Publishing is slow to change, but when it does, it happens quickly. That’s why publishing terminology is so confusing! For the longest time, “indie” publishing meant any option that’s not traditional (independent from The Big Five Publishers). Then randomly one day, “indie” is changed to mean strictly self-published.

When did that happen? Honestly, I don’t know. My head is still spinning.

So let’s break down the publishing options together. For a more in-depth breakdown of all the publishing options, puts out “The Key Book Publishing Paths” every year with updated definitions. I highly recommend taking a look once you’re done with this post!

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Traditional Publishing

When we think of traditional publishing, we usually think of The Big Five, AKA Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan. Each has dozens of smaller imprints under their bigger company umbrella, but these are the biggest players with the most contacts across the industry.

However, there are more traditional publishers in the game than just those five. In fact, there are lots. It’s important to remember that traditional publishing is a model, not a list of companies.

A traditional publishing model is defined by the publisher taking the financial risk. The author does not pay for publishing, but instead goes through a lengthy acquisitions process and, if selected, sells the rights to their book to the publisher who then works with that author (to varying degrees) to produce, distribute, and market the title.

Other types of traditional publishers outside of The Big Five are university publishers (ex. Princeton University Press), academic publishers (ex. Wiley), and mid-size publishers (ex. Kensington).

Some traditional publishers will pay an advance1 for those book rights (usually around $5-10k or more), but some won’t pay any advance. Instead, they may have the author sign away the rights of their book for free publication in exchange for a higher royalty rate going to the publisher.

The royalty rate is usually pretty low for the author, because they’re not paying anything to the publisher.

The main benefits of traditional publishing are that it’s free (not counting the author’s time and efforts), sometimes you’ll get a hefty advance, the book will have greater credibility with some audiences with the publisher’s name on the spine, and you’ll get knowledgeable support from a robust team.

The biggest downsides to traditional publishing are that it’s exclusive and hard to break into (you have to either know someone who knows someone, or be really ok with rejection), you likely have to query your book with agents first and then pay them a cut of your advance, you lose the rights to your book and along with it, the final say on title, cover, etc., and you may not get the marketing support you want. In fact, unless you’re a big name on their front list, you’re probably getting minimal marketing.

Indie or Self-Publishing

We’re moving next to the most popular and most abundant form of publishing: Independent or “Indie” Publishing.

As mentioned in the intro above, indie used to mean any publishing outside of traditional, but more recently, it’s taken to mean self-publishing specifically.

This is when an author takes on the entire financial risk of publishing, navigating the whole process—writing through distribution and promotion—themselves, hiring freelancers and small companies for support as needed.

Some talented individuals are able to do it all solo—DIY style. They write the book, design the cover, edit, upload to a print-on-demand (POD) distribution site, and then market entirely on their own. I am in awe of the individuals who can do this successfully. Truly. If this is you, please leave a comment with the name of your book so I can take notes.

Most indie authors will hire an editor, designer, or marketing somewhere along the way. There are indie publishers that offer a variety of a-la-carte services, like BookBaby and Bowker. They work by charging a fee per service, and the author selects which services, and goes from there. Sometimes, they will publish the book under their own name, sometimes, the author will publish it under their own imprint. It’s case-by-case.

Back when self-publishing first became a thing, the quality was low and readers and booksellers were snobby about buying POD. Nowadays, the quality has gotten significantly better and it’s a viable option for any writer.

The main pros are low to no costs, full control creatively and otherwise, and 100% royalties. The cons are low to no credibility, identifying and hiring your own team, and, of course, the time sink. Indie publishing will eat up all your free time and be really confusing to top it off.

Hybrid Publishing

Hybrid is exactly what it sounds like: a mix of indie and traditional publishing. A hybrid publisher will have some traditional characteristics, and some indie characteristics, varying publisher to publisher.

Most hybrid publishers will opt for a more exclusive acquisitions process. They may be open to un-agented authors, but they may require a quality check and mandate a certain level of editorial before agreeing to work with you.

Usually, the author retains the rights to their book, but they pay the publisher for their services and still split the royalties to some degree. Authors will get much higher royalties from hybrid than traditional.

Hybrid does get pricey. Because you’re paying for the full publishing experience and support, this option will run you anywhere from $10k-$80k, on average landing around $40k.

That being said, you will retain full creative control and have experts to support you along the way, adding credibility and quality in most cases. It’s much more accessible than traditional, but more expensive than indie.

