Marketing for Not-New Authors

This blog post is written for authors like me (Chelsea): people who are losing steam with self-promotion. This isn’t about how to start marketing your book, but how to continue marketing your book.

I published a book four years ago. But, to be honest, it doesn’t feel as cool as it used to be. Don’t get me wrong: I’m proud to be an author! But the initial thrill of becoming an author wore off a few years ago, and my efforts to market my book have all but vanished.

There are many reasons for this. Promoting the same, single product over and over feels old. A growing distaste for social media keeps me from posting and engaging followers—or even logging in. My work as an editor has me focused on other people’s books, which means I don’t have much bandwidth to promote my own.

Unlike writing, editing, or design, marketing is a phase of book production that continues indefinitely after a book is published. Continual promotion ensures books will get into their target audience’s hands, and it’s on the author to spearhead the marketing (maybe with a little help from Inspira!).

While marketing can admittedly get tiring, there are plenty of ways to embrace being a not-new author with creativity and renewed energy! First of all, you need to know: your book matters. I have had to work through this personally myself. My own book is a travelogue from my year as a missionary one decade ago: it’s vulnerable, it describes circumstances I’m no longer navigating, and I fear it’s too juvenile to be a compelling piece of literature.

Arlyn Lawrence, founder of Inspira, is quick and adamant in telling authors (including me) that every book has an audience. It’s easy to assume our writing loses relevance over time as we and the world change, but that’s simply not true. The heart behind our writing has a way of coming through and authentically meeting our readers. Doggedly putting ourselves out there gives readers the chance to learn, connect, and be blessed by our hard work, whether we’re (currently) feeling “stoked” about it or not.

With that established, here are some ways to approach marketing when your book has already been out there for a while:

1. Seek out unique ways to promote your book. Is there a farmers market, church function, or craft fair that would welcome a local author? Do you have any favorite podcasts that are looking for guests?

2. Resurrect that email list. An email list is one of the most powerful ways authors connect with their readers. If it’s been a while since you wrote, send out a nice, big “Hello again!” to your readers: they’ll be happy to hear from you!

3. Get your book on alternative platforms. One popular one is Good Reads; a simple Google search will turn up others.

4. Find relevant opportunities to mention your book on social media or to release a new press release. Is the a “National Something-Something Day” that coincides with the theme of your book? Perhaps there is a breaking news headline that deals with something you wrote about in your book. Look for opportunities to make your book the answer to, or an example of, something current.

5. Release your book in a new format, such as an e-book or audiobook.

6. Donate copies of your book to local libraries. They often have “local author” sections.

7. Write another book! Yes, it is a proven fact that when an author writes a new book, there is always an uptick in sales on their previous books!

Happy marketing,
Chelsea Greenwood, author of Leave It All: The Journal of a Maybe Missionary