Guest Post by Publicist Sophia Moriarty

Many authors understandably feel nervous about promoting their book, fearing that doing so will wear out their audience. However, the key to promoting your book without wearing out your audience is to consider the value you can provide, and to approach any promotion as an opportunity to engage in two-way conversation rather than simply trying to sell books. By providing value, and engaging in meaningful dialogue, you avoid fatiguing your audience and naturally will increase interest in your book. Here are five ideas for promoting your book without fatiguing your audience.

1. Share your valuable expertise with others. If you’re a non-fiction author, chances are you have significant expertise in the area that you’ve written a book on. For fiction authors, you likely have interesting insights and takeaways related to the creative process or the lessons imparted by your book. Identify a few useful tips that you can share with your audience each week (through social media content, email newsletter, blog posts, and byline articles). You do not need to mention your book every time you share your expertise, as long as the book has a presence on all of your platform profiles. If people see the value in your tips, they will be more likely to follow you, engage with your content, and be interested in your book.
2. Activate your most ardent fans. Most authors have a few close friends, family, and colleagues who really really believe in what they’re doing and would do anything to help support them. These individuals are going to be more willing to go that extra mile to help promote you and your book and will not be easily worn out by doing so. Ask them to join relevant Facebook groups and share information about the book, or to post about it on their social media channels, or to even just bring a few copies to their office or next social gathering and hand them out.
3. Give some to get some. People are a lot less likely to get fatigued by you promoting your book if they feel like there’s something in it for them. By offering promotions that incentivize purchases of your book, you can give people more bang for their buck. Consider implementing limited-time promotions, bundle deals, or exclusive bonuses such as signed copies, bonus chapters, or access to private communities or one-on-one consultations.
4. Show up authentically and with genuine interest in others. It’s crucial when promoting a book not to be solely driven by what you want from everyone else, but instead to focus on how you can authentically show up for and support others. Don’t start posting on a social media channel that you’ve never posted on exclusively to promote your book. Rather, spend time interacting and engaging with others on social media, asking people what their pain points are and how you can assist them, and finding ways to give back to your community through mentorship, participating in educational workshops, and volunteering your time to assist others. The more you give, the more people will want to support you in your own endeavor.
5. Post regularly but with purpose. Consistently posting about your book and sharing relevant content on social media is crucial to building your audience. However, if you’re posting the same (or similar) content at the same time on the same days and on the same channels, chances are you’re going to be reaching the exact same people over and over again, and they’re going to tire of you quickly. In addition to incorporating non-promotional content into your feed, it’s important to post content at different times and to switch up the content you’re sharing so that it’s not always the same on every channel. For example, longer form posts work well on a blog or on LinkedIn, but for a channel like Instagram or TikTok, you’ll want quicker, more visual content. You don’t have to master every channel either – pick just two or three that really inspire you and focus your efforts on those.

Promoting your book without fatiguing your audience can be a real challenge for any author. By focusing on the tips above and leading with the desire to authentically connect and help others, you increase the likelihood that people will be interested in your book and won’t tire so easily of hearing what you have to say.

Sophia Moriarty has enjoyed working with authors as a publicist at Smith Publicity for over ten years, leading targeted and strategic publicity campaigns that help to achieve an author’s specific goals for media coverage. You can learn more about Smith Publicity at smithpublicity.com and follow them on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook @smithpublicity.