Each hybrid publisher works differently, so I can’t say with certainty what the pros and cons are as a whole. Some will lean more indie (Glass Spider Publishing), and others will lean more traditional (Greenleaf Book Group). Overall, you’re maintaining control but paying a pretty penny.

Regardless of which publishing route you pick, take a moment to be proud of yourself for even having a manuscript to publish! You’ve done the hard part, now share it with the world whatever way makes the most sense for you.

I hate to tell you this, but that email you got with intimidate details about your book, offering you special placement in ___, is probably a scam. It probably wasn’t even written by a human. Spam/Scam emails are nothing new, but AI has meant higher quality emails targeting authors.

If you’re not sure if that email is real, ask yourself: How did they find you and/or your book? If they didn’t mention specifically how they discovered your book, then proceed with caution.

If you’re still unsure, check out these red flags to protect yourself and your marketing dollars.

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They’re Trying Too Hard to Sell You

Why are they giving you so many details about your own book in their email? Why are they heaping so much praise on you right off the bat? Answer: A bot probably wrote the pitch.

With all this new AI technology, scammers are just scouring the internet for new indie releases and having bots write up summaries and pitches for whatever service they’re trying to sell.

The honest truth is, real book marketers and publicists don’t have time to do their own outreach to authors. We’re too busy doing outreach on behalf of our authors.

In fact, independent book marketers and publicists can be hard to find and are usually so inundated with requests from authors that unless you reach out to them, you are not on their radar.

When you are talking to someone—an actual person on a call—about book promotion, make sure they’re not just singing your praises or trying desperately to sell you on their work or service. You want someone who is honest and knows what they’re doing over someone who is just screaming empty promises into your inbox.

A real expert will tell you what you shouldn’t spend your money on as well as what you should.

They Ask for Money Right Away

Speaking of money, including prices in an initial pitch email is a big no-no.

In my experience, most publishing freelancers will request a call with the author before sending any prices for a number of reasons:

1. They want to make sure the author and the book are a good fit for them and vice versa before committing

2. They want to set expectations for what is and isn’t achievable

3. They want to learn more about your goals and come up with customized recommendations

4. They may be willing to adjust their prices or offer additional discounts for one reason or another

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for marketing your book, so getting a custom proposal is going to be the standard operation. If someone is trying to bypass getting to you know you and your project before collecting your money, something isn’t right.

They Promise Quantity

Whenever an author tells me that someone has promised them a certain number of book sales or reviews, I cringe. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, I can do to make someone buy or review your book.

Outside of extremely illegal and immoral methods (think blackmail and threats of physical violence), the only things anyone can do to encourage sales and reviews include:

• Making your book more discoverable

• Increasing your reach

• Adding credibility to your brand

• Raising awareness for your book and brand

Sometimes, a less experienced professional will promise that they will pitch your book until you have a certain number of events, sales, or reviews. That means they are on the hook until they reach that magic number they promised. What happens when they run out of contacts? What happens if that number is unreasonable or something in the world (ahem, COVID) changes and the media landscape shifts? A lot of apologizing and refunding on that professional’s part is what happens.

What many professionals will do instead is promise a certain amount of outreach and follow-up or maybe be on retainer for a certain amount of time. We can promise time and effort, but we can never guarantee results.

They Promise Quality

On that same note, unless your marketing professional is best friends with the editor, they cannot guarantee you placement in the New York Times, or any other major publication.

They also cannot guarantee you the quality of reviews or the ratings your book will receive. At some point, the quality of your work really will speak for itself. Reviewers are brutally honest. If your book is getting 3 out of 5 stars consistently, then it’s probably a 3-star book—and that’s ok! It means you have things to work on as a writer and your next book will be better.

Your marketing team may be able to adjust their targeting efforts to make sure they’re reaching the right demographic for your book, but ultimately, your team isn’t writing those reviews.

If someone promises you a certain amount of 5-star reviews, they’re probably having bots write those reviews, and Amazon and Goodreads will find out and they will wreak havoc on your book’s page. It’s not worth it, trust me.

And press coverage is considered earned coverage. If someone tries to sell you a NYT review, they’re probably passing off an ad placement as a review on the sly. Sneaky, and dishonest.

They Don’t Feature Real People

Who is writing you? Is this a real person, or is it AI? Take a look at their website URL. Most website URLs end in “.com”, “.co”, or “.org”. If the website URL ends in “.ai” and it isn’t specifically promoting a new AI tech advancement, then it’s fishy.

