4 Unrealistic Expectations to Avoid During Book Promotion

There’s a big difference in being a writer and being an author. A lot of people want to be an author, specifically because they want to have written a book. There’s a certain notoriety to being an author, in the way that people assume being a famous actor is spectacular (Bill Murray would suggest being rich is better than being famous, but that’s another story). 

But, when we start to go down this rabbit hole, there can be an awful lot of false or unrealistic expectations about what a book might deliver. The main problem is that most people only consider the books they see at the top of the charts. This is a small percentage of course. Most books don’t make best seller lists. 

In fact, most people still picture authors as the guy in the tweed jacket, looking out the window, smoking a pipe. Perhaps he’s looking for his muse. Perhaps he’s looking for his next royalty check. Either way, this guy doesn’t exist outside of old noir novels. 

In the real world, these unrealistic expectations make authors make bad decisions. If you’re trying too hard to do something outside your wheelhouse, you’ll fall short of the things you can do well. Trying to be a mass consumption writer means trying to write so general you appease everyone. 

Like trying to write a campaign speech, this generic mush generally pleases no one. Instead, you need to write for a specific person and the book should cater to that person’s needs and wants. Your book should be a complex and delightful meal, not oatmeal. 

Whether you try book marketing for self published authors, free book promotion, or paid book promotion services, the key is consistency. But for now, let’s talk about the unrealistic expectations that come from promoting a book…

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The first fantasy, of course, revolves around sales. If you’ve ever heard the story of Stephen King signing 10,000 autographs while an assistant literally ices his arm, you might picture yourself in this situation.

You see yourself in this fantasy Barnes and Noble, packed with fans (even though 25 percent of this “book store” is now basically a toy store). You take a seat, perhaps to a light applause, and pick up a Sharpie to start signing. You write your full name, then a condensed version, then just your initials - always trying to engage and figure out what to write to this fan. 

“Who do I make it out to?” you might ask this fictional fan. You write something clever about how their city relates to your book and then move on to the next one. You write something similar or maybe draw a heart and scribble down a few more initials. Next. 

But this is all nonsense, at least in the beginning. Following in Stephen King’s footsteps is the same as trying to perform at next year’s Super Bowl halftime show (just ask his son Joe Hill, who is currently also writing in the horror genre, but under a pen name). 

Stephen King is a once in a generation author who loves his fans, but most people aren’t as lucky with their book sales. On average, non-fiction books sell about 250 copies per year and only 2,000 books over a lifetime.

Part of this comes from the competition, as publishers estimate around 500,000 to 1,000,000 books are published every year, just in America (this doesn’t include the 13 million other books in circulation). 

Read about How to Choose the Right Book Publisher.

Of the ones who do surpass these numbers, BookScan reports only about 250 books per year sell 100,000 copies. So, if a book is your retirement strategy, you may have a better chance playing the lottery (picking numbers is easier than picking words anyway).

However, publishing a book (or books) has a compound interest over time and there are countless reasons to do so, as books are multipurpose marketing tools that create authority and visibility (meaning profits can come in a multitude of ways).

As such, this list isn’t meant to persuade you to avoid book promotion, quite the contrary. It’s simply meant to ground some of your expectations so you can become a prolific writer and increase the odds of writing a bestseller. 

Let’s continue...

Comedian Conan O’Brien recently said, “Yes, it’s easier to be seen, but many people are being seen, so being seen means less than it used to mean.” Essentially, getting 1 million views on YouTube is not the same as being seen by 1 million people on The Tonight Show back in the days of Johnny Carson (or even Jay Leno). 

Instead, you have to “be seen,” or be read, in an ongoing manner. Conan also said, “There’s a lot of noise out there and sometimes I feel like I have a little triangle, but if I can make that sound good and play it consistently over time, people are going to go, ‘Do you hear that triangle?’ I want to figure out what I do and play it clearly.”

This means that writing is all about dedication. It’s about taking the time to write a book, promote it, and then doing it all over again. That’s what Conan meant by making a good sound, over and over again, for an extended period of time. For a chance of fame (if that’s what you’re after), you need to do good work over and over again. You need to hit that triangle, over and over again. 

As Bill Gates once said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” The road to short-term fame is packed with people who failed at these hail mary attempts. But, for those who put in the work, day after day, year and year, fame or authority or at least appreciation can become a reality. 

Besides, these days, most people who write bestsellers are already famous. That’s why they get the book deal. But for the rest of us, a book is unlikely a path towards fame and global success. 

For starters, there’s only a handful of famous authors (truly famous, that is). When you start to name your favorite authors, try to only think of the ones currently living. How famous are they really? How many average people know their names?

Instead, a lot of famous authors are famous for other reasons - athletes, celebrities, business tycoons. Being famous helps them sell books, not the other way around. Other than King, Patterson, Rowling, and Gladwell, there’s maybe two dozen famous authors.

But, a book can raise your visibility and help your other books (or other projects) get media coverage. For non-fiction writers, there are outlets like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) where journalists seek experts (aka authors) for quotes.

Once you publish the book, it’s more likely you’ll be someone credible for news outlets and newspapers. The same is true for lecture halls, television studios, media pages, and boardrooms. This way, you might find some free book promotion and free book advertising. This is true for non-fiction and fiction writers. 

