Hidden Hazard: Do I Really Need to Market My Book?
Most authors don't want to market their work, but there is opportunity hidden in that process.
Adapted from our guide, 7 Hidden Hazards of Publishing for Authors - Available as a free eBook on BookFunnel
Do I really need to market my book?
Short answer: Yes.
We know from experience that it can be challenging, even frightening, for an author to labor over their story’s every detail, finally cross the finish line, then suddenly have to play salesperson. The difficult reality is that for the past few decades, more responsibility has been gradually placed on the author to promote their own work and build success for a publisher, along with themselves.
Then, if you are an indie writer, all of that risk falls on you. It’s up to you, not a publisher’s marketing team, whether your book finds its audience or fades into obscurity.
Yes, it’s scary. But what if I told you this is good news?
Yes, I mean it.
Here’s why: More responsibility means more agency. You get more power to decide how far your book will go. Your success doesn’t need to depend entirely on the competence or whims of the publishing house and its employees, or a marketing team that may run into scheduling issues or struggle to prioritize your book and dozens of others they’re ushering to the shelves this year.
That responsibility can be scary. But I’ll request one thing from you: please don’t shrink back from trying anyway. You finished a book, after all! Only a small minority of people ever get to that stage. You have already shown far more capability, persistence, and creativity than most people give themselves the chance to express. That deserves a pat on the back.
Have you ever heard “a failure to plan is a plan to fail”? It’s true. If you’re not laying out a plan to market your book, it’s going to sink. Your crowd of readers will stay small, and that hard work won’t reach the people you want to read it.
Even if you’re not interested in making a living at writing, you should at least sell enough so you are compensated for the time and energy invested into the project. For those kinds of sales, you’re going to need a marketing plan.
There’s more good news: You don’t need to do this alone. We have great resources to help authors with their own marketing at BelieversBookServices, and here are some more resources to help you get started:
I just read through this- thank you so much for the resources! I’ve been working on a couple of horror-thriller projects to eventually have an anthology of stories to publish. I didn’t even know there was a whole author’s convention in my own city year after year! Thank you so much!