Are you an author who is afraid of making book marketing mistakes? Don’t let it stop you from creating publicity opportunities. Here at Guide My Brand, we’ve seen it all when it comes to new book campaigns. A big part of our job is working with authors to maximize their book launch and help them steer clear of common marketing and publicity pitfalls. 

Here are 3 major book marketing mistakes we see: 

• Turning down publicity opportunities because they’re “too small”

Turning down coverage opportunities is one of the biggest book marketing mistakes we see. Here at Guide My Brand, we understand your time is valuable. We recognize you have goals. So we understand why an interview with a smaller blog or podcast might not seem like the best use of your time. But we still encourage our clients to take the opportunity to do the interviews with lesser known journalists or outlets for several reasons.

First, these smaller opportunities with niche blogs, podcasts and streaming shows can open you up to a brand new audience who was not familiar with your work before. Next, any kind of opportunity like this provides you with content for you to share with your social media audience. Finally, the person interviewing you for these smaller productions may not be with a small outlet for long. You’ll never know where they end up — and it will be beneficial to have an established connection. 

• Paying for PR  placements 

Big publicity isn’t always the best publicity. Paying for book publicity may seem like a simple, albeit expensive, shortcut. But it’s a bad idea. We promise. While there are some legitimate paid opportunities in PR (usually on the television side), most are sketchy. 

If a journalist offers you a placement in a well known publication for a fee, they are likely bending the rules for their own benefit —  and they’ll probably get caught. What will it look like if you are caught working with someone who is trading money for coverage? Not great. In fact, we are so against paid publicity “opportunities” that we’ve written an entire post about it — check it out. 

• Leaving all the work to your publicity team

If you want to have a successful book marketing campaign, hiring a PR agency is a great start. But it’s not the only key to success. Yes, along with many other tasks, publicists are here to do the research, find opportunities, and craft your story in a way that’s attractive to the media. However, we often need input from our clients. 

At Guide My Brand, we are respectful of your time. We are here to put together a successful campaign to make sure your book is a hit. But hiring a PR agency doesn’t mean you just hand us the keys and we drive you to a glamorous destination filled with interviews, partnerships and fancy placements. We’ll be asking for some of your time periodically to brainstorm new angles, how your work fits into current events, and feedback on the outlets you’re working with. 

Remember, no matter what PR agency you’re working with, to make occasional time for touch-base meetings and feedback sessions.

Interested in learning more about how to promote your book? We’d love to jump on a call to chat about how publicity can help you build buzz. Book a free call here.