Credit: Canva
Several years ago in a campaign wrap-up call for an author’s first self-published book (she had a few books with big houses in previous years), she commented to me that she was disappointed by the lack of blogger reviews I had gotten for her novel. Fair enough – most of the bloggers that had covered her in the past either hadn’t responded to my outreach, expressed that they had too much on their plate, or were nowhere to be found. When a book is self-published, publicists often receive a different response from media and influencers, so the quiet didn’t weigh on me heavily. When I told my client we had secured and paid for a BookBub deal that lead to more than 27k downloads and dozens of favorable Amazon reviews in just a week’s period of time, creating a halo-effect for her previous works and introducing thousands of new readers to her work, she said nothing except to ask what was BookBub was. (It was in our proposal and letter of agreement.) Some months later, I heard she had gotten an offer from one of Amazon’s publishing imprints for that very same book. Bravo!
Let’s break this apart.
-We were at a turning point in the blogging world. The reason for my poor showing on the blogger front was perhaps less about me doing the work and more about the fact that bloggers weren’t doing so much blogging anymore. Hello #bookstagram
-BookBub was founded in 2012. Think about when you first started using this influential platform. For any author that has gotten a BookBub deal – how thrilled were you?
-Amazon started its publishing arm in 2009 and launched several imprints in its first two years. And that was over a decade ago. I love the idea of more authors having a shot at living their dreams, but what does it mean for PR?
This morning I was listening to David Bowie’s song CHANGES. I love Bowie–the oddity, the wandering, the uniqueness, the fact that he was always ahead of the time, THE CHANGES.
Here in book world, you may have noticed some of the changes–popular books out of stock, less attendance at Zoom events, publishers not wanting authors to do virtual bookstore events, delayed shipments, authors creating their own platforms on social media, lots of Instagram Live programming, less reviews, not much differentiation of books in media coverage.
As we head deeper into 2022, here’s are some things to consider about PR and marketing. As usual, I had a little help from my friends in the biz.
M.J. Rose, Founder of Authorbuzz; Co-founder Blue Box Press; Bestselling novelist (current book out is The Fashion Orphans with Randy Susan Meyers)
We are finding with so many more books being released than ever before, one of the most important new developments is that the book’s Amazon page is more important than it ever has been.
There’s a limited amount of information any marketing can impart. Ads interest people in the book but what sells the book is the book description and reader reviews and excerpt on the Amazon page.
So what is key? The book description needs to help the reader know quickly if the book is for them or not. Not adjectives about how good the writing is or how profound (insert any other word) but rather what kind of book this is.
You need to tell the reader – hey if you love this author and that author – this book is for you – to give them examples – to explain. Then the description needs to be no more than 3 -4 tight and powerful paragraphs.
Here is an example of one that works so well:
In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
Sherry Goldman, Founder and President of Goldman Communications Group, Adjunct professor in public relations at The City College of New York
2022 will see a continuation of the digitization of information and its ability to reach audiences. Over the past few years, we have seen many print media (newspapers and magazines) go out of business as advertising shifted online and younger audiences prefer to get information on their phones. Many more media have opted to cancel printed issues and transition to online only. Just this past week, six more well-respected magazines, including Parents, Health, Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle, announced they were no longer going to print issues of their magazine. No more issues delivered to your mailbox, found on newsstands, picked up and flipped through in doctors’ waiting rooms, and passed among friends and colleagues. This disturbing trend means reduced earned media opportunities for clients and the ‘cache’ of being published diminished in many clients’ eyes. Online is often shorter reads, mostly only seen by followers, less remembered and memorable, and finding longevity based on click rates – challenging for companies, organizations, and authors to have their messages seen, heard, remembered, and acted on. While we can bemoan this, this digitization is here to stay, so we have to adapt and find ways to harness its power and reach.
Lori Edelman, Social Media Director, Get Red PR
One of the changes we’ve observed is that the bookstagram community, as a whole, is much less interested in non-fiction books than in past years. More specifically, books about leadership and personal growth are a tougher sell.
It’s also really important for authors to consult with a professional in social media/digital marketing several months (and longer if possible) before their book publishes. Everyone has questions about Instagram and TikTok, both very different platforms. Before you panic, it’s important to understand if these platforms are right for you. There is a lot of bad advice out there, so if you can allocate some of your marketing budget for an initial consultation about social media with a professional perhaps it will ultimately save you time, money, and stress.
We are in the midst of a massive shift in how people use Instagram (especially Reels) and TikTok, and perhaps more importantly, who uses each platform. The bookstagram community has really embraced Reels in a way they hadn’t before. And, simultaneously, many Instagram users have started new #booktok accounts. While these newer #booktokkers have much less engagement than users who started using the platform early on, they will inevitably have an impact.
Is there a trend or a change you’d like to discuss? Drop it in the comments.