It’s Time!

If you’ve been dreaming about writing a book but feel overwhelmed about where to start — or worried about how you’ll ever promote it — this live, interactive Zoom class hosted by Penn Writers was created for you.

📚 Four Wednesdays | 7:00–8:00 PM | Live on Zoom | June 3, 10, 17, 24

This class is live, interactive, and easy to digest. We take the mystery and the fear out of book promotion while helping you finally move your book forward.

Join two published authors for a powerful 4-week experience designed specifically for beginning and aspiring authors, starting Wed, June 3rd.

You’ll learn from:

✨ Kate Brenton — Writing teacher who guides the creative and spiritual side of authorship, helping you uncover clarity, confidence, and purpose in your message.

📈 Claudine Wolk — Book marketing coach who brings the analytical strategy and practical tools that make promotion understandable and achievable.

By the end of this course, you will have:

✔ A focused, finished book idea
✔ A compelling elevator pitch
✔ Foundational knowledge to promote your book effectively
✔ Confidence about both writing AND book promotion

👉 Seats are limited to keep the experience interactive.
Register now and take the first real step toward becoming a published author:

Penn Writers Course Sign-up

Member Price - $75 | Non-member Price - $100

Your book isn’t going to write or sell itself. Let’s start together. You’ll come away with a plan!

Kate and I have seen a lot of successful authors come away from this fun course, hope to see you there! ~Claudine Wolk

Happy Mother’s Day, Miss you Mom…

The Green Afghan and the Six Pillows

It’s funny how your perceptions change with age.

When I was twelve, I’d end up at my friend Tara’s house after school. Her room was beautifully decorated, with a wooden four-poster bed and six matching, ruffled pillows. Gosh, how I loved those pillows.

By comparison, my bed was adorned with a scratchy, dark green, hand-crocheted afghan that matched nothing.

At Tara’s house, her mom would be busy preparing gourmet meals like chicken tarragon—yes, chicken tarragon—finished off with chocolate chip sundaes covered in stewed strawberries. My mom wouldn’t be home for another few hours. She worked full-time.

At my house, decorating and gourmet meals were the last things on my mom’s list. Our home was nice, for sure, and a nutritious dinner—meat, starch, and vegetable—was served every night at six o’clock sharp. But her focus was elsewhere. After dinner, she was committed to her college coursework and preparing for the next workday.

It was at the dinner table that my mom connected with us. She knew what was going on in each of our lives and was genuinely interested. My siblings and I embraced that attention.

My parents’ relationship was strong, too. They were true partners. Every Friday night after work was their time. My siblings and I watched The Dukes of Hazzard upstairs on our black-and-white TV while they caught up downstairs—sharing stories, asking advice, staying connected.

Eventually, we all went off to college—tuition paid for with the money my mother earned at her full-time job. I even had friends stay at my house.

And that crocheted green afghan? Still on the bed.

I’m ashamed to admit I was embarrassed by it.

When I visited my college friends’ homes, they looked more like Tara’s—beautifully decorated, full of ruffled pillows and thoughtful touches. I hadn’t made the connection yet.

Years later, I got married. Because of my mom and her sacrifices—how in the world did she manage a full-time job, night school, home-cooked meals, and still show up emotionally for her family?—I was able to earn my degree before having kids and build a career.

And yes, I could afford a few ruffled pillows.

Don’t you see? I got to have my career and my pillows because of her.

Much later, after my kids were grown, my mom would visit my home—filled with lots and lots of pillows. At the sight of them, she’d laugh and say, “House Beautiful!” (a nod to the magazine she probably never had time to read).

If she ever made the connection between what I thought I was “missing” and my affection for pillows, she never said a word.

I didn’t understand it as a child. But as a mother, I came to admire her choices—and her stamina.

While I was noticing what our home lacked, she was building something I couldn’t yet see.

At one point, I went searching for that green afghan. I couldn’t find it, and it made me surprisingly sad.

It didn’t match anything.

But it was part of a life that gave me everything.

If this piece resonated with you, I write often about the things we only understand later—about work, family, and what it really takes to build a life.

My paid subscribers get my deeper, behind-the-scenes reflections on publishing, book marketing, and the real stories that don’t always make it into my public posts.

If you’d like to go a little deeper with me, you can join here.

🎯 What Actually Sells a Book: What Worked, What Didn’t (Part 3: Ongoing Promotion)

What keeps the book selling

After your book is published and after you’ve done everything you can to promote it in those early days you still have to keep going.

Book promotion doesn’t stop at launch.
It can and should continue for the life of your book.

Just as I described our decision to change the book cover based on early sales results, it’s equally important to continuously evaluate what’s working and what isn’t in your ongoing promotion efforts.

And in our case, one key insight drove everything that followed.

🔑 The Insight That Changed Everything

Before publication, we did what every author is told to do:

We defined our target audience.

We believed our audience would include publishers and literary agents.

Our thinking was simple:
our book is essentially a mini-course for new authors on how to promote their books so surely publishers and agents would see value in offering it to their authors.

We reached out.
We sent galleys.
We pursued bulk sales opportunities.

The response?

Minimal.

That’s when we realized something important:

Publishers and agents are not focused on teaching authors how to promote their books.

We had misidentified our audience.

💡 The Moment Everything Clicked

Around this time, I agreed to speak at a writers conference on book marketing fundamentals.

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t expecting much turnout.
I assumed authors might avoid the topic altogether.

I was completely wrong.

The session was packed.

And that’s when it clicked:

Authors aren’t avoiding book marketing—they’re actively looking to understand it.

🔄 The Shift

That realization changed everything.

We stopped trying to reach intermediaries (publishers and agents)
and started focusing directly on emerging and aspiring authors.

Then we asked a better question:

Where are these authors already looking for help?

The answer was clear:

👉 Online bookstores—especially Amazon

That’s where new and emerging authors go to find resources on publishing and promotion.

So we aligned everything around that insight.

🔧 What We Changed

We:

• Updated the book cover to speak directly to new authors

• Revised the book description to better reflect their needs

• Enhanced the page with A+ publisher graphics

• Adjusted pricing to encourage discovery

• Increased online promotion of the ebook

These changes helped us connect with the right audience—and that made all the difference.

🧠 What This Really Means

Rethinking our target audience wasn’t just a small adjustment.

It was the foundation for everything that followed.

Once we:

• Identified the right audience

• Understood where they were searching

• Made it easier for them to find us

Sales followed.

🚧 But That Wasn’t the Only Lesson

We also learned:

• The importance of flexibility

• The value of trying new approaches

• And how to navigate unexpected challenges—including criticism

In the next section, I’ll share what we’re continuing to do to promote the book…

…and a story I’ve never told before about a well-known author (and podcast guest) who presented me with an unexpected ultimatum—and how we handled it.

Everything changed when we stopped trying to reach who we thought our audience was—and started focusing on who was actually looking for us.

Read more

What Actually Sells a Book: What Worked, What Didn’t

Post Two: Post-Launch Adjustments
What We Changed, What We Stopped Doing, and What Actually Helped Sustain Sales

🚀 After launch, sales were solid—but we knew we could do better.

We wanted to reach more aspiring authors.

The mission behind Get Your Book Seen and Sold has always been clear:
to simplify and de-risk the publishing and promotion process by creating a concise guide aspiring authors can actually finish—so they feel informed, empowered, and ready to take the correct next steps.

