If you’re here, it’s because you know how important marketing is to be able to get your book into the hands of more dream readers (or you’re starting to come to that realisation).

However, book marketing for indie authors is a very different approach to traditional marketing methods (and by that, I’m not referring to a traditional publisher, but rather, traditional marketing in general).

What gets taught in the digital marketing space and in other industries is not so easily applicable for authors (and it makes complete sense that if you’re not a marketer in your day-to-day job, it makes no sense to you).

Statements like ‘what problem do you solve?’ are super helpful in service based industries, but not so much for authors who are just writing what’s on their heart to share.

Luckily, I’ve got a huge bank of podcast episodes that you can start binging immediately that will help you with a broad scope of book marketing ideas and knowledge, each one actually tailored towards indie authors. 

How do writers market their books?

If you’ve been in the publishing space for a while, you’ll know that authors do all kinds of things—from offering ARCs in exchange for reviews, to posting on social media, to running ads and more.

But the most important thing to remember is that it’s never one thing. It’s the accumulation of things that you do paired with the intentionality and consistency of the things that are working really well (which you can only really know through trial and error, because what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another).

And yes, I get that hearing that is really frustrating, but what that actually means is… all you really have to do for book marketing to work is:

1. Have a strategy that fits a goal that makes sense for where you’re at (maybe that’s growing your audience to it’s first 1000 readers, or maybe it’s getting established in enough places that people can start to discover you).
2. Tailor the actions you’re taking towards that goal, rather than trying to do everything or throwing spaghetti at the wall until it sticks.
3. Practise consistency of those actions, and have the intention to get better at them over time. You’re not going to start off creating amazing content or running successful ads, but with practise and consistency, you’ll eventually get really good at the action you’ve committed to.

As for knowing where to start, or what actions to take, or which goal to pick… here are some podcast episodes that can help you build your own strategy and put the pieces of the book marketing puzzle together.

Ep 7: The SJM Marketing Training

If there was any episode to start off with, it would be this one.

This episode gives you a THOROUGH breakdown of SJM’s rise to success.

Luck and connections aside, it walks you through tangible and actionable marketing actions you can take to build your audience, to build trust, and to build momentum for your books (that ANYONE can replicate, no matter how ‘known’ you already are for your books). And it breaks down WHY these actions work and the marketing psychology behind their success.

For a broad roadmap to your marketing goals and to be able to identify where you’re currently at on your publishing journey and what the next goal might look like, this is a FANTASTIC episode (plus, there’s a free, extended resource you can download to go with it!)

Ep 9: When You Don’t Have The Capacity or Time to Market Your Books

I strongly believe that time and energy are actually the two biggest problems any committed author faces when it comes to marketing.

It’s not so much the lack of knowledge (because if you’re resourceful and know how to use Google, you have endless ideas and guides at your fingertips). No, it’s actually the lack of time and emotional capacity to do it all properly and keep up with the marketing.

Sound familiar?

Well, this episode dives into how I managed to run a business (during a scaling phase), work a part time job, and release four books back to back in a single year and how I found the time and energy to make it all happen.

You’ll learn:

a.) The #1 mindset shift that helps even when you’re capped for time and struggling with low energy.

b.) How to set yourself up for success every week so that you actually do the book marketing things (rather than putting it off or letting things slip through the cracks).

c.) How to identify the ONE, needle moving book marketing action (rather than trying to do it all on side-hustle hours).

Ep 11: How to Create a Fandom Around Your Work

If there’s one asset that I consider to be the most important when trying to sell any product, it’s having an audience to sell to. Without an audience, you’re just shouting into the void and getting nothing back.

But building an audience is not the same thing as building a following on social media. An audience is actually engaged in your content, your offers, and your brand, and they have to be an ideal customer for your product (as opposed to a follower, who may rarely engage and never intends to buy).

In order to learn how to build an audience, I recommend listening to this podcast episode as it will teach you all about building a fandom around your work, including:

a.) Three simple ways to grow your audience.

b.) What’s missing if you already have followers, but these people aren’t buying from you.

c.) How to ensure your marketing isn’t boring your audience (and is actually attracting the right people to you!)

IMO, this episode is a must-listen for every author.

Ep 17: How I’ve Sold Books With An Audience of Less Than 200 People

This Bestseller Energy podcast episode breaks down how I sold books consistently with an audience of less than 200 people when I released my duology, Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters, back in 2022.

