Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast

By Author Marketing Experts

Book marketing podcast for authors covering how to market a book, self-publishing, Amazon for authors, proven strategies to sell more books, and how to survive in this industry.

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How many episodes does Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 346 episodes available.

Best of Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: The 90-Minute Book Marketing Reset Every Author Needs This Fall
Fall has a sneaky way of turning perfectly reasonable authors into frantic marketers. Suddenly Q4 is here, holiday promotions are everywhere, Black Friday is looming, and it feels like you should be launching ads, pitching bookstores, posting more, discounting your book, growing your email list—and somehow doing all of it before Thanksgiving. We have a different suggestion: stop adding things and figure out what’s actually working. In this episode, Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell walk through a practical fall book marketing reset designed to help you finish the year strategically instead of throwing more time and money at tactics that aren’t producing anything. We’re digging into one of the biggest problems in book marketing: confusing activity with progress. Just because you’ve been doing something for months doesn’t mean you should keep doing it. And walking away from an ineffective strategy isn’t giving up—it’s good marketing. But how do you know what’s worth keeping? We talk about the signals authors should be watching for before the sales show up: genuine responses to pitches, bookstore and library interest, stronger engagement from the right readers, email activity, opportunities that begin opening up, and other signs that your positioning is starting to connect. Then we turn to one of the most important—and most overlooked—pieces of your fall marketing strategy: your Amazon book page. Because you can drive all the traffic in the world to a book, but if the retail page doesn’t build confidence and make the book easy to understand and buy, the rest of your marketing has to work twice as hard. And we’re giving you a simple 90-minute fall marketing audit you can do right now: 30 minutes to review. 30 minutes to eliminate. 30 minutes to reallocate. We’ll show you what to look for, what may be worth cutting, and how to choose just one to three smart experiments to run between now and the end of the year—without turning Q4 into a marketing free-for-all. Because sometimes the smartest thing you can do for your book isn’t more marketing. It’s better marketing. If this episode helps you rethink your fall strategy, subscribe to the show, share it with an author who may be heading into Q4 overwhelm, and leave us a review so more authors can find the podcast. Send us your feedback! Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over! 📱 Text Penny & Amy: Send your marketing questions, show feedback, and episode ideas. Text PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to join and get new episode alerts. Save our number! ⭐ Enjoying the show? Please follow the podcast and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help more authors discover the show! 💬 Don't use Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Email your review to [email protected] and we'll feature it on our website.
September 25, 202620min
Number 2: Getting Seen Isn’t Enough: What Makes Readers Actually Buy
You’re running ads. You’re posting. You landed a podcast interview. Maybe you even got some media coverage. So why aren’t more people buying the book? Because getting seen and getting chosen are two very different things. In this episode, we’re digging into one of the most misunderstood parts of book marketing: the gap between visibility and reader confidence. Authors are often taught to judge every marketing effort by one brutal question: Did it sell books? But readers rarely move that quickly. They notice a book, encounter it again, check the reviews, look at the author, read the description, hear a recommendation—and somewhere along the way, enough signals stack up that buying suddenly feels like an easy decision. That distinction matters, because a marketing campaign can be doing exactly what it should be doing long before the royalty report catches up. We’ll talk about why authors—especially newer authors or those still building an audience—can sabotage perfectly good marketing by abandoning strategies too quickly, chasing the next tactic, or assuming that visibility without an immediate sale equals failure. Then we break down the specific signals that make readers feel confident enough to buy. For fiction authors, that means immediately communicating genre, tone, emotional payoff, and reader expectations through your cover, positioning, book description, reviews, and overall presentation. If readers can’t quickly tell what kind of experience your book promises, even great visibility may not convert. For nonfiction authors, confidence looks different. Readers are asking: Why should I trust you with this problem? Your author bio, expertise, credentials, endorsements, media appearances, positioning, reviews, and consistency all help answer that question. And memoir has its own challenge. Readers may care deeply about your story—but the marketing still needs to communicate why that story matters to them. We discuss how to move beyond “this happened to me” and identify the emotional connection, insight, transformation, or takeaway that makes a stranger want to spend several hours inside your experience. We’ll also look at the marketing metrics authors routinely undervalue: meaningful engagement, reviews, newsletter growth, recommendations, repeat exposure, media mentions, and other indicators that reader confidence is building even before sales noticeably increase. Because successful book marketing isn’t about finding one magical tactic that instantly triggers a purchase. It’s about giving the right reader enough reasons to finally say, “Yes, this is the book I want.” If you’ve been marketing your book and wondering whether any of it is actually working, this episode will help you diagnose where the buying decision may be breaking down—and what to strengthen before you throw out your entire marketing plan. Subscribe to The Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast, share this episode with an author who needs to hear it, and leave us a review wherever you listen. Send us your feedback! Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over! 📱 Text Penny & Amy: Send your marketing questions, show feedback, and episode ideas. Text PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to join and get new episode alerts. Save our number! ⭐ Enjoying the show? Please follow the podcast and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help more authors discover the show! 💬 Don't use Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Email your review to [email protected] and we'll feature it on our website.
September 18, 202635min
Number 3: 20,000 Views. Three Book Sales. Here’s What Went Wrong.
