Morgan Clasper Author

Over the last 7+ years I’ve been in the self-publishing space, I’ve seen the whole gamut of advice.

While a great deal of book marketing advice out there is sound wisdom, occasionally I see a recommendation (usually on a website like Reddit) that completely misses the mark and leaves me feeling for any author who takes it to heart.

In this article, I’ll be going over some of the most misguided advice I’ve seen given to authors—along with what you should do instead.

“Write what you want and the audience will come.”

This advice may be well-meaning, but when it comes to being a successful independent author, it’s also misguided. There’s a crucial saying I heard when I first started publishing. To paraphrase, it goes:

Struggling authors write a book and then ask, “Who’s going to read it?”

Successful authors ask, “Who am I writing for?” before they even put pen to paper.

By taking the time to outline your ideal reader and the similar books that already exist in the market, you have a ready-made audience when you publish. You know exactly who your fans are going to be, what your “also boughts” are going to look like (that’s the row of similar books on your Amazon book page), and how to decide on a cover and book description that speaks to the right readers.

If you have a passion project that you’ve always wanted to write—one where you don’t care how many copies you sell, just that the book exists—then by all means, go for it.

But if you want to sell copies and build an author career, ignoring your audience is a sure-fire way to end up with a book that you struggle to find a place in the market for.

“Writing to market means sacrificing your creativity.”

Ever since Chris Fox published his brilliant book, Write to Market, some authors have pushed back by arguing that this means “selling out” or sacrificing your natural creativity to chase what’s currently hot or trending.

I think of it like “nudging” your book toward a certain niche so that it appeals to an existing readership. You can absolutely strike a balance between writing what you want—whether that’s certain themes, characters, atmosphere, or plot points—while also having an end reader in mind.

When I wrote my debut series, I took half a dozen titles and studied them before I started outlining. I recorded things like their average length and categories. I also “mined” their reviews to see what readers enjoyed or disliked. Then, I was able to write what I wanted (a dragon rider fantasy in a frozen world) in a way that would appeal to readers of these other titles.

Importantly, I didn’t actually read these books from cover to cover. I wasn’t trying to copy their plot or “steal” their ideas. I was simply aligning my book so that it would look like something fans of those titles would enjoy.

The benefit of this strategy is that, as we saw a moment ago, it lets you release your book to a ready-made audience. You don’t need to worry if readers will enjoy your story, because you already know who it’s written for.

“Ignore marketing. You should focus on writing the best book you can.”

This is another piece of misguided advice. While it goes without saying that you should write a top-quality book before attempting to publish, it’s not enough to have an amazing book alone.

You might have written the next bestseller. But if nobody finds it, your book will be lost in the digital void.

In today’s self-publishing landscape, authors also need to understand book marketing to make sure that their books get seen, read, and recommended to others.

The good news is that it doesn’t need to be overwhelming. You don’t need to spend so much time on marketing that you don’t have anything left over for writing, and you don’t need to dread the marketing process. There are plenty of incredible teachers and resources out there to help you understand self-publishing and what it takes to launch a successful book.

People I can personally recommend as a great starting point are Nick Stephenson, Chris Fox, Derek Doepker, Mark Dawson, Tim Grahl, Bryan Cohen, and Dave Chesson.

Quick tip: If you want to learn how to write a book description that will sell, check out my FREE blurb-writing guide for authors.

“Some books are just too original to market.”

Every so often, I’ll hear about an author who feels like their story is simply so original, so different, and so unique that it won’t fit in conventional genres or categories.

I believe that in 99% of cases, this isn’t true.

I’ve written about marketing cross-genre or genre-bending books before. To reiterate, very few books are so “original” that it’s impossible to fit them into any genre.

And this perceived “lack of originality” is actually a good thing. People gravitate toward certain favorite tropes and story archetypes. Various writers have taught for years that there are only a handful of overarching types of plot.

With so many books on the market, chances are you’ll be able to find some similar titles that will give you ideas about who your audience is.

“You shouldn’t bother with an email list.”

This was inspired by a post I saw on Reddit. An author didn’t personally subscribe to any newsletters or mailing lists, and so they didn’t get what the big deal was.

But time and time again, it’s been shown that an engaged email list is a massive driver behind success in publishing. Having a group of existing fans at your fingertips means you can easily gather beta readers, build an ARC team, get reviews, and launch your books so that they make an impact.

If you don’t have an email list, building one should be your top priority. Offering a free “reader magnet” in the form of a novella, short story, character sheet, or other related piece of content is an easy way to incentivize readers to sign up to your list.

“You should have an author Facebook, and Twitter, and TikTok, and Instagram, and…”

There are some authors who, not sure what to focus on, spread themselves too thin by dabbling in everything. They quickly find that they’re spending more time posting on social media than they are writing!

Trying to build a presence on every single platform is a losing strategy because you only have so much time and energy. Authors sometimes seek virality by focusing on the “hot new thing” in book marketing, whether that’s using TikTok reels or building a Discord server.

To avoid wearing yourself down trying to build a presence on every social media platform, it helps to focus on your email list, plus one or two of the platforms that you enjoy using most. And if you don’t like any of them, there are plenty of authors who are successful without any social media.

Many writers are naturally introverted, so don’t burn yourself out by maintaining a false persona online and chasing likes. It’s much better to spend that time writing your next book and building your email list.

Honorary mention: “The best marketing is writing the next book.”

This isn’t exactly bad advice. In many cases, it’s a sound strategy. Having more books, especially in a series, means there are more chances of readers discovering you.

It also means that when readers find book one, they’re likely to buy your other books. In technical terms, is called having a higher Customer Lifetime Value. You can afford to spend a higher cost per click on your advertising, because the subsequent purchases of your other books will make it profitable. You can even advertise the first book in your series at a loss if you have a strong readthrough rate.

That being said, blindly pumping out books without paying any attention to marketing is also a poor strategy. I’ve seen authors with 30+ books and yet very few sales because they thought that if they had enough books out, readers would suddenly appear out of thin air.

So absolutely, write your next book. But don’t get stuck thinking that the act of publishing more will make up for not having a marketing strategy.

Conclusion:

When searching for book marketing advice, it’s important not to take everything at face value. Marketing is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution, and so you should carefully consider whether advice suits your particular book, audience, and situation.

It helps to learn from those with first-hand experience. There are plenty of free resources out there to help you wrap your head around book marketing, and there are also paid courses, programs, and consulting for those who want to fast-track the process. The fastest way to success is often to surround yourself with people who are where you want to be.

Above all else, authorship is a marathon and not a sprint. Stories of overnight success may be inspiring, but consistently showing up and doing the work is what will result in the greatest impact over time.

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Want to market your books with a plan? I offer one-on-one publishing strategy sessions for authors. Click here to find out more.