Two Decisions That Changed Everything

So, we made two big decisions after launch:

• We changed the book cover

• We changed the ebook price to $0.99

Big rolls of the dice. 🎲

But really, we weren’t guessing—we were adjusting based on what we were seeing.

The decisions paid off.

Here’s What We Did

We worked with April Cox to redesign the book cover and revise our Amazon book description so it was rich with relevant keywords.

We partnered with Holly at Red Ribbit Designs to create bright, engaging “From the Publisher” A+ content for our Amazon page.

We focused heavily on increasing the number of reviews.

Because here’s what matters:

More reviews = more credibility = better visibility in Amazon search

We already had a solid base from pre-launch outreach, so we followed up with early readers who hadn’t yet posted reviews to build that number further.

Then We Made the Big Move

At this point, we had:

• A stronger cover

• A more optimized book description

• High-quality A+ content

• A growing number of reviews

Now we were ready to push.

We dropped the ebook price to $0.99.

And then we did something that made a significant difference:

👉 We stacked multiple ebook promotions in the same week.

What Is “Stacking”?

Instead of running promotions one at a time, we scheduled several discount ebook promotions with different companies to hit within the same week.

The goal:

• Build momentum

• Increase visibility quickly

• Signal activity to Amazon’s algorithm

And it worked.

The Result

Book sales—especially ebooks—started to rise.

And as a result, we hit the #1 Amazon Best Seller badge in our category: Business Aspects of Publishing.

Why This Mattered

This wasn’t just about running promotions.

It was about:

• Improving the product (cover + page)

• Increasing credibility (reviews)

• Then amplifying visibility (pricing + stacking)

That combination made the difference.

🔒 Paid Section: What We Used and How We Used It

If you want to replicate this strategy, this is the part that matters most.

In this section, I break down:

• The exact promotion platforms we used

• How each one works

• Why we chose them

• And what kind of results we saw

If you’re considering trying this strategy yourself, the details below are what made the difference. Part 3 is coming in a few days—make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it.

Read more

We did almost everything “right”—and some of it still didn’t work.

When my co-writer, Julie Murkette and I set out to promote our book, we weren’t starting from scratch.

She had spent over 20 years running a successful small publishing company. We approached the launch of Get Your Book Seen and Sold: The Essential Book Marketing and Publishing Guide the way any traditional publisher would—strategically, deliberately, and with a full plan in place.

We lined up reviews.
We booked podcasts.
We scheduled ads.
We pursued every opportunity that should have made an impact.

Some of it worked beautifully.

Some of it… didn’t move the needle at all.

And that’s the part most authors rarely get to see.

So instead of another generic “how to promote your book” post, I’m breaking down exactly what we did—step by step—and, more importantly, what actually paid off.

This is a three-part series covering:

• Pre-launch and launch day

• Post-launch adjustments

• Ongoing promotion

In each post, I’ll share the full checklist of what we did.

And for paid subscribers, I’ll show you the part that matters most:
what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d do differently next time.

Let’s start with everything we did leading up to—and during—launch.

📚 Post #1: Pre-Launch & Launch Day — What We Did

✅ Pre-Launch & Launch Checklist

• Secured pre-publication industry reviews (e.g., trade publications)

• Conducted pre-publication outreach to early reviewers and influencers

• Coordinated launch-day reviews to go live during release week

• Booked a WOW (Women on Writing) blog tour

• Scheduled podcast interviews timed to release week

• Ran a BookBub New Releases ad

• Booked an Instagram influencer promotion for launch day

• Hosted a launch event at a local bookstore

• Pursued special sale / bulk catalog placement opportunities

This list isn’t exhaustive—it’s what I remember. And that’s the point.
These are the strategies that stood out because they worked… or didn’t.

While this was a nonfiction launch, the strategies here apply broadly—because visibility, timing, and credibility drive book sales in any genre.

Because of our pre-launch and launch day efforts, we hit the #3 Amazon bestseller spot in our category during launch week.

Here’s the screenshot I grabbed that day:

It was an exciting moment—and a clear sign that some of what we put in place was working.

Hitting #3 on launch week told us something was working.

But it didn’t tell us what was working.

Because here’s the truth: we did a lot of things—and not all of them contributed equally.

Some efforts clearly drove sales. Others didn’t move the needle at all.

If you’re deciding where to spend your time (and budget), this is the part that matters most.

Here’s exactly what worked—and what didn’t.

And as you’ll see in Part 2, what we changed after launch is what ultimately helped us reach #1. It is coming in a few days—make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it.

Read more

Let me be direct:

Most authors don’t realize they’ve made this mistake until it’s too late.

Their book is published.
The launch window is closing.
And they’re scrambling for visibility that should have been building months ago.

Because one of the most important parts of book promotion…
never happened.

Skipping industry book reviews before your book publishes is a mistake.

And right now, I’m watching more authors—including traditionally published ones—make that mistake because they’ve been told it “doesn’t matter anymore.”

I disagree.

If industry reviews weren’t valuable, major publishing houses wouldn’t still be securing them for their authors.

But in today’s publishing landscape, something has shifted.

Some traditional publishers are quietly pulling back from pre-publication review submissions. They see it as time-consuming. Optional. Not worth the effort.

And authors are paying the price.

Because industry reviews aren’t just about exposure.

They do three critical things:

• They establish credibility with media, bookstores and librarians

• They create early promotional momentum before your book is available

• They force you to get clear on your message, audience and hook

That last one … is the advantage most authors never see coming.

Every submission requires you to explain what your book is, who it’s for, and why it matters. In doing that, you’re not just pitching reviewers—you’re building the foundation of your entire marketing strategy.

I’ve done this as both a traditionally published and self-published author.

In both cases, I submitted to industry reviewers.
In both cases, I secured reviews.

And in both cases, the process itself made my book marketing stronger.

That’s why I created this guide.

Inside, I’ll show you how to approach industry review submissions so you can build credibility before your book launches and set the stage for everything that follows.

How to Submit Your Book to Industry Reviewers

A Pre-Publication Strategy to Build Credibility and Visibility

Submitting your book to industry reviewers is one of the most overlooked parts of a book marketing plan—and one of the most valuable.

Here’s how the process works—and where most authors go wrong.

What Are Book Industry Reviewers?

These are established publications that review books before they are released.

You (or your publisher) submit an Advance Review Copy (ARC), usually months ahead of publication, in hopes of being selected.

Simple in theory.

But in practice, timing, preparation, and attention to detail determine whether your submission is even considered.

What’s a Galley or ARC?

A galley (or ARC) is a near-final version of your book, shared with reviewers in advance.

It includes your core book information and early marketing messaging—and it’s often the first impression your book makes in the industry.

Which means:
👉 it needs to be more than “finished”—it needs to be positioned.

If You Have a Traditional Publisher

Your publisher may handle submissions—but that doesn’t mean this is off your radar.

Many authors assume this step is being handled… and never ask.

That’s where opportunities get missed.

At a minimum, you want visibility into:

• Whether submissions are happening

• Where your book is being pitched

• And how your book is being positioned

Where This Fits in Your Marketing Plan

This is part of your pre-publication phase—and it happens earlier than most authors expect.

Submissions are typically made months before publication, not after.

That timeline matters.

Because by the time your book launches, this opportunity has either been leveraged… or lost.

Core Submission Realities (What Trips Authors Up)

This is where good intentions tend to fall apart.

