Marketing a book

I’ve been writing a book. It’s a book of letters addressed to new book coaches on the ups and downs of transitioning from a corporate career to solopreneurship. It’s about coaching and business and the small joys and the temporary frustrations, and it’s about fear and envy, too. It’s for coaches, but for coaches who […]

‘I feel really uncomfortable at the idea of marketing my book.’ Let me suggest a different way to think about this. Picture the one person who needs your book. Work out how to reach them. Then do it. That’s all the marketing you need to do.

Last month, on a whale-watching boat in the Santa Barbara channel, California: ~ Stranger, warmly, ‘I’m a great fan of your work!’ ~ Me, all British politeness, ‘Oh, thank you. I am so glad.’ If only I’d asked ‘Which is your favourite?’ to get us on the same wavelength. I’ve been mistaken for Olivia Coleman

Publishers don’t provide equal marketing support to every book. As proved in the publishing law trial of the year, when the US Department of Justice tried to block Penguin Random House’s purchase of Simon & Schuster. Therefore, as an author, you need to be marketing savvy. This isn’t about making you squirm at the thought