person you should follow, whether you are indie, trade published, or hybrid author, it should be Joanna Penn.
This excellent guide takes you from having absolutely no sales to arming you with everything you need to market your brand and sell books effectively.
I learned a ton about using paid advertising, Facebook Pages (so you can use Facebook ads), having an email list, doing relaunches for older books (like changing the cover) and other things that made the idea of marketing a book so much easier.
Though I’m not going to try everything – who has the time? – there are specific things I’m going to use in the next couple of months. I finally have a strategy (besides the one I was already working on – platform building – that was working) that will boost sales.
I recommend this to all authors wanting a long-term publishing career.
A must read for self-published and indie-published authors.
This is a well written and informative guide to marketing primarily self published books. Although generally easy to read and well organized it was for me at least very dense and overwhelming at times. I would highly recommend this book; I’m sure there is something to learn for pretty much anyone.
There are fundamental forks in the road for book writers to take today. Do you want to be a trad or an indie? Trad means “traditional” writers who send proposals out and hope that they can find a traditional book publisher to take them on. Indies are those who self-publish.
Another fork in the road is just for indies: Do you want to go exclusive and publish only with Amazon? Or do you want to “go wide” and publish elsewhere, primarily Ingram Spark.
Joanna Penn’s 2017 update of her “How to Market a Book” makes clear there is yet another fork in the road for indie writers. Do you want to do short-term marketing or long-term marketing which involves extensive platform building?
Most articles and books these days on how to market your book focus on long-term platform building or a combination of short and long term. Trying to do both usually ends up with writers becoming overwhelmed pretty quickly.
My focus is now on short-term. Penn lays out some good reasons to choose short-term. I’d like to add one more. I live in a town where there are many older citizens who decide to finally focus on painting or writing full time for the first time in their lives. That includes me. Long-term platform building just doesn’t make sense for someone in their sixties or seventies or older.
Penn’s work is cogent, comprehensive, compactly written and very understandable. I highly recommend it for indie writers who want to write and also sell their books whether they choose short or long-term.
This book was so helpful. Tremendous amount of valuable information for the money. I recommend it to all indie authors trying to create a following.
As a new author, this book was very helpful!
I have read each of the three editions of this fantastic resource and continue to learn something new and valuable each time. Highly recommended for both beginning and seasoned writers. There is great learning for everyone in here!
I am devouring all the information in Joanna Penn’s Books for Writers series. It is my dream to one day kiss my corporate job goodbye and spend the rest of my days writing for a living. Penn makes that dream seem more possible.
If an indie writing career is your dream, I would recommend signing up for Joanna Penn’s newsletter which will give you Book 1 for free! Then continue with this wonderful and informative Book 2!
with lots of very useful information, and not too overwhelming. This is a great book!
I suspect many authors are overwhelmed by the multiple channels available to market their book. I certainly am. Do we write blogs, run Facebook or Bookbub ads, speak at events, or pay for twitter promotions among many options? It’s so hard to choose, particularly when you are new to writing and marketing. Of key importance is to think about where your ideal reader hangs out and to develop targeted marketing tactics.
Joanna addresses the fundamentals of successful marketing in this book – starting first with what’s our ‘Why’ for writing a book. She highlights the value of building our personal brand and reassures us that the journey to get recognised is a marathon and not a sprint. While it will take a long time, it will happen if you invest the time and track our learning. And the time to start is now. Even if you have done nothing apart from finishing your book.
I’m a relatively new author and have been experimenting with marketing tactics including blogs on LinkedIn and Medium, treasure hunt campaigns, emails to librarians, Amazon ads, twitter blasts and entry into competitions. The results have been disappointing and I know I need to post valuable content on ‘real estate’ I own, i.e. on my own website and capture the learning and ROI of each campaign if I am to understand what is working and what isn’t. While I may be disappointed by a short term spike in sales only it is important to continue to build my personal brand as this will support longer term sales success.
Joanna has introduced me to the idea of making short videos and posting them on a regular basis on YouTube. They could be about your research process or a book trailer to support a book launch. She provides links to people who are doing this very effectively.
There is great advice on using audio books as a product and how you can run promotions, competitions and giveaways with organisations like ACX who give out 25 free codes. Personal declaration here – I was the grateful recipient of one of these for this book. Joanna reveals that audio books are one of the fastest growing market segments.