• Timing is tight → miss the window, miss the opportunity

• Every reviewer is different → there’s no one-size-fits-all submission

• Details matter → small mistakes can disqualify you

There are only a handful of major industry reviewers.

Which means:
👉 each submission carries weight

Where to Submit

There are a small number of established industry reviewers that consistently influence visibility, credibility, and purchasing decisions.

You’ll want to research each one individually and review their current submission guidelines before moving forward.

(Inside the paid section, I’ll list them and help you track and manage each submission so nothing falls through the cracks.)

What You’ll Need (At a High Level)

Before submitting, you’ll need a complete set of materials—your ARC is just one piece.

You’ll also need:

• Core book information

• Positioning and messaging

• Supporting materials used across your promotion

This is where many authors realize:
👉 they’re not as prepared as they thought

Final Thought Before You Move On

Getting selected for review isn’t guaranteed.

But preparing and submitting properly?

That’s entirely within your control.

And it’s one of the clearest ways to start building momentum before your book is even available.

🔒 Paid Section

If you’re thinking:
“I understand this… but I don’t want to mess it up.”

You’re right to pause.

Because this is where most authors lose the opportunity—not from lack of effort, but from lack of structure.

Miss a deadline → you’re out.
Miss a requirement → you’re ignored.
Miss a detail → your submission doesn’t get considered.

That’s why I don’t just “do this”—I use a system.

And that’s what I’m giving you next.

👉 Not more information.
👉 A way to execute it correctly.

Here’s exactly what this system looks like:

Most authors skip this step. The ones who don’t? They launch with momentum.

Read more

I Tested a Simple Book Promotion Strategy—Here’s Why It Worked

How writing one well-placed article can quietly connect you with the readers you’re trying to reach

Most authors don’t have a promotion problem—they have a connection problem.

They’re posting, sharing, boosting… and still wondering why their book isn’t reaching the right readers.

What if the answer isn’t more promotion—but better alignment?

I’ve long believed that writing articles can be one of the most effective (and overlooked) parts of a book marketing plan. Recently, I put that belief into practice in a very intentional way.

Here’s what I found.

Why Articles Work (When They’re Done Right)

A well-placed article does more than “promote” your book—it creates a bridge between you and your ideal reader.

Done strategically, an article can:

• Lead directly to book sales

• Grow your newsletter or social media following

• Reach readers where they already are

• Strengthen your writing and editing skills

• Sharpen your pitching and positioning

• Cost nothing but your time and energy

• Double as the foundation of a future media list

• Even generate income (many publications pay)

But the real value is this:
You’re not interrupting your audience—you’re serving them.

A Simple Way to Get Started

Instead of trying to be everywhere, start with a short, focused list.

Ask yourself:
Where is my target audience already reading?

For example, my book (Get Your Book Seen & Sold) is written for beginner and emerging authors—people trying to understand publishing and build a realistic marketing plan.

So I looked for publications those readers already trust.

One of them: Writer’s Digest.

The Strategy in Action

From there, the approach is simple:

1. Identify one core idea from your book

2. Expand it into a helpful, standalone article

3. Pitch it to a publication your audience reads

4. Focus on value—not visibility

When your article is accepted and published, your byline often includes your book—quietly putting your work in front of the exact readers you want to reach.

No hard sell required.

What Happened When I Tried It

I recently pitched an article to Writer’s Digest titled:
“How Do I Find My Book’s Target Audience?”

It appears in their May/June issue (you can even find it at your local library).

The piece takes one concept from my book—identifying your audience—and goes deeper, walking writers step-by-step through how to figure out who their readers are and where they “hang out.”

Here’s what matters:

• Readers get immediate, practical help

• They experience my voice and approach

• If they want more, they know exactly where to find it

That’s the bridge.

Why This Works So Well

Promotion works best when it doesn’t feel like promotion—for you or the reader.

You’re doing exactly what you set out to do when you wrote your book in the first place:
helping, teaching, or entertaining.

The difference is where you’re doing it.

Instead of waiting for readers to find your book, you’re meeting them in a space they already trust—and inviting them, gently, to take the next step.

A Thought to Take With You

If you’re building a book marketing plan, consider adding article writing to your strategy.

Not as an afterthought—but as a core piece.

Because the right readers aren’t hiding.

You just need to meet them where they already are.

—-————————————————————————————————————

This is one piece—but you don’t need to figure the rest out alone.

Whether you’re just starting—or trying to connect all the dots—my Author Book Marketing Starter Kit gives you a clear path forward.

✔ Start where you are (even mid-manuscript)
✔ Turn tactics into a complete system
✔ Use templates instead of starting from scratch
✔ Build momentum with a plan that makes sense

👇 Get the full system here:

Subscribe now

If Instagram has ever made you feel like you’re shouting into the void, you’re not alone.

Before her debut YA novel, See Dot Smile, hits shelves (this October), Meg Oolders was already asking the question most authors avoid: How can I reach my book buyers?

What changed next wasn’t luck—it was clarity.

And it completely reshaped how she shows up online.

In this podcast episode, I ask Meg about the process of bringing See Dot Smile to publication, including its brand new cover, editing issues, as well as her whole-hearted, reel-creating deep dive into Instagram. Her heart-felt endeavor to learn the tech behind Instagram reels will resonate. Her reels are truly entertaining. Social media magic occurs when an author’s skills combine with her genuine interests on social media.

In the podcast you will hear about:

Empress Editions publishers

WattPad

Talk Fiction Podcast

Meg Oolder’s Website

Meg’s Instagram @MegOolders

Too Much Social Substack by Nicola Washington

“Meg’s journey isn’t finished—it’s unfolding.
When her book launches this October, we’ll check back in to see what’s working, what changed, and what every author can learn from what comes next.”

If you’re an author trying to figure out how to actually reach your readers—not just post and hope—this episode will give you a clearer path forward.

And if you’ve been stuck in the “this isn’t working” phase on Instagram, Meg’s shift might be the one that unlocks it for you.

____________________________________________________________________________

👉 Subscribe for more conversations with authors who are building their platforms in real time—and sharing what’s actually working (and what’s not).

Upgrade your subscription to access my Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—where I break down strategies like the ones you just read into clear, usable steps you can apply to your own book.

✔ Translate expert advice into a real plan
✔ Use templates to implement faster
✔ Build your own repeatable promotion system
✔ Stop consuming—and start executing

👇 Get started here:

Subscribe now

Know a writer who needs this?
Share this post and help them take the next step toward getting their book seen.

Share

It’s here!

Many authors believe book marketing requires a giant budget or a publicist.

It doesn’t.

What it actually requires is a simple system—a way to see the big picture, stay organized, and know exactly what to do next.

That’s why I created four subscriber-only resources for my paid Substack members.

Think of them as your personal book marketing toolkit.

What You Unlock as a Paid Subscriber

When you upgrade, you’ll instantly get access to four practical tools:

🗺️ The Book Marketing Map

Get your arms around book marketing in one clear visual.

📂 The Easy Author Folder System

Organize your marketing materials once—and never lose track again.

📝 Fill-in-the-Blank Book Marketing Plan

Build a simple, step-by-step marketing plan for your book.

⭐ Book Industry Reviewer Guide

Learn where and how to submit your book for professional reviews.

What These Tools Will Help You Do

When you unlock the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit, you’ll be able to:

• See the entire book marketing landscape at a glance so you know what actually matters—and what you can ignore.

