For our final episode of the year, we have two guests, Corrin Foster, Greenleaf’s Director of Branding and Marketing, and Kesley Smith, Greenleaf’s Director of Business Development and Corporate Communications. Today we’ll talk about top book marketing and author branding tips and trends for the coming year.

• In this episode, we’re discussing the top book marketing and promotion techniques going into 2022.
• Many authors think that the hard work ends once their book hits the shelves, but that’s when the marketing grind really picks up and can make a huge impact on your book’s success.
• After all your hard work writing, editing, and designing your book, you don’t want it to fall flat due to a half-baked marketing plan or the lack of an author brand. In this episode, Corrin gives an inside look into how she helps authors devise effective marketing strategies every day, and shares advice on what you can do to get started.
• Another important part of the author marketing and branding process is having a well-crafted social media presence. With the rise of the internet and social networking as a way to connect, having a strong presence on social platforms is becoming an increasingly important element of author promotion. Kesley brings her expertise in branding and social media to our interview today, and shares tips and tools authors can use to build up their platform in the coming year. If you’re looking for book marketing advice and predictions as we head into 2022, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get into the interview.

2:00 - For clarity, we have a couple different layers of marketing going on at Greenleaf. One is author-focused, and one is company-focused. Corrin is more author-focused and Kesley is company-focused. They both can toggle back and forth very well, but as a starter why don't you each tell our listeners about what you do here at Greenleaf?

• Corrin: I'm the director of branding and marketing here at Greenleaf. I've been here for about 10 years and working with authors in total for about 12 years. My teams handle everything from brand and social media strategy to website builds and content development. Also book launch marketing, and media outreach as well. And I also consult with authors on tying their book to their brand and their business and social media strategies and how we can achieve Amazon bestseller status.
• Kesley: My name is Kesley Smith. I'm the director of business development and corporate communications here at Greenleaf. I manage more of the company marketing aspects of the business. In my role I wear many hats, many of which include coming up with creative initiatives to expand Greenleaf’s presence both online and offline. I manage the company marketing the business development, corporate communications, and strategic partnerships. I'm also head of the submissions team, so I meet with both debut and seasoned authors to help them identify the best publishing options for their book and guide them through the business model and submission process.

3:40 – The last time we did an episode on book marketing tips was back in 2019, believe it or not, and obviously none of us had any idea what sort of curveball 2020 had in store. So in the last few years, what have each of you done to pivot away from any complications introduced by COVID, and how have you revised marketing strategies?

• Corrin: So, our marketing campaigns have been digitally focused for some time now, with an emphasis on online discoverability and search-ability and targeted advertising to reach consumers as close to the point of purchase as possible. But there has been an increase in emphasis on digital review copies for reviewers and endorsers. The trades were very quick to change to PDF's and digital copies for review consideration as well as the awards as we're finishing up those submissions right now. There's been some process changes, but generally everything has been positive, and it has increased efficiency and the speed that we can get reviewer feedback.

• I would say one area that we saw a significant change with engagement was with libraries and bookstores. Physical locations, as everybody knows, were closed for quite a long period of time, but both were really great at pivoting to online orders and virtual events, curbside pickup, and libraries actually drove readers to eBooks and audiobooks.
• So, there's been an increased focus on reaching out to those partners to make sure that our books are available, and our authors are available for events because those libraries and bookstores are not only important to the industry, but they're really important to our communities. We want to see our authors engaged with them and really taking advantage of the readers that are coming through their doors.

5:33 - Yeah, and a lot of people have also commented on how that switch to digital has had this nice impact on sustainability, basically, in our industry, and not printing and shipping all of these hard copies around unnecessarily. Kesley, how about you?

• Kesley: Yeah, so from the brand side what we all saw during the pandemic, was the personal connection that we all crave was severely lacking. We wanted to form our marketing strategies around reintroducing that authenticity and finding new and creative ways to interact with our audience and connect with our community. So, we catered campaigns towards starting conversation, sharing resources, and listening to what our audiences had to say.
• We did Twitter chats, polls, livestreams, things like that. And then we also saw during the pandemic it really forced us all to slow down. And many of us are working so fast and doing so many things at once that it really forced us to slow down and take in what we are given as a positive.
• So, we wanted to cater our content to see the advantages the pandemic has given us. More time at home, more time to work on those projects, finding new and creative ideas, trying new recipes, or finally starting on that book. We really ramped up our inspirational content and showcased the positives of what the extra time of the pandemic was giving us because on the news all you saw was negatives.
• We catered a campaign towards “the gift of time” and really talked about what this gift of time can give you and how you can take advantage of it. We launched this campaign for their content outlet - social media, newsletters, and video.
• We also focused a lot on sharing helpful content and creative ways to interact and connect with our virtual audience. A really successful campaign that we launched on social was our Remote Writing Workshop where every Friday, our Executive Editor Erin Brown and I filmed a Q-and-A-style video that covered a variety of topics in the publishing industry, and we posted them to all of our social media channels. And each week we focused on a different topic and we gave the opportunity for our audience to tell us what they wanted to see next. And that campaign was a huge hit.
• And for the authors who launched during the pandemic, I wanted to come up with a few things on social [media] because bookstores and libraries were closed, so I wanted to work out a few ways where we could support them virtually. So, we set up doing live Q and As where people could pop into the live chats and ask the author questions about their publishing experience or for the authors who have really busy schedules and couldn't do livestreams, we prerecorded them on zoom. And then we also did virtual readings as well and posted them all to our social media channels. Which the authors really enjoyed during the pandemic when everything was closed.