Check the website of anyone that pitches you and see if they have an about page for their team. There should be at least one bio and photo on the website that proves there is a real person doing real work.

Also check to make sure the names in the bios on the website match the names of the people emailing you. It’s a little weird if Stacy isn’t listed on the website but has followed-up about her proposal 6 times in as many days, no?

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It’s disheartening to see so many dishonest people out there, but I promise, there are real people too. Trust your gut and do your research before giving anyone your hard-earned money. Stay safe out there, authors!

Alright, you’ve done the hard part of writing the book. Maybe you’ve even gotten through the tormenting rounds of editorial and production as well. Pat yourself on the back!

This is the fun part, folks.

Now that the book is ready, you can start sharing it with the world and getting feedback—exciting if you ask me!

But did you know there is more than one type of review you should be seeking out for your book? If not, deep breaths. I’ve got you! Here’s a quick overview of the 4 types of book reviews: what they are, when they’re important, how to get them, and how to use them.

Endorsements

Endorsements are early reviews from notable, relevant individuals in your field that you then promote on your book cover, in an interior praise section of your book, on your website, and in your marketing materials.

Publishers encourage authors to begin making a list of potential endorsers first thing after signing a contract and begin outreach as early as possible. This will allow them to incorporate those reviews into the final version of your book.

I’ll likely publish a whole piece on endorsements specifically, but the key is to reach out to people with notable names or titles that can speak to the book’s merits. This doesn’t mean you should reach out to Oprah or Keanu Reeves necessarily (though, hey, shoot for the moon!). Instead look for comparable authors with similar themes/takeaways, professionals with titles related to your book’s topics (ie. therapist for self-help, teacher for kid’s book, marketing director for business). If you already have some sort of connection with the person, you’re more likely to hear back from them, so fill your list with as many warm leads as possible before beginning cold outreach to strangers.

Start by asking them if they have the time to endorse your book and include a description to entice them. If they say yes, then send the most up-to-date version of the manuscript you have. They know it’s not the final copy so they’re expecting typos. Give them a deadline to get the endorsement back to you. Ideally, we’re looking for 2-4 sentences about why it’s a good book and who would benefit from reading it.

The strategy behind endorsements is to reach your target audience beyond your existing network. When you promote your endorsements, readers who recognize the name are more likely to pick up the book. The hope is also that the endorser will also share their endorsement to their network once the book is released so that their audience can consider buying a copy for themselves.

Key endorsements can sometimes add credibility to the book in the eyes of booksellers and media on top of everything else.

You can never have too much credibility for your book and brand!

Trade Reviews

You may have also heard of these referred to as industry reviews. These are reviews from trusted publishing industry review sites such as:

• Kirkus Reviews

• Foreword Reviews

• Publishers Weekly (PW)

• Booklist

• Library Journal

• IndieReader

• etc.

Some are paid (like IndieReader), some are free, and other have both free and paid options depending on which publishing path you’ve chosen.

For traditional and (some) hybrid books, you can submit an advanced review copy (ARC) for free consideration to Kirkus, Foreword, PW, and Library Journal 3-6 months in advance of publication. If you don’t hear back or are declined, you can always pay for a review as well.

For indie authors and those not accepted through free submission, you can pay for professional reviews from most at any point during the publication process, as long as you have a book for them to look at.

These reviews are usually overlooked by readers but they’re essential for librarians and booksellers. Overwhelmed by the thousands of books published every day, librarians and booksellers rely on these trusted sources for what they should consider bringing onto their shelves. Some libraries require that a book has received a certain number of trade reviews before they’ll even take a look at it. Trade reviews help them sort through the chaos for the gems.

If you receive a positive trade review, I recommend listing the full review on your author website, and picking a sentence or two to highlight in your marketing materials and maybe even on your book’s cover.

Media Reviews

Similar to trade reviews, media reviews come from, well, you guessed it, local and national media. This can include reviews in your local newspaper all the way to tv interviews about the book.

The goal is credibility for the book and your author brand as well as greater visibility with key audiences.

Most authors interested in traditional media (tv and print) will hire a publicist to take care of this for you. Authors interested in digital media can also reach out themselves to local news sites, alumni publications, and relevant niche newsletters and magazines for coverage. For these reviews, you will have to wait until the book is all the way through editorials because they will call out an error-ridden read.