Imagine spending $44,000 on a book launch and selling three books. Or generating 20,000 views and walking away with three preorders. Those aren’t hypothetical numbers—and they expose one of the biggest problems in book marketing right now: attention is not the same thing as buyer intent. Authors are constantly told they need more visibility, more followers, more views, more reach, more buzz. But what happens when all of those numbers go up…and book sales don’t? In this episode, we’re unpacking some eye-opening book launch stories and looking at what went wrong—not to pile on the authors involved, but because there are lessons here that every author needs to understand. We talk about why a massive audience can still be the wrong audience, why follower counts and video views can create a very expensive illusion of success, and why even traditionally published authors can get caught assuming that a big platform, a major publisher, or an expensive marketing campaign will automatically create demand. Because visibility only works when there’s a clear bridge between who is seeing your book and why they should care about it. We’ll dig into:Why reach without reader alignment rarely convertsThe difference between an audience and an actual book-buying audienceWhy launch month is far too late to start building reader interestWhat authors should really be asking when a marketing company promises impressive numbersThe reality of influencer campaigns—and when those big view counts actually matterWhy positioning, messaging, and reader relevance need to come before amplificationHow podcast guesting can create stronger, higher-trust visibility when the audience fit is rightAnd perhaps most importantly, we talk about the question authors should be asking before spending another dollar on marketing: Will this put my book in front of more people—or more of the right people? Because you can go viral. You can rack up thousands of views. You can have an enormous following. And you can still sell three books. If you’re ready to stop chasing impressive-looking numbers and start focusing on the marketing that actually gives readers a reason to buy, this episode is for you. Send us your feedback! Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over! 📱 Text Penny & Amy: Send your marketing questions, show feedback, and episode ideas. Text PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to join and get new episode alerts. Save our number! ⭐ Enjoying the show? Please follow the podcast and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help more authors discover the show! 💬 Don't use Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Email your review to [email protected] and we'll feature it on our website.
September 04, 202635min
Number 4: Bookstore Events Have Changed: What Authors Need to Know
Are Barnes & Noble author events going away? Not exactly. But the days of walking into a bookstore, asking for a signing, and expecting the store to supply the audience are rapidly disappearing—and that may actually be good news for authors who know how to create a compelling event. In this episode, we unpack what’s really happening with Barnes & Noble events and the much bigger shift taking place in bookstore marketing. Because bookstores still want authors. They still want events. What they increasingly don’t want is a table, a stack of books, and an author waiting for random shoppers to stop by. The question authors need to answer has changed from “Will you host me?” to “Why will people come?” And that distinction matters. We talk about why bookstores need authors to approach events as business partnerships rather than free promotional opportunities, what makes an event worth putting on the calendar, and why the traditional solo signing is often one of the weakest formats you can pitch. Then we get into what does work. For fiction authors, that might mean creating a multi-author genre night, themed reader event, or conversation that gives fans more than one reason to attend. For nonfiction authors, it could be a workshop, panel, demonstration, or locally relevant discussion tied to an issue your community already cares about. We also break down what belongs in a strong Barnes & Noble event pitch—including the piece far too many authors leave out: your plan for getting people there. That means local media, community calendars, book clubs, organizations, newsletters, social promotion, partnerships, and the local relationships you’ve already started building. And if Barnes & Noble isn’t saying yes yet? We explain why libraries, indie bookstores, book clubs, community organizations, and smaller venues can become the proof that makes the next bookstore much more willing to take a chance on you. Because local book marketing compounds. One successful event can lead to another. Booksellers talk. Librarians talk. Communities remember authors who show up prepared, promote professionally, and bring something worthwhile to the room. If bookstore events are part of your marketing plan, this episode will help you stop thinking like an author asking for space—and start thinking like an event partner a bookstore actually wants to work with. If you find this episode useful, subscribe, share it with an author who’s trying to land more bookstore events, and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Send us your feedback! Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over! 📱 Text Penny & Amy: Send your marketing questions, show feedback, and episode ideas. Text PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to join and get new episode alerts. Save our number! ⭐ Enjoying the show? Please follow the podcast and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help more authors discover the show! 💬 Don't use Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Email your review to [email protected] and we'll feature it on our website.
August 28, 202629min
Number 5: What’s In, What’s Out: The Book Marketing Edition
Every so often, book marketing needs a good cleanout. So in this episode, we’re doing our own book marketing “In & Out” list—the strategies, habits, and author expectations we’re happily carrying forward, and the ones we think need to be shown the door. And yes, we have opinions. Out: stuffing keywords everywhere they’ll fit. Trying to show up on every social media platform because someone told you that you “have to.” Obsessing over follower counts that look impressive but don’t necessarily sell books. Treating launch week like your one and only shot at success. And spending money on flashy marketing assets simply because they look like marketing. In: reader-first copy that actually sounds human. Clear book positioning. Choosing marketing channels based on where your readers are—not where everyone else is shouting the loudest. Building reviews, visibility, and word of mouth over time. Growing a newsletter and reader base you can bring with you from book to book. And making smarter decisions about where your time, energy, and budget will actually have an impact. We also tackle one of the biggest author-marketing myths: that more is always better. More posting. More platforms. More tactics. More noise. It isn’t. The goal isn’t to do everything. It’s to know which things matter for your book, your readers, and where you are in your publishing journey. We’ll also talk about why long-tail marketing deserves a permanent spot on the “in” list, why reader retention may matter more than chasing a one-week bestseller spike, and why simple, authentic author video can often do more for reader connection than an expensive book trailer. Consider this your permission slip to keep what works, ditch what doesn’t, and stop feeling guilty about all the marketing tactics you were never going to enjoy doing anyway. If the episode helps, subscribe, share it with an author friend, and leave us a review so more writers can find practical book marketing advice that actually fits the way readers discover and buy books today. Send us your feedback! Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over! 📱 Text Penny & Amy: Send your marketing questions, show feedback, and episode ideas. Text PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to join and get new episode alerts. Save our number! ⭐ Enjoying the show? Please follow the podcast and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your reviews help more authors discover the show! 💬 Don't use Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Email your review to [email protected] and we'll feature it on our website.
August 21, 202639min