Mark interviews Laurie Cooper, an award-winning speaker, and an author coach and marketing expert, who helps fiction authors go from struggling, feeling invisible and not knowing what to do next, to finding and connecting with their ideal readers.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

Learn more about Toronto Indie Author Conference 2025 here.

In their conversation, Mark and Laurie talk about:

• The round-about way that Laurie got into the role of becoming a marketing coach for authors
• Starting off as a virtual assistant, then moving on to more marketing-related and coaching for authors
• It being 11 years since Laurie started working with authors
• Some of the ways the marketing landscape and promotion strategies have changed over the years
• Laurie's "The Visible Author Method" that authors can enroll in, but only after a discovery call with Laurie and an invitation
• The idea that coaches need coaches and therapists need therapists
• The most important aspect of what writers want, which is ways to connect with their readers, and having their books read
• How "Niching Down and Branding" is at the core of everything Laurie offers to authors
• How positioning, or establishing a positioning statement is one of the most taxing endeavors for an author
• The way that working with a coach can help an author with being able to see themselves and their writing in a new light/different way is important
• The tiny roadblocks that can stop us from moving forward, and the importance of getting over them
• The concept of personalized repeatable systems
• Navigating the road map of best practices, and the importance of trial and error and measurable metrics
• Some of the differences related to marketing for traditionally published authors versus self-published authors
• An example of working with a traditionally published author that took some extra effort but worked nicely in the end
• Some resources that Laurie recommends
• The three questions that you should always be answering for your readers 1) What can they expect 2) Why should they care? (What makes it special) 3) What they can/should do next
• The importance of the idea of "my brand equals my promise to my readers"
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on how the the same process/procedure might work differently for different authors, as well as the importance of being able to pivot when unexpected elements clash with your plans and goals.

Links of Interest:

• Laurie Cooper's Pub-Craft
  • Laurie's Printer-Friendly Book Launch Checklist
  • Laurie's Pub-Craft Resources
  • Book a free consult with Laurie
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Mark's YouTube channel
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Award-winning speaker, Laurie Cooper, launched her online business, Pub-Craft: Marketing for Books and Brands, in October 2013. She helps fiction authors go from struggling, feeling invisible and not knowing what to do next, to finding and connecting with their ideal readers. In her first year of business, Laurie went from 1 to over 200 clients and helped 100+ authors hit the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Lists. While she works as a marketing coach with authors from around the world, Laurie calls Ottawa, Canada her home. Learn more about Laurie and her course,The Visible Author Method. Connect at www.Pub-Craft.com.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0