You can list these media hits on your website and call them out on your social media and in your marketing materials.

I recommend media coverage mostly for my nonfiction authors looking to use their books to garner new customers or clients for their businesses. It’s very rare for a fiction book to be picked up by the media unless it’s already gone viral through consumer reviews. Speaking of which…

Reader Reviews

Sometimes, publishers will also call these consumer reviews. Really, all we mean is a review from someone who has read your book.

This is the #1 most important type of review for all authors of all genres.

Let me ask you, when you’re choosing your next book, do you look up reviews on Goodreads, StoryGraph, or Amazon? When you do, are you more likely to pick the book with 5k positive reviews, or the book with 15 positive reviews.

Reader reviews influence purchasing decisions.

Amazon actually recommends 15 reviews of 3 stars or higher during the month of publication and 5 additional reviews of 3 stars or higher each month after to start. A big ask for indie authors!

Not only do reader reviews educate purchases, but they also tell retail algorithms that your book is relevant and teach them how they should be promoting it using key words and consumer data.

Goodreads is the #1 book review site, so really push readers there, but it’s also important to have readers sharing their honest feedback on social media, retail sites like B&N and Amazon, and through word-of-mouth to friends and family.

You can also call out particularly good reviews on your own socials and in your marketing materials.

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Until next time, fellow bibliophiles, happy reading!

I feel I should preface by saying that Bookshop.org is in no way affiliated with this post. It’s just a fact that bookstores hate Amazon, and therefore, authors should use other retail links when pitching for distribution and events.

I’m always shocked when authors who are also avid readers don’t know about the Amazon vs. Indie hostility. It seems so obvious to anyone working in publishing and/or bookselling why booksellers would abhor the giant undercutting prices and taking away valuable sales and loyal customers.

My own loathing of Amazon aside, let’s look at the overall situation and dive into best practices for authors moving forward.

Amazon vs. Everyone Else

It’s no secret that most book sales come from Amazon. In fact, in 2020 the House Judiciary Committee states that “Amazon controlled more than 50 percent of the overall (online and offline) print book market and more than 80 percent of the e-book market.”

So obviously, there’s a competition grudge. Amazon takes away sales from your local bookstore, which leads to less income in general for the store. And running a bookstore is not cheap, so every sale counts.

To add insult to injury, Amazon doesn’t even need the sale to survive. In fact, Amazon operates as a loss-leader, meaning that they are willing to discount and price books so low, that they lose money on each sale. Why would they do that? Well, simply put, they make more money on your Prime subscription and other sales. They’re willing to give books away for practically nothing to keep you logged in and buying more through them.

Barnes & Noble and other bookstores can’t possibly compete with Amazon pricing because they need to make money on each sale to continue operating.

It doesn’t help matters that Amazon regularly schedules deals and promotions at the same time as indie bookstore holidays and events. Rude.

Indie Bookstore Attitudes

As you can see above, there is no love left to lose between booksellers and Amazon. Many booksellers not only actively boycott Amazon and its affiliates (including Goodreads), but they encourage others to do so as well. The American Bookseller Association actually runs whole campaigns with designed assets, social media posts, and more to educate readers about Amazon’s harmful practices.

Actually, let’s talk about Goodreads for a moment. Goodreads is a social media app designed for book readers to keep track of their to-be-read (TBR) lists and book reviews. You can follow friends and family to see what they’re reading as well. It’s the most popular site for those looking for social proof in the form of reader reviews. It’s also owned by Amazon.

That’s why you’ll see that a lot of more politically active readers and industry professionals use other reading tracking platforms like StoryGraph and Fable.

The hatred for Amazon runs so deep in booksellers, that many will actually shun those who regularly use or promote links from the giant. Including authors.

Best Practices for Authors

What does that mean for authors? Should they stop using Amazon at all?

Alas, most book sales do come from Amazon, so it’s rarely an option for an author to avoid it entirely. That being said, authors can still make small changes to their branding to get off on the right foot with bookstores.

Don’t Use Amazon Links When Pitching

It’s common practice to just grab your book’s Amazon URL when hyperlinking in an email. Do it once and then just copy and paste from the template for every pitch moving forward.

Bad move.

When asking for something from a bookstore, like an event, signing, or space on their shelves, it’s best not to send them their nemesis’ link. They will notice, and they will block you.