8:40 - I hear from both of you there was a digital expansion, which brings some opportunities, but also can bring some challenges. So, can you speak to what you've learned or seen in terms of the challenges that come along with some of these shifts?

• Corrin: Yeah, of course. So being with Greenleaf for 10 years, I can hardly remember a time we didn't do digital advertising. And having started here at 2010, that was when the iPad was released, and everybody was getting really comfortable with social networks and sharing, and authors and brands were becoming more digitally savvy. So, the focus on digital has really allowed authors to take their marketing into their own hands and target campaigns so that they're reaching the right kind of readers. And I truly feel like books that may not have found their audience prior to digital media and digital marketing really now have a direct way to engage and find those readers and find success.
• But I think with that comes a really crowded digital marketplace where now followers and subscribers are getting fatigued. It can also be more costly to reach audiences, although it's still very cost efficient. But there's more competition in that space. Now more than ever, quality is more important than quantity. Making sure that you're offering your followers and subscribers value. So that they continue to engage and become the core people who are going to buy your books, buy your products and tell their friends.
• I think the big challenge has been creating editorial calendars and coming up with that value added content that is different from what is out there currently. And that's just more time consuming than anything because our authors have such a deep well of knowledge in each of their fields. It's a different mindset to go into the content that you have and be able to make it digestible and really build out immediate plan and a marketing plan around that content.

• Kesley: Yeah, so digital marketing and digital media marketing makes reaching your target consumers very simplified, like Corrin said, but with the new advances as we've seen, leveraging the digital landscape has become thoroughly automized. So more now than ever the challenge has been coming across as authentic. When everything becomes automized, there's a risk of becoming inauthentic on social media and neglecting the rest of your content, like overpowering your feed with sales or promotions.
• The key to leveraging digital media marketing and digital marketing successfully and building a successful strategy is to focus on building a community and a strong foundation. Consumers are people. Your readers are people. When you are connecting with your audience, you have to remember you want to interact with them. You want to listen to what they're saying. Be relatable, be authentic. Being an organic community takes time and effort, but it does pay off in the long run.

12:10 - OK, so there are many layers to building a book promotion strategy and I think for lots of authors it's overwhelming and they don't know where to start. What would your advice be there?

• Corrin: Yeah, so this is a really great discussion question and I think it could go in different directions. When I was thinking about it, it really boils down to 3 basics that I like to make sure all my authors have covered when they're preparing for the book launch. And that is a plan to reach the industry, whether that's trade reviews, advertising for the wholesalers, or bookstore outreach.
• A plan to reach readers—book seedings, giveaways, targeted advertising like on Amazon. Here again, they're reaching those buyers and readers as close to the point of purchase as possible. And three, their existing network—utilizing their social media, their newsletter list, and personal outreach to people that they have a relationship that will help support the launch of the book.
• Kesley: I would also advise to take advantage of strong inbound marketing prior to the book launch. So, for those unaware, inbound marketing is all about meeting consumers where they are instead of marketing efforts that push out to consumers. This method focuses on attracting readers and consumers to you, and it's highly effective.
• Inbound marketing leverages content such as blogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, eBooks, website SEO, social media marketing automation, and much more to nurture consumers and readers at every stage of the buyer journey. So, implementing a strong inbound strategy prior to promotion will effectively nurture your marketing ecosystem through attracting readers from all angles.

14:05 - Great advice. And Kesley, you are knee-deep in the social media for Greenleaf and our various imprints, and I know personally that you just love digital marketing. So, can you give us any tips on trends that you're seeing in 2022 on that front?