• Organize your promotional materials and outreach so marketing your book stops feeling chaotic.

• Follow a clear, realistic marketing plan that helps you promote your book step-by-step.

Everything above shows you what’s inside the toolkit.

Everything below unlocks the tools themselves.

Unlock the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit

These are the exact tools I use when teaching authors how to market their books without overwhelm.

Inside this toolkit you’ll get four practical tools designed to help you:

• understand the book marketing landscape
• organize your promotional efforts
• follow a clear marketing plan
• submit your book to industry reviewers

What This Toolkit Would Cost Elsewhere

If you hired a book marketing consultant or took a publishing workshop, resources like these would typically cost:

• Book marketing strategy session — $150–$300
• Marketing plan template or course — $50–$200
• Book review submission guidance — $50–$150
• Author marketing organization system — $50+

Total potential value: $300–$700

But as a paid subscriber, you get the entire Author Book Marketing Starter Kit — plus ongoing weekly book promotion insights, tools and podcast interviews with experts — for just:

$40/year or $10/month

Upgrade to unlock the full toolkit.

Upgrade Here To Unlock The Full System

More On Your Author Book Marketing Starter Kit

🗺️ Book Marketing Map

See the Big Picture in One Page

Book marketing can feel like trying to navigate a maze in the dark.

This one-page Book Marketing Map shows you the entire landscape so you can quickly understand:

• what matters
• what doesn’t
• where to start

Perfect for authors who want clarity before action.

Access Link

📂 Easy Author Folder System

Organize Your Marketing Once — and Never Lose Track Again

Promotion quickly becomes chaotic: files, emails, media pitches, reviewer lists.

This simple folder system shows you exactly how to organize your marketing materials so everything is easy to find and reuse.

Many writers tell me this one tool alone saves hours of frustration.

Access Link

📝 Fill-in-the-Blank Marketing Plan

No Guesswork — Just Fill It Out and Follow It

Most authors know they need a marketing plan… but don’t know where to start.

This downloadable template walks you through it step-by-step so you can build a plan that is:

• realistic
• focused
• actually doable

No marketing degree required.

Access Link

⭐ Book Industry Reviewer Guide

Where to Send Your Book (and How to Do It Correctly)

Book reviews can open major doors for authors—but most writers have no idea where to begin.

This guide shows you:

• who the key book industry reviewers are
• where to submit
• how to approach them professionally

Think of it as a shortcut into the book review ecosystem.

Access Link

Welcome to the Toolkit

Congratulations on unlocking your Author Book Marketing Starter Kit.

You now have a clear system to help you promote your book with confidence.

As a paid subscriber, you’ll also receive new book promotion strategies, insights, and ideas in your inbox every week.

I look forward to hearing about your book sales successes.

Welcome aboard.

Claudine

I invite you to press play to hear how Julie Vick built her publication guide and how writing articles for other outlets can introduce your work (and your book) to entirely new readers. ~Claudine

Humor writer Julie Vick joins the podcast to share her detailed “guide to publications” to pitch essays, articles, and stories. The interview includes details on how authors can use them to reach new book readers. You can find Julie’s writing at her substack titled, Humor Me. Her pitching guide is a fabulous tool for authors to get started. If you sign up for her substack as a paid subscriber, you will have access to this fabulous tool.

In my first interview with Julie we talked about TikTok as a book promotion tool. I mentioned that I would be taking advantage of Julie’s publication pitching guide. I downloaded the pitching guide few months ago and I am loving it.

I pride myself on providing reasonably priced resources to help you promote your book - Julie’s guide is one of those resources. Have a listen to the interview for more tips on pitching and a learn about a second tool that Julie provides to paid subscribers - examples of pitches that landed.

Julie is an author as well as a freelance writer. You can buy her book, Babies Don’t Make Small Talk (So Why Should I?, at the link.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

Julie’s previous podcast hit: Get Your Book Seen And Sold: TikTok for book promotion

WhoPaysWriters.com

Julie’s Website

Julie’s Substack

Humor Me

Pitching Guide for Over 40 Publications

Half the battle with pitching publications is trying to find the right email address to pitch to. There is often publicly available information out there, but finding it can be time-consuming…

Read more

2 years ago · 7 likes · Julie Vick

Julie’s Book: Babies Don’t Make Small Talk (So Why Should I?)

Julie’s Substack Post: BookTok You Don’t Stop

————————————————————————————————————

Want to turn insights like these into action?

The challenge isn’t finding advice—it’s knowing how to apply it.

Upgrade your subscription to access my Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—where I break down strategies like the ones you just read into clear, usable steps you can apply to your own book.

✔ Translate expert advice into a real plan
✔ Use templates to implement faster
✔ Build your own repeatable promotion system
✔ Stop consuming—and start executing

👇 Get started here:

Subscribe now

Know a writer who needs this?
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Since then her book, Gene-ius has indeed published, is available on Amazon for sale, and won an honorable mention from the Southern California Book Festival!

In the podcast episode, Sharon shares how our teachings inspired successful book marketing for her book including the fact that her “elevator pitch” (an exercise we do in the four week zoom class) is highlighted on her bookmarks.

Kate and I answer Sharon’s questions about the Sit & Write: Begin class which is now open for sign-ups and starts Wed night, March 4th from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm EST for four weeks: March 4th, March 11, March 18 and March 25. More information and registration can be found at the Penn Writer’s course page at the link. The cost is $100 non-member, $95 member, an absolute steal.

We then ask Sharon all about the release of her new medical thriller, Gene-uis, how it came to be, how the class gave her the confidence to promote it and what she is up to next. Sharon is an inspiration to all aspiring authors and Kate and I hope to share what we know to help YOU have a great success story, too!

Links Mentioned in the Podcast and More…

Penn Writer’s course page for Sit & Write: Begin

Gene-ius by Sharon Wegner, on sale to day at Amazon

The Southern California Book Festival

Kate Brenton’s website with additional course offerings for writers

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From Novel to Major Motion Picture

Who didn’t love Hamnet, the fabulous novel by prolific author, Maggie O’Farrell, first released in 2020? The novel was adapted into a successful major motion picture at the end of 2025. O’Farrell co-wrote the screenplay adaptation with the film’s director, Chloé Zhao. The collaboration was clearly successful as Hamnet is now an award-winning film. It won best picture (nominated for best screenplay) at the Golden Globes this past January and looks to be a favorite for an Oscar.

O’Farrell talks in detail about her process in transforming a novel to a screenplay. Her mindset on taking on the project is illuminating. See if you can catch her turning point in the process of adapting her beloved novel to a feature film. The O’Farrell interview is featured on the What Should I Read Next podcast hosted by Anne Bogel.

You can find more details this podcast episode on Ms. Bogel’s site Modern Mrs Darcy.

——————————————————————————————————————

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to market your book—you’re not alone.

That’s exactly why I created the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—to give authors a clear, simple way forward without feeling overwhelmed.

Upgrade your subscription to access my Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—where I break down strategies like the ones you just read into clear, usable steps you can apply to your own book.

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In this podcast interview with book publicist, Holly Mitton, owner of Little Bird Boston, we introduce The Story Graph App as a resource and future promotion opportunity for authors as well as a cool app for book lovers. With The Story Graph App, readers track their books read and their reading progress from month to month and year to year. Enjoy the conversation on how Holly uses The Story Graph and why she loves it.