Instead, look up your book’s link on Bookshop.org and use that instead.

Bookshop.org is the independent response to Amazon that came to life over COVID. There was no easy way to shop brick-and-mortar bookstores when the world shut down, so a lot of readers switched to Amazon for their book needs. Easy peasy and much more navigable than most bookstore websites. To fight back, Bookshop.org was born and indie bookstores could sign up for affiliate accounts to use bookshop’s sales systems to sell their print inventory. They also get a good chunk of overall proceeds from all sales through the site.

Bookshop.org is just as easy to search and shop and any book published through Ingram or IngramSpark will automatically show up there. Bonus: authors can create their own affiliate accounts and use that link to their book to earn affiliate income on top of royalties for each sale.

Add All Your Books’ Retail Links to Your Author Website

When creating your author website, make sure you’re listing all of your books’ retail links, not just Amazon. Bookstores will actually visit your site and check! This means listing:

• Bookshop.org

• Barnes & Noble

• Amazon

• any bookstore stocking your book

Give your readers options for where to buy your book. Readers are a very loyal crowd. If they don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription, they probably pay for a Barnes & Noble membership and will shop there exclusively for books. If they don’t shop at Amazon or B&N, they probably have a blood bond with their local indie bookseller. Truly, the most opinionated and loyal people I know are readers.

Promote Reviews from Readers Outside of Goodreads and Amazon

When talking about your book, it’s easy to pull a review from Amazon or Goodreads to show social proof. “Look, other people like my book so you might too!” It’s a good practice. There’s just no need to limit oneself to those sites.

Like I mentioned above, many readers will post reviews on other platforms like StoryGraph, Fable, LibraryThing, etc. Throw some of those in when you promote your book. You can also search your book title on social media sites and repost those reviews to help with credibility.

As I take a much needed mental break in a quiet corner of the conference center at ALA 2026 in Chicago, I’m contemplating which of my authors I’ll recommend for next year.

This is only my second year in attendance, and my first as a solopreneur. Last year, I was graciously invited to attend with one of my publishers and professional allies, Broad Book Group, to help man their booth. This year, I’m a free agent navigating the crowded aisles and completing lap after lap around the exhibit floor.

For those unfamiliar with the conference, the American Library Association (ALA) puts on a huge conference for libraries each year for one weekend in a different major city. Last year, it hit Philadelphia. This year, Chicago. Next year, New Orleans. It’s attended by librarians, authors, booksellers, educators, students, publishing professionals, trade publications, and more, but the target audience is made up of librarians and educators. It hosts a number of events, panels, talks, and workshops related to the library sciences, but the biggest draw is the exhibit floor.

The exhibit floor is the whole reason to attend ALA.

Every year, ALA floods the biggest conference hall the city can provide and sets up hundreds of booths for authors and publishers to tout their frontlists. It’s a maze of colorful displays, author signings, bookish paraphernalia, and, of course, books. Stacks and stacks of books. For free. Hence the plethora of branded totes, suitcases, and a booth run by USPS to help ship your haul home.

The Short Answer

Is ALA worth it? If you’re a reader and lover of books, it’s a resounding yes.

For around $200 (travel, lodging, and food not included), attendees have access to the grand exhibit hall and can load up on as much merch and advanced reader copies (ARCs) as their arms can carry. Last year, because ALA was hosted by my city, I wrangled just under ten full to bursting tote bags in a little over two days. This year, I’m having to be more selective and am limiting myself to two since I’ll have to pay to ship them home (still cheaper than paying for an extra carry-on, which most attendees do).

As a publishing professional and bibliophile, I have more than made up for the cost of the ticket with free books and client networking.

Should You Get a Booth?

This is the big question I hope to help answer for my authors out there.

The popular genres represented at ALA are children’s, middle grade, graphic novels, YA, and adult fiction. This makes sense as they’re the genres most library patrons are devouring on a regular basis. That being said, there are tables and booths run by nonfiction publishers, artists, zine makers, and authors of all genres. They even have a whole part of the hall dedicated to “Artist Alley” and “Indie Publishers.”

The indie authors lining the tables along the wall of the hall have their books featured prominently and typically offer them for sale unlike the bigger publishers. This makes sense because the author has the cover the costs of printing and lugging their copies to the conference along with the attendance and booth fees (anywhere from $500-3k). They tend to get fewer visitors to their corners and have to work much harder for interactions with attendees.