• Kesley: Huge trends coming up. As we've seen this year, video content is the undisputed king of social media right now and it currently dominates the space and that will only continue in 2022. First being short-form videos, they took off in early 2020 and shows no sign of slowing down. If you thought TikTok was just for dancing or teenagers, think again. TikTok has about 689 billion active users and the power of marketing this community has uncapped is magnetic.
• And because of TikTok’s massive success with short-form video content, Instagram launched Reels and YouTube launched Shorts, all to compete for users’ attention. Global brands, small businesses, individual creators, and thought leaders have been using short video content to effectively participate in relevant trends, promote products or services, or spread educational content, but make it relatable or humorous through the audios given on TikTok and Reels.
• The next thing I'm seeing there's going to be a huge jump in is livestream video content. Livestreams have been around for a minute, but they were really popularized during the pandemic. Livestreams are incredible for encouraging connection between brand and consumer. This is really effective to connect with your community by humanizing your brand and addressing consumer needs all at one time. And we have seen a surge in livestreams on all platforms that will only continue to grow.

16:25 - So when it comes to building a successful book marketing strategy, obviously you all have seen many of these come and go. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see authors?

• Corrin: Yeah, so I mentioned that utilizing your network is one of my three biggest recommendations when building out a campaign, and that is where my authors tend not to see the value. They don't know and they don't realize that the people that are following them really have a lot of influence. So, the reality is that first time authors really have to lean on their network to help create the initial word of mouth and sales for the book and then it will domino from there. But giving those people access to content excerpts of the book and engaging them in ways that feel exclusive.
• Other newsletters and downloads can really activate them into your street team. I just had an author of the other day kind of casually mentioned after months of consulting with them, that they had a newsletter list of 100,000 people that don't know that they're publishing a book in three months.
• So, building out a plan to engage with those people regularly and get them excited about the books that they take action and spread the word, and that can be the match that likes the entire fire for a book success.

• Kesley: On social media, information is spread so easily and so quickly, and having a really strong content calendar prior to the book launch and content strategy is really going to help your message and push it out to the people who are in your existing network and to also reintroduce your platform and your brand and your book to new consumers.
• So, having a really strong content strategy prior to the book launch and starting that even months before and building up your platform and growing your audience and starting from building that strong foundation.
• Promoting your book is very important. All authors should be doing it. However, there's a fine line between making it your whole marketing strategy and making it harmonious with the rest of your content. Because, like I was saying earlier, authenticity and connection with your audience is really. What is building a content for social media strategy and a strong platform? Nowadays? If you overflow your social or your newsletters with your products or promotions or things that you're selling, people are going to lose its interest. And they're going to be just overall disinterested in your brand. You could lose followers and things like that, so make sure that you were promoting your book and you because you are the person that's going to promote your book the best. Make sure you're doing so in conjunction with the rest of your content strategy and making them balanced instead of overpowering each one.

19:50 - Yeah, you're right. That is a common mistake, and we've joked that the 80/20 rule for marketing content versus sales content is really more like 90/10, if not 95/5. Alright, so do either of you or both of you have any tools or apps that you can clue-in for our listeners in terms of social media marketing or book promotion?

• Corrin: Yeah, so this goes back to something that Kesley previously mentioned about livestreaming, and that is Clubhouse. I know the popularity and the projections for that has ebbed and flowed over the past couple months, but I do think there's a really big opportunity there for a lot of authors who want to facilitate discussion groups and get engagement. There's some great groups on Clubhouse that meet informally a couple times a week with a moderator and an expert, and they just facilitate conversations and it's a really casual environment with those groups. And I think the barrier to entry is low for authors and the stress level.
• It's supposed to be something fun to talk to real people and not only share what they know, but also engage and maybe learn something themselves. And then on more of the specialized marketing side of things, my team loves an app called Publishers Rocket. It really helps us to select Amazon categories and keywords for the metadata that will help best position the book on Amazon so that it reaches the right kinds of readers and gets the algorithm working into the books favor. We really utilize that tool when we're doing Amazon bestseller strategies with authors to determine what category should the book be in a general estimate of what kind of sales we're going to need to break the top ten and even get in the number spot one spot in those categories. So that's super useful.
• And then an oldie but a goodie that I think people forget about is Google Trends. We use that as well for what keywords should be used in marketing copy and what keyword should be used in blog posts and then behind the scenes we use it in book titling all the time. It's a really great tool if you're comparing two or more words, which one you should use for headline copy or a book title.
• Being able to gauge how often those keywords are searched can really tell you is there an opportunity to own this keyword if we start using it now and really optimize its usage? Or is this keyword peaked? And people are now moving on to others? So those kinds of tools to see trends and numbers and searches really give us a good idea of where consumers heads are and how they're searching and have been super beneficial.
• Kesley: A big part of the content ecosystem is an effective social media strategy. Social media marketing and planning takes time and to be successful on social media, consistency is key. The best partner in that is a strong scheduling software. I've used just about every social media scheduler available right now and Sprout Social is by far my favorite. We use it at Greenleaf. My whole team uses it. We love it. It has so many great tools like an optimizing post tool where you just directly go in upload the post and it tells you what time or what day and what platform will be the best to post it. It’s really great. It has an internal Canva tool where you can design content right there in the system as well.
• To keep on trend with inbound marketing, HubSpot is really an amazing platform for managing all inbound strategies. And so that accounts for content, website, and social lead generation. It's a really great platform to keep all of your inbound marketing strategies in one centralized location. They have really hyped up inbound and what it can do for marketers and what it can do for businesses and their platforms is just a true testament of their craft.

