Stop Trying to Market Everywhere
Why Indie Authors Need to Focus Their Marketing Efforts
Book marketing these days has become so overwhelming. As if you need to be everywhere or you are nowhere.
Indie authors are constantly being encouraged to use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and more.
But while book marketing is crucial to the success of a book, authors also have other jobs they are juggling.
Editing
Writing
Connecting with readers
Maintaining a newsletter
Managing a business
However, there is a difference between having a presence online and having a marketing strategy.
Having a presence online doesn’t mean you are reaching readers
Yes, it feels like a huge flex to have a large follower count. It feels as if you have eyes on your platform.
What we need to remember is that followers don’t always equate to readers.
There are three types of audiences:
General followers: Followers who enjoy your content, but won’t be readers of your books
Writing community followers: Followers who engage with your posts for writing advice and conversation, but aren’t your target readers
Target readers: Followers who enjoy books similar to yours and are more likely to purchase your books
For example, an author with 10,000 followers might have fewer sales than someone with 500 highly engaged newsletter subscribers.
That doesn’t mean social media is ineffective. It means the quality and relevance of your audience can matter more than the size.
How do you figure out who your readers are?
Instead of choosing a platform for its popularity, choose a platform where readers of your genre are.
For example, many readers in the romance genre can be found on Instagram.
Try asking these questions to narrow down your choices:
Who is my target reader?
Consider their age range, genre interests, reading habits, and what makes them want to pick up a book
Where do readers find books like mine?
Peruse reader communities, newsletters geared toward a genre, bookstores, blogs, and social media.
Which platforms can I realistically, consistently commit to?
If you don’t like spending time creating images or visual content, spaces like Instagram and TikTok may not be for you.
What happens when you spread yourself too thin?
When you try to be on too many platforms, you run into a couple of problems.
You have trouble keeping up with consistent posting, especially if you are on four or five platforms.
Cross-posting across platforms can become tricky.
For example, say you spend 10 hours a month to create marketing content for one platform; if you are spread across 4 platforms, that equates to 40 hours. It can quickly become overwhelming.
And these are precious hours that can be spent on what you really want to spend them on: writing.
At the end of the day, being an indie author doesn’t mean you need to become a full-time social media manager. Your job is to write books and find ways to connect those books with the people who want to read them.
You don’t have to be everywhere. You don’t have to follow every trend or join every platform.
You simply need to find the places where your readers are, build genuine connections, and create a marketing strategy you can maintain.
Because the goal isn’t to become the most visible author on the internet. The goal is to become discoverable to the readers who will love your books.
Want a resource for this? Check out: Write. Publish. Grow.