The Story Graph is the New Goodreads. It is fairly new and in a nice phase where it is simply fun for readers to use - a place where avid readers keep track of their books, rate books, and measure in graph form their reading accomplishments by day, month and year.

How Can The Story Graph App Help Authors To Promote Their Books

For authors, it the perfect time to start using the The Story Graph App. Not only can you track your own reading which is fun in and of itself, you’ll also be a user when The Story Graph begins to offer author publicity opportunities. (that these opportunities will come about eventually is my educated guess) In the meantime, have fun tracking your own reading and use the app as a resource to learn about the reading patterns of others - what genres are the most popular, what are readers likes and dislikes, what new book covers look like by genre, etc.

Two Oft-Asked Book Publicist Questions Answered

**Bonus: Holly answers two burning questions in the podcast:

1. What is the right time for an author to hire a publicist?

2. How Can a Publicist Help An Author To Reach Their Book Buyers?

Find Holly Mitton

Holly Mitton, publicist, offers a free consulting call for authors.

Contact her: Little Bird Boston Website | email: holly@littlebirdboston.com | Instagram: @hollylittlebirdbostonpr

Holly’s Book Recommendations:

The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye

The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Women Who Think Too Much by Susan Nolan-Hoeksema

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Claudine Book Mentions:

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell

Too Old For This by Samantha Downing

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

note: affiliate links are mine, thanks for your support

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Holly Also Mentions: Goodreads and F/B: The Peloton Mom’s Book Club

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Geraldine Donaher released her YA novel on January 30th, Mouth Shut, Head Down.. January was National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, a subject covered in her book. In anticipation of her book release, which btw, we chatted about in a robust podcast episode here, Gerri pitched local, Philadelphia area media (radio, tv) in advance of the book’s release for some promotion.

Per Gerri, in spite of numerous pitching outreach to these media outlets, she heard ‘crickets’ but she didn’t give up. Every day close to and after her book’s publication she continued to reach out to local media.

Finally Gerri got a call. A media person from ABC was interested in the subject and wanted to feature her as a TV guest. They would highlight her new book. At first, Gerri was taken aback because the ABC affiliate was in Alabama (WBRC)! She thought she had sent the pitch to a Philly affiliate but in her quick morning googling, she had sent the pitch to different city’s abc station. “Would she still be interested in doing a tv segment?” asked the show’s host. “Heck yea!’ said Gerri.

Below is the fantastic interview where Gerri knocks it out of the park. She succinctly answers the animated host's questions as the expert that she is and leaves room for him to ask his very thoughtful questions.

This is how it is done ladies and gentleman!

Authors, don’t give up on your book promotion. Be flexible, be prepared and be authentic. Through the interview highlighted above, Gerri provided a very motivated tv host a very important segment. You can tell he was amazed and horrified but happy to provide this important information to his viewers. Gerri had answers to his most important questions: 1. What are warning signs that your tween or teen loved one may be in an unhealthy trafficked situation? 2. Describe ways that a person can get out of such a situation?

The content of the interview is fantastic stuff and exactly the kind of attention you want to get for your book! Gerri was noted as an expert in the subject and her book was featured.

Hopefully, this interview will lead to other local and/or national spots.

PRO TIP: Producers of news shows often watch affiliate segments for content ideas for their programs. As well, Gerri can use this video and send clips of it to the media folks who did not respond to her original pitch. It demonstrates an example of how the sensitive subject matter can be approached and how captivating it is as content.

I asked Gerri her advice to other authors on the slog that can be book promotion. She replied, “I only try new things because everybody (you included) keep saying: don’t stop, keep moving, you won’t get a ‘yes’ unless you send the email, make the phone call and ask.”

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Mouth Shut Head Down is a new, young adult novel that released today. It is already sporting a #1 New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Alternative Family Fiction on Amazon! That ranking is not surprising considering the time and attention the author Geraldine Donaher has given the subject matter - child sex trafficking and coercive control. The subject is heavy and uncomfortable but it is reality and the more we know about it as parents and citizens the better chance we have of saving our 12 to 15 year olds from it. Our children need to know that if they are in a coercive control (sex trafficked) relationship, that there is hope - that they have agency and autonomy.

Geraldine Donaher researched the subject of sex trafficking for six years before she attempted to a write this non-salacious, ya story about it. If kids read it and recognize it, that can learn how to stay away from it or get out of it, that they are not alone! Mouth Shut Head Down tells the story of two girls, Allee and Tanaya, who live in Philadelphia. Through their story, Donaher illustrates how coercive control can happen, what it looks like, what the warning signs are and how kids can use their agency and autonomy to get out. This is not a guess at what goes on in our very own American neighborhoods, it’s a very real, very frightening reality that society as a whole is finally learning about.

***For the writers writing about sensitive material, Gerri discusses her use of sensitivity readers***

Geraldine invites listeners/readers who are interested to join her at her book launch at Immaculata University this Sat, Jan 31st from 2:00 to 5:00. Please email Gerri at gerridonaher@gmail.com for more information and to reserve a seat.

***Call to Action *** Also, if you would like to see Mouth Shut Head Down in your child’s school library, send a note to Geraldine’s Publisher at Parisian Phoenix Publishing - a popular demand push will get it there! Angel Ackerman at angel@parisianphoenix.com.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

Covenant House

Soul Survivor Ink Organization

Clover Tattoo in Lancaster, PA - @Clovertattoopa (Instagram)

Geraldine Donaher Website with more information

Gerri’s first novel, Still (a Claudine favorite)

Sign Up For Gerri’s Substack Newsletter: The Writer’s Flashlight

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I “discovered” author Nelson DeMille in 2025. In my October 2025 post, Write Your Book & Learn How To Market It | Sensational October Book Picks, I highlighted his book, The General’s Daughter (1992) as a book that I was reading and loving. If you know anything about DeMille, you know that I am late to the party. The man, who sadly passed in 2024 at the age of 81 but not before writing 24 novels, at least 7 of which were NY Times bestsellers, is clearly one of Americas best authors of all time.

DeMille’s writing is amazing - great story-telling, witty, smart dialogue, good pacing - the kind of writing that is like snuggling up with a warm blanket in fluffy socks in front of a crackling fire with hot cocoa overflowing with fresh whipped cream. The writing is THAT good.

The General’s Daughter was not the first book of Demille’s that I have read. That honor goes to Night Fall, originally published in 2004. OMG! Night Fall. I ripped through it. I grabbed it after reading ’s book, TWA 800: The Crash, the Cover-Up, and the Conspiracy. Cashill’s book is a non-fiction investigation of the TWA 800 crash that occurred on July 17, 1996 off the coast of Long Island, New York. Although Night Fall is a fiction book, Cashill mentions it as including a possible scenario behind the mystery of the crash. After reading Cashill’s riveting account I needed more and Night Fall fit the bill beautifully.

Night Fall’s author note and introduction are must-reads. Demille explains why he decided to write a fiction book based on fact and how his daughter took the exact same flight three days before TWA flight 800 took off on July 17th, 1996. He had dropped her off personally at the JFK airport the night she flew. Yeah, I’d say something that close to home is motivation to write a book about the subject matter.

Two fantastic summaries of Night Fall can be found at the BookReporter Site and at the bookrags site.