24:30 - Great, well we've covered a ton of ground so far, so finally, can you tell us what you see is the biggest hottest marketing trend coming into 2022?

• Corrin: I have a few of them and they're very specific. They're very specific to authors and publishing. So I think the growing demand for eBooks and audiobooks specifically. It's the biggest segment, the fastest growing segment of business right now, and not only just early months of the pandemic. Readers go digital because closures, the popularity of those digital formats continues to grow, especially because of podcasts. They really got listeners and readers used to longer form content, and the appetite for audio is there, and it's not slowing down anytime soon.
• Just like eBooks are now standard for all books that are published, I think audiobooks are now going to be the standard in that space as well, and the marketing opportunities for that are lagging like they did when eBooks were first released. But we're starting to see more opportunities to reach audiobook listeners through Bookbub's partner site Chirp, and through promotions directly with Apple and with Audible so it's going to be a continued surge on that front as well. I think email engagement is going to be more vital as ever as people continue to get fatigued by the amount of content that's being thrown at them all the time. It is difficult to build a list but once people are on your list it truly shows that they're invested in your brand and your message so that goes for influencers being very valuable. I would much rather have my authors have a following of say, 10,000 of highly engaged followers across networks, then have 100,000 people that just aren't responding or aren't replying to any of the content that they're putting out there as well.
• And I also think there's big opportunity with backs marketing. Again, another area that publishers saw tremendous amount of growth during the pandemic and for a lot of publishers, their backlist is the backbone of their business and their revenue generation. And it can be for authors as well. There are more opportunities than ever to revitalize marketing for backlist titles based on current events. And you can easily monitor those through things like Google Trends and Publishers Rocket and you can easily run eBook promotions and targeted advertising to take advantage of those opportunities as well.

• Kesley: I'll speak more from the brand marketing side like I have done. Influencer marketing will still be a key marketing strategy and revenue driver. In 2022, HubSpot states that in 2022 61% of marketers surveyed and focus group plans to leverage influencer marketing into their strategies and their budgets. It was actually measured as the third highest trend that they plan to prioritize behind short-form video content and inbound marketing, which I previously spoke about. Next, is not so much going to be a trend, but more so a movement. And we did see a lot of this in 2020, but social irresponsibility will not be tolerated.
• Social responsibility has exceeded the realm of being a trend and moved into more, so a category of a movement. Inclusive marketing and social responsibility are a must for everyone with a platform. Social media allows everybody to have a voice and for good reason. And I've seen so many brands and creators fall into a crisis because of poor social listening skills or being tone deaf to situations and not adjusting their marketing strategies to accommodate. So now more so than ever consumers want and expect those with the platform to use it and speak to important issues, or at least even address them.

ABOUT CORRIN

With nearly twenty years of experience in branding and digital marketing, twelve years of which have been within the publishing industry, Corrin has extensive knowledge of content marketing, product marketing, and digital advertising. At Greenleaf, Corrin oversees the branding, marketing, and digital media marketing teams where she develops and executes strategic marketing programs and consults with authors on building their brand, establishing online presence, and growing reader communities. Corrin holds an MBA in marketing from Indiana University, completed the Yale Publishing Course, and was a 2015 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. Corrin is also a popular lifestyle blogger and has spoken at IBPA Publishing University, WordPress WordCamp, and South by Southwest.

ABOUT KESLEY

As Director of Business Development, Kesley spearheads innovative initiatives to expand Greenleaf’s presence both on and offline. She manages all company marketing initiatives, corporate communications, and cultivates strategic partnerships, strengthening brand awareness to drive revenue and consistent growth. Kesley also pioneered the launch of Greenleaf’s health and wellness imprint, Well Spirit Press. As head of the submissions team, Kesley meets with both debut and seasoned authors to help them identify the best options for their book and guide them through the business model and submissions process. Kesley holds an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and was named a 2020 Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree. An all-seasons outdoor enthusiast, Kesley spends her free time with friends and family wakeboarding, wake surfing, snowboarding, and skiing.