Know Yourself Before You Market Yourself as an Author
There is a question I think every author should answer before deciding which social media platforms to use, how often to post, whether to start a newsletter, or what kind of marketing plan to create.
Who are you as an author?
Not your genre.
Not your follower count.
Not your author bio.
You.
Why do you write?
What matters to you?
What kind of relationship do you want to have with readers?
What do you want your work to contribute to the world?
We spend an enormous amount of time teaching authors what they should do to market themselves and almost no time asking whether any of those things actually make sense for the person doing them.
I think that's backwards.
Before you market yourself, you need to know yourself.
There Is No Universal Author Marketing Plan
One of my biggest objections to formulaic marketing is the assumption that the same strategy should work for everyone.
Post this many times.
Create these kinds of videos.
Build an email list.
Use these platforms.
Follow this launch formula.
Do what this successful author did.
But authors aren't interchangeable.
Neither are books.
A novelist who spends years constructing imaginary worlds isn't necessarily going to connect with readers the same way a physician writing about health will.
A poet may have an entirely different relationship with language and audience than a business leader writing about decades of professional experience.
A memoirist may need boundaries around what they share publicly that another author doesn't.
And two people writing exactly the same kind of book can still be completely different human beings.
Why would we expect all of them to market the same way?
Start With Who You Are as a Person
Before you think about your author platform, think about your life.
What makes you tick?
What are you naturally curious about?
What kinds of conversations could you have for hours?
Where do you feel most comfortable?
How do you connect with people when no one is telling you that you're supposed to be marketing something?
Some people walk into a room and immediately start conversations.
Others would much rather sit across from one person and have a thoughtful exchange.
Some people enjoy being photographed and filmed.
Others express themselves far better on the page.
Some people are wonderful teachers.
Some are storytellers.
Some are observers.
Some are interviewers.
Some build communities.
Some make people laugh.
Some ask wonderful questions.
All of those are ways of connecting.
And connection is where I believe good marketing begins.
Then Ask Who You Are as an Author
Being an author adds another layer.
Why do you do this work?
That's not always an easy question.
Maybe you write because you have stories you can't imagine not telling.
Maybe you're trying to make sense of something you've experienced.
Maybe you've spent decades developing expertise and want to leave some of that knowledge behind.
Maybe you want children to see themselves in stories.
Maybe you're fascinated by history.
Maybe you create worlds because imagination is where you feel most alive.
Maybe you're trying to change the way people think about something.
Whatever the answer is, pay attention to it.
The reason you write can tell you a great deal about how you should talk about your work.
Your Marketing Should Feel Like an Extension of Your Work
I think this is where authors sometimes get lost.
They spend months or years creating something that feels deeply connected to who they are and then, when it's time to market it, suddenly adopt a completely different personality.
The writing is thoughtful.
The marketing becomes loud.
The book is nuanced.
The marketing becomes gimmicky.
The author is naturally private.
The marketing plan requires them to share their life constantly.
The work took years.
The marketing strategy is built around whatever happens to be trending this week.
No wonder authors find marketing exhausting.
There's a disconnect between the person who created the book and the person they're being told they need to become in order to sell it.
I don't think that disconnect is necessary.
Your marketing can sound like you.
It can move at a pace you can sustain.
It can focus on subjects you genuinely care about.
It can happen in places where you actually enjoy spending your time.
It can respect your boundaries.
And it can still be effective.
You Don't Have to Become an Influencer
This is especially important now because authors can easily confuse having an online presence with becoming an online personality.
Those aren't the same thing.
You don't have to turn every breakfast, vacation, family moment, opinion, or private experience into material for your author platform.
You don't have to perform your life to prove that you're accessible.
You don't have to chase attention for attention's sake.
You need to give readers meaningful ways to discover you and your work.
For one author, that might include social media.
For another, it might be speaking.
For another, essays.
For another, podcasts.
For another, literary events, classrooms, professional associations, book clubs, libraries, community organizations, or conversations around the subject of the book.
Usually it will be some combination.
The important thing is that the combination makes sense for you.
Pay Attention to What Gives You Energy
This may be one of the simplest ways to begin.
Notice what happens after you do different kinds of marketing.
Do you leave an event energized because you enjoyed talking with readers?
Do you enjoy podcast interviews because conversation helps you articulate ideas you hadn't fully formed yet?
Do you find yourself looking forward to writing your newsletter?
Do you enjoy photographing the places that inspired your novel?
Do you like visiting book clubs?
Those are clues.
Pay attention to the opposite as well.
If every video leaves you miserable, perhaps your entire marketing plan shouldn't depend on video.
If trying to post every day makes you resent your own book, something is wrong.
Marketing requires effort. I'm not suggesting that everything has to be easy or comfortable.
But there is a difference between stretching yourself and continually forcing yourself to perform in ways that feel completely unnatural.
Authenticity Isn't a Marketing Tactic
The word authentic gets used so frequently in marketing that it can start to sound like another strategy.
Be authentic so people will engage.
That's not what I mean.
Authenticity isn't another technique for getting someone to buy something.
It's simply the absence of pretending.
Your readers don't need a perfectly constructed author persona.
They need enough of the real person behind the work to understand what you care about, what you create, and why they might want to spend time with your words.
That person will have quirks.
Interests.
Contradictions.
Opinions.
Curiosities.
Strengths.
Imperfections.
That's part of being human.
And books are profoundly human things.
Build an Author Life You Can Sustain
If you hope to write more than one book, this becomes even more important.
You're not creating a three-month marketing campaign.
You're building an author life.
There may be another book after this one.
And another after that.
Readers may encounter your work over many years.
So whatever relationship you create between yourself, your books, and your readers should be one you can imagine continuing.
That doesn't mean it won't evolve.
It should.
You will change. Your writing will change. Your readers may change. Technology will certainly change.
But the foundation doesn't have to.
Know what matters to you.
Know why you write.
Know how you naturally connect.
Then build outward from there.
Start With Yourself
Before you ask which platform you should be on, ask yourself where you actually enjoy connecting with people.
Before you ask what you should post, ask what you genuinely have to say.
Before you copy another author's strategy, ask whether you actually want the author career that strategy requires.
And before you worry about becoming good at marketing, remember what you're really trying to accomplish.
You're trying to help readers discover your work.
You don't need to become someone else to do that.
In fact, I think you'll be much better at it when you don't.
Continue the Conversation
Thank you for reading this blog post.
If you're writing, publishing, or thinking about what comes next for your book, there are several ways to continue exploring:
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