Finally, an affordable and practical marketing solution for authors!
How do you market a book?
It’s not fair that in today’s world, authors are expected to be professional marketers in addition to storytellers. That is, however, the reality. Even if you publish with a traditional house, authors are responsible for purchasing or building their own website, running active social media pages, and developing a personal brand in order to engage readers and sell books.
Not to mention self-published or Indie-published authors, who must do all that in addition to running sales, writing blurbs and press releases, approaching book stores, and every single piece of getting their book in readers’ hands.
When are you supposed to find time to write your next book?
I’m here to help! I have spent a decade in marketing, primarily specializing in creative businesses and nonprofits. I now work from home as a freelance book marketing coach. As I assisted authors in their marketing journey, I came to notice one gaping hole in the industry: everyone is expecting authors to “do it all,” but no one is showing them how to do it.
Introducing the GOOD ENOUGH BOOK MARKETING membership group.
Today’s authors feel like they must spend thousands of dollars each year hiring outside contractors (like me!) to help with marketing and promotion. And after doing this for several authors, I started to feel rather…well…icky (to use a technical term.) Because I realized the secret sauce to mastering today’s reader engagement is all about personal touch. And when you pay someone else to run your “brand,” it is literally the opposite of personal. It makes authors seem like corporations. As a writer myself, I knew how hard earned each penny was for my clients and I wanted to make sure they were getting the most they could for each one they spent. So I figured out a better way to help.
GOOD ENOUGH BOOK MARKETING is a private online group that teaches authors how to GROW. Not just “sell books” or “get more social media followers” or “achieve higher Amazon rankings.” But it is designed to help every author, wherever they are at in their career, figure out which ladder rung they are standing on and climb a few rungs higher. Because it is so customizable, this is a good fit for all types of authors—any genre, any publishing path, any age. Maybe you are still unpublished, trying hard to finish your first book. Maybe you are an award-winning author whose editor won’t stop nagging about how you need to post more on social media (Like, what does that even MEAN?) This group is full of tips and support to help you do what you need to do in the best, most efficient way possible.
Why is it called “Good Enough?” Shouldn’t it be something aspirational, like “Best Marketing Tutorial Ever?”
First of all, nothing is “the best ever.” That would be hyperbole, not aspiration.
You’ve heard the phrase “perfect is the enemy of done.” Writers in particular seem to struggle with this one. If today’s book industry expects you to do multiple jobs—writer, marketer, publicist, etc—than you will need to learn to separate what is essential from what is ideal.
Your first priority should always be that of a writer. Put your perfectionism marbles in that corner. When it comes to marketing—your second job or side hustle—you just need to know what available options work and which ones are a waste of your time and money. You need to be efficient and precise and consistent. What is the least amount of effort you can exert for the maximum return?
It’s hard to make a living as an author. In fact, you may not even be trying to make it your entire living. Maybe you would just like to sell copies of your book to more than your grandma or three of your past students. My group covers so many things, including:
- Which social media platforms are best for authors
- Do you need an author website, especially if you are not selling your books on it
- Which website hosting platform is least expensive
- Do you need a Facebook author page or can you just use your personal profile
- What are Amazon book ads
- Are there any effective alternatives to big corporations like Facebook and Amazon
- Time management and organization
- How to think about audience retention and market gaps without feeling like an artistic sellout
- How to remind people to buy your books without sounding sales-y
- Traditional media versus new media—should you bother with newspaper press releases in a world of podcasts and influencer reviews?
- Links to important news articles detailing industry changes/trends so you don’t have to keep up with them all
- How much do you need to think about marketing if you are already enjoying a comfortable author career
- How much branding and marketing should you reasonably do if this is supposed to be your publisher’s job
- Imposter syndrome, being self-conscious, and the art of the honest brag
- Plus! Backstage passes for more comprehensive classes for those who want to go “deeper” into more specific book marketing strategies
You will also get:
- Pre-written pitch letters to send to media sources that you can adapt with simple edits to personalize and make your own
- Tutorial videos on my favorite technology apps that will make your life easier
- Tutorials on new updates when common platforms launch changes and all your buttons move around
- Templates for a variety of goal-setting and marketing plans, if you decide to be that detailed in your endeavors
There will be SO MUCH happening in this group. And the best part? It is only $3/month. Cancel anytime. For real.
My clients, making me blush.
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Who am I?
Back in 2009 (whelp!), I was a frustrated college student attempting to over-plan my life. I knew my English degree wasn’t exactly going to keep me financially solvent, so I started looking for more practical ways to pad my learning experience. It started with earning a Certificate in Publishing, which taught me vast amounts about the changes and expectations in the book publishing industry. And then I made a rather ill-advised choice (literally—my advisor told me not to!) to take an advanced marketing class. Cause why take an introductory course in a subject I hadn’t before studied? I passed the class—and with a pretty reasonable grade, considering how unprepared I was for it—and though the class negatively impacted my GPA, the skills and new ways of thinking I learned there became instrumental in shaping my career.
I have spent the past decade in various aspects of marketing. After college, I found a job as an assistant editor for a trade magazine company in upstate New York. My role was to help oversee and guide the content of multiple magazines, which meant more than just correcting grammar—it also included hob-nobbing with readers and advertisers at trade shows, staying up-to-date on the latest industry trends, watching political winds with a critical ear, and many other marketing-type skills. I even started my own monthly marketing column, which ran in two nationally-distributed publications. After that job, I spent four years as the Communications Director of a regional art center. Helping visual artists, writers, and all types of creative individuals grow their visibility and connect with an audience was particularly rewarding for my own writing heart. But it wasn’t until my husband and I started our own woodworking business that my marketing skills felt truly personal. In starting my own company, I also learned my most valuable lesson: perfectionism in marketing is an impossible goal. That’s hard to accept if you are Type A-ing your career, with step-by-step plans for projected growth and timed goals. My husband and I had a lot of plans when we first met. Seriously—I have a moleskin notebook somewhere with them all detailed. Then adulting happened: loan payments…mortgage…kids…a global pandemic. Let’s just say, we missed a few (well, a lot) of the steps I had intended us to take.
But in 2020—smack dab in the middle of the COVID world crisis—my husband was able to quit his job to become a full time craftsman for our business. I had already quit my “day job” to freelance for authors and have more time with our kids. Which means, even though my Big Detailed Marketing Plan didn’t unfold as was written, we still achieved the outcome we wanted.
How?
We didn’t grow our business perfectly, but we did it good enough. We found a way to prioritize our sanity without sacrificing all profit. We stopped believing the lie that being stretched too thin was the sign of a good work ethic. We adjusted some of our expectations while still holding on to our top non-negotiables.
Authors are my people. And I love helping them.
There are marketers out there who are employed by Fortune 500 companies and use confusing acronyms like B2C, ROI and AIDA. Who care so much about branding that they won’t rename their TV program even when the talent it was named for leaves the show!
I am not that person.
I am the woman living in the woods, writing her own novel while pondering the relevancy of 19th century literature. I am the woman who will tell you that overwhelm is an enemy of creativity. And who will insist that your first priority always be your “writer” hat—even if current publishing trends keep saying otherwise. Most importantly, I am the woman who will let you in on the big marketing secret: growth isn’t tied to hustling or expansion, it is tied to efficiency and consistency. And in my membership group, I help you discover what that means for you.