After I ripped through Night Fall, which turned out to be part of the John Corey series, I started in on The General’s Daughter part of the Paul Brenner series. I finished The General’s Daughter this past week. (I have a really bad habit of putting fantastic books down before I finish them because they are so good I don’t want them to end) DeMille’s witty, non-conformist characters are fun to read. His research and life experience is clearly represented in his writing but it’s his story-telling that really makes a great novel.

Demille’s Advice for Writers and His Journey As a Successfully Published Author

DeMille gave many interviews both written and audio and was often asked about his writing process, tips for writers and journey to a successful authorship

• Demille admits that although his books are long, much of the narrative is dialogue, much of which was infused with humor and sarcasm. (I can attest to this assertion - the dialogue is my favorite of his novels and keeps me coming back for more)

• DeMille usually outlined the story before writing, especially major plot turns and the ending. He wrote longhand with #1 pencils on legal pads. (I LOVE it when I read that an author writes out a book long-hand on legal pads - Daniel Silva and Vincent Bugliosi also wrote manuscripts long-hand.)

• DeMille’s number one tip for writers was: Leave out the parts that nobody wants to read. (Ha! better said than done, but a great tip. Sometimes we write something that we love - a phrase or idea that is perfectly articulated - but it simply does not move the story forward. Say Adieu!)

• I started this post with a quote from DeMille in an article that he wrote for NovelSuspects.Com to promote one of his books, By The Rivers Of Babylon, the book that launched his career after many of his novels failed. DeMille, describes his author journey, how close he comes to giving up, the people who pushed him along, and the decisions he had to make for better or worse. I think you will heartily (that adverb is for you, ) enjoy and be inspired by it.

—————————————————————————————————————-

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to market your book—you’re not alone.

That’s exactly why I created the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—to give authors a clear, simple way forward without feeling overwhelmed.

✔ A calm, structured approach to promotion
✔ Tools that make marketing feel manageable
✔ A system designed for real authors

👇 You can access it here:

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To my new followers, whoa, welcome! You can peek toward the bottom of the article to read what this post has to do with book marketing, I always make a connection to it!

On Christmas Eve for the past 25 years, my husband and I have hosted the family for “Holy Supper.” In the Catholic faith it used to be that eating meat on Christmas Eve was a big no-no. The no-meat rule was lifted in 1966 but many families still observe it. Holy Supper evolved from my husband’s parent’s family’s traditions and includes shrimp cocktail, flounder, scallops, pierogies, peas, and of course, mashed potatoes. You may be asking why would you want mashed potatoes if you’re already having pierogis? Beats me. But who am I to question a family’s traditional meal? My family used Christmas Eve as another day to prepare for Christmas Day. We ate pizza on Christmas Eve, oblivious that families all across the world were celebrating a holy supper. When brought into my husband’s fold, I was absolutely enchanted by his family’s tradition and adopted it as my own. Eventually, my husband and I took over as hosts for the supper.

As my age has increased, I have tried to simplify the preparation of the twenty person meal by cutting corners in certain areas. For example, I now rent plates, salad plates, water glasses, wine glasses, cloth napkins and table cloths (it’s cheaper than you think). I pick up the flounder already fried to warm up later, shrimp already cooked, peeled, deveined and chilled and when it comes to the mashed potatoes, I count on good ole Bob Evans. Seventy-two pierogies, though, are always lovingly prepared the day before.

This Christmas Eve was a whirlwind and I tack it up to my advancing age. It seemed that getting the meal out was more complicated than usual. I managed to get it done with the help of my daughter-in-law, sister-in-laws, daughters and of course, my husband, who has to pick up all the food orders on Christmas Eve morning AND prep and saute his famous scallops.

All went well for holy supper 2025, or so I thought, when I jerked awake at two in the morning on Christmas Day with a harrowing thought, “Had I forgotten to put out the mashed potatoes?” I was sure that I had indeed forgotten to put out the mashed potatoes! Now, you may not think that this omission is the biggest deal. No one complained about it after the meal or as they left our home on Christmas Eve night. I was panicked, though, because there is something else about holy supper that I forgot to mention. There’s a bit of superstition that goes along with it. Every tradition has a bit of superstition attached to it or it wouldn’t be a tradition, right? In my family’s case, we have a few. For example, every year my sister in law brings me a new bay candle that must be lit immediately and may not be extinguished the entire day until it burns out naturally. Clearly my mashed potato omission is not affected by this tradition. But, a second tradition was definitely in peril. The number of items on the holy supper table must add to an odd number to ensure luck for the rest of the year. Without the mashed potatoes, I realized, the number of items on the table was even!

Instead of mentioning this faux pas to my husband, I kept it to myself in shame. How could I forgotten the mashed potatoes? When New Year’s Eve rolled around and we prepared for another traditional supper to be held the next day, I did not fret because I knew that at least I had a couple of containers of mashed potatoes waiting in my fridge, the ones that I had not put out on Christmas Eve. My husband went out to get the pork which, of course, you have to eat on New Year’s Day for good luck (eating chicken would mean that you would be scratching for money your whole year) and together with the traditional accompaniments – coleslaw, sauerkraut, gravy, rolls, and of course, mashed potatoes, good luck would be assured!

The afternoon before New Year’s day, I checked the back of the fridge where I knew I had tucked away the Bob Evans packages of mashed potatoes.

They were gone!

I frantically checked the garage fridge and then went back to the kitchen fridge, moved everything around (sometimes they hide behind the pickles) and came to the same conclusion. The mashed potatoes were missing!

Who took the mashed potatoes?

I tried to guess what happened to the spuds. Did a guest snag them before they left with the other leftovers we had dutifully packed up for them (72 pierogies are a lot to eat)? Perhaps they noticed the mashed potatoes were missing and in an effort to avoid bad luck they grabbed them to eat before midnight? Did a someone simply have a mashed potato craving and loving the Bob Evans brand as I do, could not resist grabbing a pack? I was certain that the mashed potatoes had been there on Christmas Day, that I forgotten to put them out on Christmas Eve! I was sure of it! There was nothing to be done about solving the mystery now though, the New Year’s day dinner had to go on, so I sent my husband out for more mashed potatoes. I was certainly not gonna forget them at another traditional dinner. Still, I couldn’t take my mind off the mystery.

Where did the mashed potatoes go?

On New Years Day, amidst all the Happy New Year texts from family members, I started inquiring, “Hey there.. yeah, yeah, yeah happy new year, ahhhh, quick question for you…do you remember if I put the mashed potatoes out on Christmas Eve?” Many surprisingly answered that they didn't even remember! How in the world could anyone not remember if mashed potatoes had been passed to them? My excuse was that I spent most of holy supper back and forth from the kitchen, removing plates, resetting plates and bringing food from oven to the table! My plate is filled by the person sitting next to me as they guess at my likes and dislikes. I can’t even remember eating that night. After several “can’t remember” answers, I finally texted the one family member who I knew would not forget, my brother-in-law, whose memory is like a steel trap. “Yes,” he said, “the mashed potatoes were definitely on the table. They were Bob Evans!”

The mystery was solved but I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t forget the mashed potatoes. I’m simply losing my mind! My consolation was that I now knew that the luck for the year was intact.

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In all my musings of mashed potatoes I started to think about where mashed potatoes and potatoes themselves originated. A little research led to a lot of disagreement on the origin of tubers. A deep dive resulted in what I believe is the truth.