My top personal takeaways from the book include; the need to build my personal platform and start engaging a ‘street team’; recognising that while you may not make as many sales as you would like from a campaign, you are planting seeds and building awareness, not worrying about where I am now. Just start. I’m going to try crowdfunding an animated version one of my children’s books that I wrote for my nephew who is on the autism spectrum. I’m also going to think creatively about merchandising products to support my books.
Joanna’s knowledge is available in eBooks, paperbacks and audible files. If you absorb her content though audio files, as I often do, ensure you have a pen and paper (or notebook) handy as she provides many valuable tips and references. (I have learnt not to listen late at night in bed as I have to keep turning on the light to jot down a new idea or reference).
If you want to learn more about successfully marketing your book then this one is an easy buy decision.
By Tracy Stanley, Author – Engagement Whisperer: A quieter and more collaborative approach to inspiring your team
One of the banes of postmodern life is that successful professionals must communicate effectively across multiple media. Communication is more important than ever because technology has made all of us more productive. If one 2017 professional can now do the work of a dozen 1960 professionals, then that professional effectively functions as a team, including the team manager. Production, marketing, and sales all need to be done by that one professional. As an economist, I faced this challenge; it has only gotten worse now that I am an author and publisher.
Introduction
Joanna Penn in her new book, How to Market a Book, advises authors on trends in marketing and sales of self-published books. She sees five non-negotiable activities for all book marketing:
Make sure that your book is the best it can be…
Identify your comparison books and authors.
Optimize your book sales page…
…use paid promotions to send readers to your book page.
…set up a professional looking website and an email list sign up. (281-282)
In my experience, each of these activities can keep you busy. During the past year, for example, I spent more than six months working with different webmasters to upgrade my three websites (T2Pneuma.net, T2Pneuma.com, and StephenWHiemstra.net), which is Penn’s item 5. Meanwhile, I spent an equal amount of time moving my titles from exclusively with one printer to be jointly with another printer, Penn item 1. These two activities ostensibly prepared me to be more effective in my promotions, Penn item 4.
Who is Joanna Penn?
Penn is an interesting writer for self-publishers to pay attention to because she is one of the few authors who has succeeded in quitting her day job and living off the proceeds of her writing. Less than five percent (one in twenty) of independent authors sell a thousand books (I have sold about six hundred) which implies that even fewer authors have broken even on their book sales. Most independent authors are supported by a dhealthy or by a spouse. By her own accounts, Penn started seriously writing in 2006 and quit her job in 2011, five years later (7-9). This track record makes Penn a credible source of recommendations for how to succeed in self-publishing.
A Healthy Mindset
Part of Penn’s success arises because of a heathy mindset. She writes: “marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it.” (13) This mindset is a form of “attraction marketing” which means that you find out what people want and offer it to them.
Why is this important? Two reasons stand out.
Attraction Marketing
First, when I studied marketing in the 1970s and early 1980s, I was taught “push marketing”. Push marketing means that the firm bought advertising and pushed it out to the reading, listening, and viewing public. Attraction marketing is new and many people have not yet caught on to it. Penn has done her homework which is an important reason for her success.
The Mindset Advantage
Second, Penn mindset comes as a relief for those of us who doubt our own credibility as authors. It is one thing to write a book; it is another to believe that anyone other than your mother would want to read it. This fear of being an unworthy author is pervasive and it prevents many authors from succeeding in their marketing. Penn mindset shows that she believes in herself and does not get in a muddle in reaching out to others who will appreciate her writing.
The Book Launch Thing
Another gem arises when Penn writes that “marketing is more than a book launch” (20). While I have learned to sell books in person and online, my failure to have a great book launch has always bothered me. Penn offers an important piece of background information on this point.
Traditional Publishers Focus on the Launch
Traditional publishers, who work with retailers to stock and toss books all the time, focus on the book launch because they have limited time and resources to devote to each book. The launch is coordinated with a media campaign and a month later they are on to another book.
For small publishers who have no retail connections, no publicity team, and no media budget cannot easily host a successful launch following this model and probably should not try. Book marketing is more of a marathon than a sprint for the small publisher because resources are tight, relationships need to be built, and learning is an ongoing necessity.
Assessment
Joanna Penn’s How to Market a Book is a useful, readable, and timely book for authors who publish. I found her comments on podcasting and publishing audio books particularly insightful. Perhaps you will too.
[1] http://CurlUpPress.com. http://www.TheCreativePenn.com. https:/JFPenn.com. @TheCreativePenn.