Therefore, a great book can lead to more media coverage or visibility in your field. But, if you build a brand or platform, a single book won’t build it, but it is part of the pillar materials to hold up the platform. Writing a new book is the best book promotion to promote another book. 

Read about Advertising and Book Trailers.

For dubious reasons, the New York Times Best Seller list is the most prestigious list your book could land on. But, even for a possibility of landing on this list, you’d need to sell about 10,000 books in the first 7 days (yea, that’s serious book promotion). Again, this is another shortcut that doesn’t work for most people. 

But, even if you do hit this massive goal, numbers alone do not equal a spot on the list. Essentially, the only way to get on the list is to have a traditionally published book, a large pre-existing audience, or conducting expensive shortcuts (like buying your own books to boost sales numbers, but let’s not even get into that...).

Essentially, hitting this list (with a first book) is expensive (so forget free book promotion), potentially as hard as writing the book, and time consuming. Plus, it doesn’t necessarily translate to more sales. 

But, here’s the good news. Think about your absolute favorite books. List your top three. Now, (unless you’re a huge James Patterson fan), were any of those best sellers? Did that make you buy the book?

Instead, think about your book as a method for authority and credibility. Some people say books are business cards, but they’re more college degrees (actually, they’re more important than degrees these days).

It’s hard to write and publish a good book, but that’s why they make authors credible. 

Think about how you currently find information. Most likely, you check Google, YouTube or Amazon. If you can’t find the answer right away or simply want to dig a little deeper, you’re eventually going to find an “expert” on Amazon, such as an author. Become an expert and sell more books (or master a genre in the fiction world and sell more books). 

There’s no shortcut in book advertising, but there are best practices. Writing is a career after all, so think about selling books over the course of a lifetime, not just the first year. Let’s continue...

Most fantasies around publishing a book won’t come true, but it’s really about perspective. If you’re trying to live the “writer’s life,” it’s possible that your perception is somewhat off.

Smoking pipes and mixing cocktails does not make a writer. 

It’s the same as wanting to be rich, wanting to lose weight, or wanting to start a business without doing the work. It doesn’t compute. You have to do the work. Wanting doesn’t matter and it’s definitely not enough. There is no free book promotion and the best marketing for self published authors is writing another book. 

Basically, the idea of being a writer is not going to change your life, but the writing might. This potential glamour, or book sales, or notoriety, or fame only come from putting in a lot of work. It only comes from the writing. The writing helps the book advertising. 

Will a book potentially open doors for you? Yes. 

Will a book create new opportunities? Yes. 

As investor Jim Rohn said, “Become a millionaire not for the million dollars, but for what it will make of you to achieve it.”

The same thing is true for writing a book. The same is true for becoming an author. 

It will change you, but it’s not because of the hypothetical lifestyle, it’s because of the work invested in your field or your subject or your fictional story.

Writing a book shows people who you really are and it’s one of the best marketing tools ever created because it’s so difficult to create. But, does it hurt to dream a little big? Well, yes and no.

Michael Lewis once said, “When you’re trying to create a career as a writer, a little delusional thinking goes a long way.”

There’s nothing wrong with wanting your book to do well, but you’re better off writing it and marketing it to specific groups of people who enjoy those types of books, rather than writing mass market dribble with the hopes of making a best seller list or finding fame.

Know your audience and give them what they want. That’s the best book promotion. That’s the best book advertising. If you focus on chasing unrealistic expectations, you’ll focus the wrong targets and hit nothing. 

Whether you try book marketing for self published authors, free book promotion, or paid book promotion services, the key is consistency. 

Books are multipurpose marketing tools that create authority and visibility in a crowded marketplace. If you have a skillset, amazing story, or unusual knowledge in a given area, a book can create credibility to share this knowledge in a profitable way. Writing a respectable book is, in itself, the best book marketing for self published authors. 

In addition to book sales, being an author also offers a path for speaking gigs, fundraisers, brand launches, and company promotions. It’s difficult to write a book, so writing a book allows for you to be an expert in your field.

Likewise, a book shows you can fully commit to something when given the opportunity. Publishing a book shows you’re an expert. Publishing a book also shows you’re the type of person who finishes things. Again, this is it’s own form of book promotion services.

A book also puts you in a position that people aren’t willing to be: on trial. Publishing a book can appear risky, but as soon as you push those thoughts aside, the confidence drastically outweighs any negativity (you can always practice developing a thick skin on Reddit…).

All of this is to say that a book might not make you famous, but it can get you seen. You wrote the book and that makes media coverage more feasible. In addition to a cover story, the simple phrase “…has a book” encourages gatekeepers to unlock doors for you.

Again, this is an opportunity for lecture halls, podcasts, and interviews, but really for any visibility in any field you wish to be a part of. This is how you build a brand or platform, and while a book isn’t the single characteristic to get you there, it is a pillar to stand on.

Plus, this doesn’t even include all of the unknown positive influences a book could bring. A book could lead to a collaboration that could lead to a hosting opportunity that could lead to a network series, and so on. All of this starts by taking action. All of this starts by figuring out how to perform your own style of book marketing for self published authors.