The article “Where Does The Mashed Potato Originate?” by TheCookingFacts.Com places the origin of the potato with the Incas who shared the potato or “papa” with the Spanish Conquistadors who then took them (the potatoes) to Europe. Although most folks would think the potato cuisine began in Ireland, I believe that France owns that distinction due to the story of a French prisoner, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who was forced on an only-potato diet and used his ingenuity to come up with different ways to prepare it, bringing the mashed potato to life. You can read more about that detail in the article titled “The Real History Of Mashed Potatoes” at the TheFoodWeKnow.com site. From Parmentier, it was a woman, Hannah Glass, who brought those mashed potatoes into the mainstream in the mid-18th century. She spread her findings of adding cream, butter, and salt to the spuds in her book, The Art of Cookery. You can learn more at TheFoodWeKnow.com site. No doubt Hannah needed to find a way to get her kids to eats those healthy but bland papas.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR HOLIDAY DINNER TRADITIONS in the comments!

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Book Marketing Lesson:

What does this article have to do with book marketing? Everything. Writing fun, informative, introspective, revealing articles for ANY publication serves many book marketing purposes.

• Anything you write will be attributed to YOU, “author of the book XXX.”

• Book readers love to learn any thing new, especially about the authors whose books they read.

• An authentic peek into your family life and who you are as a person can lead to loyal book buying fans…. authenticity is key.

• Finally, an entertaining, well-written article entices potential book buyers to research the author’s other works!

—————————————————————————————————————

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to market your book—you’re not alone.

That’s exactly why I created the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—to give authors a clear, simple way forward without feeling overwhelmed.

✔ A calm, structured approach to promotion
✔ Tools that make marketing feel manageable
✔ A system designed for real authors

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The Value of Motherhood and the Value of Passion

Best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Ann Crittenden wrote the book, “The Price of Motherhood” in 2001. I devoured the book in 2007. The book is still selling well. Clearly, it resonates with mothers.

The book spoke to me, too. It really spoke to me. Like a way, deep down to my core, spoke to me. I found the book because I was actively looking for it, I just didn’t know it existed. I needed answers. Why was I so angry and frustrated after I became a stay at home mom when my son turned two? I was supposed to feel nothing but luck! Ann Crittenden, an economist and NY times columnist and best-selling author, had her own similar experience after deciding to become a stay at home mom. She channeled that frustration and used her research skills and economic background to investigate “the price of motherhood” and write a book about it.

Fast forward many years and I found myself in a position to interview Ann, the author of the book I adored. I pulled out my dog-earred, underlined, highlighted and note-filled copy to scour for the most burning questions. I thought about the ways the book had affected me, what it meant to me, and how the subject matter meant so much for mothers. I started the interview with a heart-felt and genuine introduction and handed the floor to Ms Crittenden. She was completely engaged and jumped right on the thread of the question I asked, clearly as impassioned about the subject as she had been when she wrote it. Have a listen to this short excerpt of my introduction of Ann and her telling of the moment she lost her identity after becoming a Mom.

Personal Musings on Motherhood

The idea of the value of motherhood is a provocative topic. I’m not 100% sure why the subject is so provocative but alas it IS. In the 32 years since I first became a mother, I’ve researched the topic of motherhood - why it’s so hard, why society ignores and denigrates it, why women who choose to stay home take such a risk if their marriage fails, why there isn’t more attention and/or money spent on support for childcare so that mothers can stay in the workforce if they choose to. I mean, jeez, creating new human beings to propagate the species is a pretty important function for a society, is it not? How about a little support?

I was so passionate about the subject and the desire to help moms, like Ann Crittenden, that I wrote my own book in 2009 to help and hopefully get a conversation started titled It Gets Easier! And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. I wanted to introduce practical tips (here’s how to get your baby to sleep through the night) and humor (why does my husband now spend the weekend hours outside working on the lawn?) so moms would know that they are not alone and would feel safe to start a conversation. Perhaps a conversation would lead to solidarity and change.

I researched my target audience - new moms - and asked to speak to them. Those presentations, usually given in the basement of every denomination of church that you can imagine, were some of the most fulfilling moments of my professional life. I spoke to moms in honest, practical terms about motherhood while their kids were down the hall playing with the babysitters the church provided.

“YOU are part of your family, too!” I would enthuse. “Make sure you make room for your needs while raising your children.”

“Is part-time work the best way to go? Evaluate part-time work. Is it good for you or simply for everyone else in your life.”

“Do you want to keep your job? Keep it. Your salary doesn’t need to ‘cover’ daycare in order for you to keep working. Consider that ‘family income’ is what covers daycare costs. Not every decision is a financial decision! In a couple of years, your child will be in preschool and then kindergarten. Consider the long-term effects on your career if you step away and what that will mean to you and your family.”

“The humanist philosopher, Abraham Maslow, created a hierarchy of needs and YOU are entitled to fulfillment in your life. Here’s how it works and how it can affect your life and your marriage!”

There were always a lot of laughs at these presentations, a lot of questions on how to write and publish a book, lol, and finally, a lot of thanks.

So many moms said “thank you.” Thank you for spending time with us to talk about these issues. Thanks for giving us a new perspective to take home with us. In one precious note I received after a presentation, a mom wrote “thank you for spending time with us, we are worth your time.” indeed

Ann Crittenden felt that mothers were worth her time, too. She expresses in her book that change is possible and does come.

In this quick excerpt, I ask Ann about her fantastic and effective writing style. She wanted to introduce Moms to this topic in a way that was truly accessible and worked hard on changing her writing style to do it.

More research on the topic of the value of motherhood.

Ann Crittenden website

The Price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden

If You’ve Raised Kids You Can Handle Anything by Ann Crittenden

It Gets Easier! and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers by Moi!

Thoughts on motherhood and society? Share them here!

What are YOU passionate about? How are you sharing your message?

—————————————————————————————————————-

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to market your book—you’re not alone.

That’s exactly why I created the Author Book Marketing Starter Kit—to give authors a clear, simple way forward without feeling overwhelmed.

✔ A calm, structured approach to promotion
✔ Tools that make marketing feel manageable
✔ A system designed for real authors

👇 You can access it here:

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BookBub Ads: Nuances, Tricks & Tips

You’ve done it! You’ve ventured into promoting your book with an Ad - a BookBub Ad. Congratulations. It’s a big step, it really is. Of all the things you could do to promote your book, placing an ad is kinda scary. Placing an ad is “advertising” and for a writer, it’s probably outside your comfort zone. What’s more… you have to spend money, create an image (or direct the creating of it) and make decisions about timing, bids, budgets, categories and audience PLUS you have to (or should) evaluate the ad you placed for effectiveness. The decision to place an an ad boils down to one thing - is the ad worth it? More specifically, did your ad sell more books?

In my Substack posts, BookBub Ads - A How-To Primer (1) and BookBub Ads - What You Need To Know (2), I cover the nuts and bolts of BookBub ad creation and include some great resources to help you create ads. In this third part, I’m going to cover some of the nuances of BookBub ad creation and evaluation. A critical part of using ads to promote your book is to evaluate and decide if ads result in book sales and are those book sales worth the ad!

Remember, before we get started on the nuances of BookBub Ads, confirm that you have determined that the BookBub Reader audience is the right audience for your book. Remember to do the research I mention in (1) and (2) before you start BookBub ads.

Ready?