In this episode you’ll discover strategies that led to consistent, ongoing sales and why these things worked, including:

a.) How I built my audience from scratch with a brand new pen name (aka: how to build an audience if you’re a completely new, unestablished author in the publishing space).

b.) How I built sales experiences for the duology to engage my audience and build community, hype and anticipation.

c.) How I created a brand and community around the duology to create memorability and recognition.

This is a great episode to dive into if you’re embarking on your very first book launch, or you have a small audience and you want to maximise your book marketing results.

Ep 23: How to Reach More Readers

When I released my first book, Stuck on Vacation With Ryan Rupert, I sold less than 50 copies and quickly realised how important it was to have an audience prior to releasing my next book.

The thing was, I really saw myself writing for a global audience… and in reality, I could count how many people bought the book on both hands and track most of those sales back to my friends and family. Was it a good start? Sure. But was it what I’d envisioned? Not by a long shot.

Maybe you can relate. There’s no shame in admitting you want people outside of your friends and family to discover and read your work, and that’s what this episode is here to help you achieve.

Your missing piece here is a lack of discoverability and awareness. That’s why, contrary to the earlier episode on building a fandom, this episode focuses more on visibility strategies, including:

a.) How to speak to your ideal reader at different stages of the buyer journey, in order to warm them up to buy from you.

b.) Types of content that will go beyond your friends and family bubble, and bring readers back to your audience.

c.) How to leverage collaborations and utilise storytelling to boost your discoverability and brand awareness.

Ep 25: A Riff on Niching Down

One popular piece of marketing advice is to niche down in order to speed up your results, as this forces you to get more specific and clear in your marketing.

However, for writers who write across multiple genres, this can be challenging. So, in this episode, I answer the question… can you achieve a mass level of reach with your book without niching down? 

Tune in to learn about:

a.) The main benefits of niching down (why it works) and the #1 mistake I’d avoid if you choose not to niche down in your marketing.

b.) How to lead with your most popular creative work and then cross-sell readers into your lesser known work.

Ep 30: 4 Tweaks to Elevate Your Brand Perception

Something I did really well (even when all else failed) in the first 5 years of my author journey was build a personal brand around myself as a writer, which helped a lot of my early work get known.

This taught me a lot about branding yourself, including the power of branding in marketing and the importance of how your brand is perceived by readers. 

This Bestseller Energy episode reveals 4 simple tweaks you can start making today that will elevate your author (or book’s) brand and how you’re being perceived by ideal readers to increase your income, reach and overall book marketing results. You’ll discover:

a.) How to present your marketing to create an instant ‘know factor’ around who you are and what you do.

b.) The difference between being perceived as an ‘aspiring writer’ vs a ‘bookstagrammer’ vs a ‘professional author’.

c.) How to shift your language (and messaging) to instill confidence in future buyers and convey an established, professional energy. 

d.) Why pricing your book for cheap (or free) might actually lower the perceived value of your book and negatively impact your sales (and how to leverage positioning tactics and sell a reading experience to increase the perceived value of your book).

…and more (honestly, this episode has SO many great nuggets of wisdom!)

Ep 40: How to Reveal Your Book Cover

Your book cover is branding for your product, which is why I would never skip a book cover reveal.

Furthermore, like anything, if you don’t make your cover reveal an ‘event’ (in a sense that it’s bigger than posting it once and calling it a day), you may not get the maximum impact and reach you could get from it. And this is not an opportunity to be missed.

Until your book has a cover, it’s hard for people to visualise it as a real, tangible book they’ll eventually be able to hold. So revealing your cover at the right time, and in a way that builds anticipation and hype, is not only a great marketing tactic… but really important.

In this episode, I break down the step-by-step strategy for revealing your book cover (making this a great episode for any newbie authors out there!)

Ep 43: 5 Book Marketing Actions to Take This Week

Finally, if you want a quick week of marketing actions you can take immediately (this week) to kick you back into gear and start building a regular promotional habit, this episode is for you!

I share a DAILY action you can take (Monday to Friday) so that you don’t have to think too hard about how to market your book this week. The best part? These actions are easily repeatable and stackable, so you can do them over and over (and I would recommend it, in order to build a solid book promotion habit!)

P.S: Found this list helpful? Come over to my Instagram (it’s where I’m most active) and let me know which episode was your favourite!