How to make influencer campaigns work harder for authors and publishers

Influencers are posting less, costs are increasing and the impact of influencer campaigns are decreasing...so what do we do?

As a publisher and freelance marketing consultant, I’ve seen firsthand how influencer marketing has shaped book success. However, the landscape is shifting - content creators are posting less, costs are rising, and the overall impact of influencer campaigns is waning. So, how do we make them work harder?

Whether you’re an independent author or a traditional publisher, you’ve likely witnessed the power of influencer marketing. When done right, it can catapult a book into the spotlight.

Take Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa - my award-winning marketing campaign which I would say was mostly driven by influencers. By strategically engaging the right content creators - and more importantly, re-engaging them - we generated immense word-of-mouth buzz, with endless content online that we were forever re-sharing and re-shaping to use in our campaign. It was thanks to this organic, influencer-focused campaign that Morisaki was one of 2023’s best-performing debuts, exceeding sales targets by five times within three months and being nominated for Best Debut at the British Book Awards.

But over the last year, I’ve noticed a troubling trend. Whether I send 10 books to influencers or 100, frequently up to 80% of recipients never post. And of the 20% of influencers that do post, most confine their content to fleeting Instagram Stories or a quick TikTok mention - offering little long-term visibility, which is often what my clients desire.

While I understand that influencers often share content for free and life can have an impact on posting schedules - from books going missing in the post, family matters, health, etc, all of which are entirely valid reasons for not sharing - it can be difficult to communicate this to wider parties.

All of this begs the question: are influencer campaigns worth it? And if so, how do we make them work harder for the author and publisher?

In short, I 100% believe they are worth it! But not as they currently stand. And I have a few ideas on how to innovate and make the most of influencer campaigns in a way that benefits all parties: publishers, authors and content creators.

But it means being open to change . . .