What If Everything You Thought About Book Marketing Was Backwards?
Where invisible authors begin their journey to authority (Part 1 of the Authority Journey mini-series)
Last week, I found myself having essentially the same conversation three different times.
The authors couldn’t have been more different. One had just finished writing her first book and was eager to get it out into the world. Another had been speaking professionally for years but wasn’t seeing her book open the doors she’d imagined. The third had published several books and admitted, almost sheepishly, that she was beginning to wonder whether she’d missed her opportunity.
Different authors, with different books, and in different stages of their careers.
Yet every conversation eventually arrived at the same place.
“Should I be spending more time on LinkedIn?”
“Would YouTube make a difference?”
“Do I need to be everywhere on social media?”
They were thoughtful questions. In fact, years ago I probably would have asked many of them myself.
But after more than three decades of coaching nonfiction authors, I’ve learned something that surprises almost everyone I work with.
Those aren’t the questions that determine whether a book succeeds.
Driving home after the third conversation, I found myself thinking about something Plato wrote more than two thousand years ago.
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
I smiled because I realized he had just described one of the biggest book marketing mistakes I see.
We begin in the wrong place.
The Questions That Feel Productive
One of the patterns I’ve noticed over the years is that authors naturally gravitate toward tactics.
I understand why.
Tactics feel productive. You can schedule another social media post, redesign your website, experiment with a new AI tool, or sign up for another marketing webinar. At the end of the day, you’ve done something tangible. You can cross it off your list and feel as though you’ve moved forward.
Clarity doesn’t work that way.
Clarity is quieter.
It asks you to sit with questions that don’t always have immediate answers.
Who am I really trying to help?
What problem do I solve better than anyone else?
Why should someone remember me six months after they’ve finished my book?
Those questions don’t give you the same sense of accomplishment as publishing another LinkedIn post.
In fact, they can feel frustrating because they require reflection before action.
Yet I’ve become convinced they’re the questions that make every future marketing decision easier.
I’ve never had a client tell me, “Susan, I wish I’d spent more time worrying about the algorithm.”
I have heard many say, “I wish I’d become clearer about my message much sooner.”
There’s a difference.
The Mistake Isn’t Marketing
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve accidentally made book marketing far more complicated than it needs to be.
Every year there’s another platform to master, another strategy to learn, another AI tool promising to save us time. It’s easy to believe the answer is somewhere “out there,” waiting for us to discover it.
Yet whenever I think about the authors whose books have created speaking engagements, consulting opportunities, corporate clients, podcast invitations, and bulk book sales, I keep coming back to the same realization.
They didn’t succeed because they found a better tactic.
They succeeded because they built a stronger foundation.
That’s why I often tell my coaching clients that book marketing doesn’t actually begin with marketing.
It begins with clarity.
Not the kind of clarity that comes from polishing your tagline or choosing the perfect colors for your website.
I’m referring to the deeper kind.
Clarity about the people you’re here to serve.
Clarity about the transformation your book creates.
Clarity about what you want to become known for long after someone has finished reading your last chapter.
Once those answers become clear, something remarkable happens.
Writing articles becomes easier because you know exactly who you’re talking to.
Podcast interviews become richer because you’re no longer trying to appeal to everyone.
Networking becomes more natural because people finally understand how to describe what makes you different.
Without realizing it, you’ve stopped marketing a book and started building a reputation.
And reputation has always been the real goal.
A Lesson AI Is Teaching Us
When I first started helping authors market their books, our challenge was helping readers discover them.
Today we’re also helping artificial intelligence understand them.
At first glance, that feels like a completely different challenge.
I don’t think it is.
People have always searched for specialists they could trust. AI is simply getting better at connecting people with those specialists.
Someone asks,
“Who’s the best expert on leadership transitions?”
“Who helps physicians prepare emotionally for retirement?”
“Who teaches nonfiction authors how to sell books in bulk?”
Notice what those questions have in common.
They’re looking for one person.
Not everyone. Just the right specialist with the expertise they need.
That’s why trying to appeal to everybody has become an even bigger disadvantage than it used to be.
The clearer you become about who you help and the transformation you create, the easier it becomes for both people and AI to recognize your expertise and connect you with the audience looking for exactly what you offer.
Clear positioning doesn’t simply make you memorable.
It builds trust, and it’s trust that helps open doors.
The Conversation I’d Rather Have
If you and I were sitting together over a pot of tea, I doubt we’d spend much time talking about social media.
Not at first.
I’m more likely to ask you to answer a few questions instead.
Who needs your message most?
What changes because they read your book?
What do you want people to remember about you a year from now?
If someone introduced you before a keynote, what would you want them to say in addition to your formal introduction?
And perhaps the newest question of all...
What question do you want someone to ask AI that leads it to recommend you?
Those aren’t marketing questions.
They’re foundation questions, and everything else grows from them.
Your articles become easier to write because you know who you’re writing for.
Podcast interviews become more focused because your message has direction.
And, speaking engagements become more relevant because your expertise is unmistakable.
Even referrals become easier because people finally know how to explain what you do and what makes you different.
The Emails That Make Me Smile
Every now and then I receive an email that begins with the same sentence.
“Susan, you’ll never believe what happened...”
Sometimes it’s a podcast invitation, a speaking engagement, a referral from someone they’ve never met. Or, sometimes it’s an organization wanting to buy books in bulk.
From the outside, those opportunities look as though they appeared overnight.
I know they didn’t.
I know what happened months or even years earlier.
Somewhere along the way, that author stopped asking,
“How do I market my book?”
and started asking,
“Who needs this message most, and how can I become the person they immediately think of?”
That’s when everything began to change.
Not overnight, but steadily, one article, conversation, relationship, or an opportunity leading to another.
A Different Beginning
I’ve spent enough years working with nonfiction authors to know there isn’t a single path to success.
Every author’s journey is different.
What I’ve also learned is that almost every successful journey begins in remarkably similar ways.
It begins with clarity.
Not certainty, or perfection.
Being clear on their purpose and direction.
Perhaps that’s what Plato understood all those centuries ago.
The beginning isn’t simply where the work starts.
It’s where the future quietly begins taking shape.
And that’s the invitation for all of us.
To spend a little less time asking how to market our books...
...and a little more time becoming so clear about the people we’re here to serve that the right readers, the right organizations, the right podcast hosts—and yes, even AI—know exactly when to recommend us.
Because once that foundation is in place, marketing no longer feels like pushing a boulder uphill.
It feels like opening doors waiting for you all along.
Next week: Part 2: Why More Marketing Isn’t the Answer.
Today’s article answers why most authors struggle.
Thursday’s companion article answers what to do next.
Inside, I’ll walk you through The 12 Foundational Decisions Every Nonfiction Author Should Make Before Marketing Their Book. These are the same questions I use with coaching clients to help them clarify their niche, strengthen their positioning, build authority, and create opportunities that extend far beyond book sales.
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IMPORTANT: If you’re ready to build your foundation instead of chasing the next tactic, I’d love for you to join me as a free or, even better, a paid subscriber today and start turning your book into your most powerful authority-building asset.