Book publishing and marketing – reality checks

Getting sales of a book is really challenging – ask just about any author or publisher. Marketing a book though is easy, you press a few buttons and social media does the rest. However, returning to my opening sentence, marketing does not equate to sales. In our experience, the best route to sales is word of mouth – invariably through the author. I see my role, as pubilsher, to break through into new avenues for the author which is where the real challenge lies.
Social media marketing is hit and miss, there are so many journals, magazines, online newspapers, blogs, podcasts etc all trying to do the same thing that being heard becomes a challenge. But we persevere for the chance of that one hit.
So, it’s refreshing to read that others, more experienced in the field say very much the same thing. Here are some links I’ve found interesting, insightful and reassuring – and all continuing to search for the holy grail of the marketing-sales breakthrough…

Publishing Confidential: What works and what doesn’t (August 2023)

Richard Charkin: Pros and cons of big and small publishers (August 2023)

Berrett-Koehler Publishers: 10 Awful truths about publishing (March 2023)

Talon Homer: How many books are there in the world? (October 2022)

Navkiran Dhaliwal: Interesting Book Publishing Statistics You Should Know (August 2023) and in another format:
John M Jennings: How many new books are published each year and other interesting bits (January 2019)

So, the bottom line is – selling a book outside of your circle is challenging, but not impossible. Think carefully about why you want to publish your writing – it’s definitely not going to earn you or your publisher (generally speaking) a fortune.