Here We Go:

You Gotta Test, Test, Test Before You Spend A Large Amount On Any One Ad

The overwhelming opinion of the BookBub ad world is that before your drop oodles on money on a BookBub ad you need to test it with a small amount of money ($5.00 to $10.00 an ad) and then look at the results (CTR %) and Effective CPM and Effective CPC to determine if it is worth throwing a bit more money at it.

You are testing: the ad image itself, your selected author(s) & your selected category(s).

The trick in testing is to isolate one variable at a time to truly test that variable.

For example: Try testing an ad with the same author and category selections but with two different ad images to see which ad did better.

If you have ever studied statistics you know that permutations with three different variables can lead to a lot of testing. David Gaughran, the author of the how-to video I included in my post, BookBub Ads - What You Need To Know (2) has also written a book, BookBub Ads Expert, describing his opinion on BookBub ad testing. He suggested, for example, to test an ad with one author at a time to differentiate how well the ad was doing with audience. Thank goodness that today, well after his book was published, the BookBub folks added a feature where you can add multiple authors and see how each performed instead of doing one ad per author at a time to test ads! I mention this nuance because anything you read may be a little outdated. BookBub will include their latest enhancements to ads on their blog.

Ok, back to testing.

Testing Selections

What should your choices be for a test ad?

First, you need an image.

Second, you need to select authors - The general accepted principal is to select authors who have around 10,000 followers (or interactions) on BookBub who have comparable titles to yours. Beware! If an author has too interactions your ad will be lost. If an author has too few, your ad will not be seen.

Today when I use BookBub ads, I try to select 10 authors who have 10k to 20k followers/interactions. Back when I was testing, I didn’t select that many authors, as you will see in my example. My advice is to try to find 10 that meet the parameters if you can.

How do you know how many followers/interactions each author has? That is easy! As you select authors for your ad, BookBub shows ‘readers’ right next to their name and picture!

Third, you need to pick CPM or CPC

Again, opinions abound on which to pick for testing.

Gaughran is in the CPM (Cost per Million Views) camp for testing.

I chose to follow his lead when I first tested ads for Get Your Book Seen and Sold.

In the test phase, your goal is to get information as quickly as possible on ad performance. To do that, Gaughran suggests that you select CPC, budget just $5 to $10 for the ad, pick a bid that is even higher than suggested (btw, you can bid an amount that is higher that your budget!), select Amazon US only because Amazon US is the hardest outlet to sell in so the results should be revealing, and select “fulfill as quickly as possible.”

In this scenario, If you run two ads… the resulting CTR %, Effective CPM and Effective CPC values should reveal which ad is the winner. Then, you could take the winning ad and place the ad again… this time with a higher budget, a more modest bid, with all the sales outlets selected and hopefully see increased sales.

Whew! Are you exhausted? I am. Clearly there are people out there who love this kind of analysis and enjoy tweaking all the variables to find winning ads. Who knows? Perhaps you will find that you love the BookBub ad process, too!

Let me share MY results to give you an idea of how this goes.

Below is a picture of the details BookBub provides for each ad that you create. I love the detail. In this pic, for this ad, you can see the ad itself and every parameter I picked for this test ad. I created the title of the ad myself and choose to include the parameters in the text so I could easily distinguish between ads.

In this picture, you will see the results of the test ad.

In this test ad, I tested with four authors. None of them were up to 10,000 followers/interactions as I have suggested you use but at the time I ran this test, these authors were so darned close to my target audience, I decided to give them a try. As you can see from the test results, the ad did not do so well. It had some nice impression numbers but the Click through % is low.

Here are the results that you want to see for your test ad BEFORE you invest more money.

CTR % - you want to see a CTR between 1.5 and 2.0% (CTR means click through rate)

You can see above that in total, this ad scored .26% CTR overall and if you look at the results by author, Jane Friedman had the best click through rate at .53%. Jane Friedman is a best-selling author and huge in the book marketing world. I interviewed Jane on book marketing in today’s world and thought she would be a great fit for comparable author. She is a good fit but her followers/interactions are simply not enough to get views/clicks on this ad.

Other Positive Results

In addition to a CTR % between 1% and 2.5% you want your effective CPM and CPC to be as low as possible. In other words, you want many, many eyes and clicks for the lowest amount of ad budget spent!

Months after the series of tests I did to essentially learn how BookBub ads work, I created a new ad with and without our book cover and tested it with the same parameters. This time, I used CPC (cost per click) vs CPM (cost per million views). As well, I switched thing up by adding both Amazon US and Barnes & Noble (US) - two outlets where our eBook does really well. The results were interesting. The first ad is with the book cover. The second ad is without the book cover. Everything else is the same.

The Ad without the book cover did much better! Look what I learned!

Now, the CTR % is no where near the 1.5% - 2.0% that would make this ad worthwhile for me BUT I got a lot of impressions and I have to tell you that the book ranking did move. Sales resulted from this ad and it was just a TEST! The eBook sales moved and I learned that an ad without the book cover was more effective.

Perhaps I try the the ad again as a CPM instead of the CPC. I’ll test it before I put lots of money behind it. Perhaps I swap out only the most high performing authors. Have a look at the numbers by author that this ad without the cover generated.

I know, I know. I added at least 10 authors and many do not have over 10,000 followers but some of them were really well-suited to my niche genre of Book Marketing and the the CTR %’s were great.

Lots to digest and to play with it. The point is this: do your research to determine if your book is a good fit for BookBub ads and if so, give it shot. For any fiction book especially, establish your own presence on BookBub and search the site for your comparative authors. Investigate their following. Are your readers finding out about books in your genre by using the BookBub site? Do they interact with your comparative authors?

I do have a presence on BookBub and feel that my target audience (beginner writers who want to learn how to publish and market their book) is there. Overall, I may have invested $150 over 15 different tests to learn invaluable information and exposure for my book to help to promote it more effectively and lead to book sales.

BookBub is not the only way you can promote your book. In coming posts, I’ll share more resources for you to promote your book effectively without losing money!

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When you’re looking for inspiration for your next project think of this interview and the ways that your everyday life can lead you to your next great book idea.

More Isabel Gillies Tidbits and Book Advice for Authors

• Isabel Gillies wrote two unputdownable memoirs about the collapse of her first marriage. One titled Happens Every Day and one titled A Year And Six Seconds. I was riveted by both books and reached out to her for an interview. Isabel responded to my email and even though she had no clue who I was she agreed to an interview. The lesson here is … ask! Shots on Goal, right? You have to take a shot to score.

• Isabel played Kathy Stabler, the wife of Elliot Stabler on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She recently had a return appearance on the show that you can see here.

• Isabel also wrote a young adult titled Starry Night and continues to write.

• In the interview, we chat about Isabel’s book Cozy. I reached out to Isabel’s publisher for a galley of the book, a pre-publication copy of the book for media and reviewers and loved the book. The publisher also agreed to send me out a copy of the hardcover version of the book when it released. The cover on the final copy of the book is absolutely gorgeous. I believe Isabel’s friend designed it for her. It sits on my coffee table to this day. (See Pic Above). Below is a picture of the galley.

• Fun fact. I was reminded of Isabel Gillies recently after reading The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, one of the books that I featured on my Substack post titled, Seven Books Enter. One Wins. At the end of The Golden Couple, which I loved, the authors published an interview where they were asked their favorite books. Sarah Pekkanen shared It Happens Every Day as one of her favorites and I was reminded of my interview with its author, Isabel Gillies.

Thanks to Isabel Gillies for the interview!

Finally, what do you find cozy?

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