For Authors Considering a Booth

If you’re an introvert, I do not recommend a booth.

While attendees can zip in and out of crowds, avoiding eye contact and darting up to tables to nab books, those attached to a booth have a lot of smiling and self-promotion ahead of them.

For authors with publishers in attendance, you can ask them to put your book out and even get them to set up a signing on your behalf. Your work is then to smile and sign books while a line of interested librarians snake around the exhibits.

For the brave DIY authors out there, I would recommend printing some swag that you can hand out in lieu of a book if you’re not able to give them out for free. Bookmarks, stickers, and pins do especially well while other authors have had luck selling illustration prints and offering raffles. If you’re able to afford seeding your book for free consideration with the library market, I recommend anywhere from 30-60 books depending on how well your genre fits the bill. Make sure to smile, set up for browsing, and have an elevator pitch at the ready.

BAlso, bring a couple tote bags and allow yourself browsing breaks. A massive water bottle for hydration would not be amiss either.

With so much to see and do, will I see you next year at ALA? Who knows, maybe I’ll be at the booth next to you.

Any and every author needs a culmination of all three to succeed, but many make the mistake of limiting their promotional efforts to one, maybe two, most often marketing and publicity.

I’ll admit, it took me a bit to get them all straight when I got going at the beginning of my career, but it’s now the #1 topic discussed in my consultations. Luckily for my authors, that means I have a nifty little spiel to help lay it all out.

Branding (owned media)

The easiest mistake to make is thinking that a book is the end-all-be-all of an author’s brand. It’s actually the author themselves. Everything they create falls under their name. This is why we recommend author website urls should be a variant of their name and not their book title, lest they end up with half a dozen websites to keep up with and control. Within their brand are their many owned creative elements: website, book, social media accounts, newsletters, etc. An author’s brand is what their target audience invests in with their time, money, comments, and likes. It’s what they engage with and subscribe to to learn more and keep up with new projects and releases.

Building a solid brand is every author’s first and most important job (outside of writing the books that make them an author—which is still part of branding!). Marketing without a brand is like trying to organize books without a shelf. They just fall into the void and get lost in the mess of our modern world.

Publicity (earned media)

Publicity is what most people think of when they think of promotion. Back in the day, it used to be book reviews in newspapers and interviews on TV. To this day, I still have authors tell me that their dream is to be on Oprah (I’m so sorry to tell you that Oprah is no longer talking about books on TV). And yes, traditional media publicity is still a worthwhile goal for some authors, especially with the growth of podcasts and social media influencers. What gets overlooked are book reviews from consumers.

The primary goal of publicity is to add credibility to your overall author brand and its elements. That means we need other people to talk about the author and their book. Any author who has ever asked anyone in publishing what they should do to promote their book will say the answer is a universal resounding, “Ask for reviews!” When deciding between books, do you lean towards the book with five reviews on Goodreads, or the one with 500? What if there was another with 5k? We trust readers and their feedback more than we might think. Reader reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, StoryGraph, and other reader platforms and retail sites are essential for getting your book bumped up in search results and encouraging purchasing decisions.

Social media posts from influencers, podcast interviews, online articles/blog posts/reviews, and more traditional print media are secondary and tertiary goals to racking up reader reviews. It’s case by case whether or not I recommend outreach for my authors at all.

Marketing (paid media)

Now that the author has carved out space for their brand and earned social proof for it in the form of reviews, how do readers find it?

Otherwise known as advertising, marketing is visibility for your brand. Every time I hear it, the saying about how many impressions (views) are needed for sales changes. It’s typically somewhere between 5-15 impressions per sale. Advertising is a quick way to get your brand in front of as many eyeballs as possible in a short period of time. The trick is making sure to get in front of the right eyeballs; the eyeballs attached to the people most likely to buy and enjoy your book. Stay tuned for the riches in niches rant in another article.

Overlapping the Three

Without a brand to engage with, authors can’t build an audience of dedicated readers. Without publicity, that brand is one of millions and more likely to get overlooked or ignored. Without marketing, it’s unlikely anyone will be able to find your brand at all.

They also feed into each other. Brand content adds to what publicity can talk about. Publicity gives authors content to share in their branding and quotes to use in marketing. Marketing increases impulse purchases which can lead to more reviews and word-of-mouth publicity for your brand.

It’s a vicious cycle I encourage authors to take full advantage of for the best chance of success.