10 Common book marketing mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Book marketing can feel like a full-time job when most writers just want to write books, not become part-time marketers, publicists and sales reps. But getting your work into the hands of readers does require effort, and a good plan helps avoid wasted time, money and tears over low sales.

Here are 10 common book marketing mistakes I see time and time again as an author and freelance marketing consultant.

Leaving it all until launch week

You’ve written the book, you’ve hit ‘publish’ (or your publisher has), and now it’s time to panic-post about it on social media. Sound familiar? Don’t leave it to the last minute and expect success. Instead, start warming up your audience before the book is out.

In-house, we call this ‘pre-awareness’. It starts with things like a cover reveal, then an extract, before moving to incentives to get readers to subscribe to newsletters and/or on social media. Plan out posts like behind-the-scenes and writing routines, let your readers know more about you before and after launch week.

Only marketing to other writers

We all love the support of the writing community, but fellow authors aren’t always your ideal readers. Get clear on who your reader actually is, for example, are they crime lovers? Fantasy fans? Mums who read on their Kindle after the kids go to bed? Or commuters who listen to audiobooks on the train to work? Find where they hang out and show up there, e.g., in newsletters, podcasts and TikToks etc.