Create an Incredible Book Marketing Plan for the Coming Years
This video is one of three videos created by NotebookLM by Google using the 10 Ways to Market Your Books report generated by the Comet browser from Perplexity AI as input. I’ll share the other two videos in the next few days. It’s interesting to hear how each of the videos approach the 10 Ways report by featuring the top 3 or 4 ways. Obviously Google and YouTube favor top 3 and top 4 videos versus top 10 videos.
Book Marketing Blueprint: Introduction
You poured your heart and soul into writing a book, and it’s finally finished. But now comes the really hard part, right? Getting it into the hands of readers. Today, we’re going to dive into a strategic blueprint for navigating the incredibly competitive book market of 2025 and 2026.
This is the million-dollar question. Thousands of books are published every single day. Just having a great story? Well, it’s not enough anymore. So how in the world do you break through all that noise? That’s exactly what we’re going to break down step by step.
The secret isn’t about finding one magical marketing gimmick. It’s about building a smart, phased plan that creates real momentum. We’re talking strategy here, not just a bunch of random tactics.
1. Build Your Foundation: Author-Owned Assets
Let’s start with the most critical piece of the puzzle, your foundation. These are the assets that you completely control.
Your little slice of digital real estate is going to serve you for your entire career, no matter what trends come and go. This distinction is absolutely crucial. Social media is powerful, for sure, but you’re essentially just renting space. An algorithm can change overnight and poof, your reach is gone. But your website and your email list, those are yours. They’re long-term, reliable assets that you actually own. So this is all about building your home base.
Your author website? That’s your central hub for everything. Your books, your bio, your blog, you name it.
And your email list? That is the single most powerful tool you have for talking directly to your most dedicated readers. No algorithm can get in the way. Think of it as your private hotline to your biggest fans where you can share all the cool behind the scenes stuff nobody else gets.
2. Engage Your Community: Dynamic Social Proof
Once that foundation is solid, it’s time to build a real community around it. This is where we move from just having a static presence to creating dynamic two-way conversations. This is where social media platforms like BookTok and Bookstagram are invaluable.
The key word for 2026 is authenticity not just advertising. People have a built-in sales pitch detector these days. Instead of just posting, buy my book, share that weird historical fact that inspired a chapter. Film your raw reaction when a character does something you didn’t expect. That’s the stuff that connects.
Alongside that, you’ve got to generate social proof with reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. It’s totally non-negotiable. And of course, creating buzz with teasers and giveaways gets people talking before your book even comes out. This really gets to the heart of this phase. People don’t just buy books anymore.
They buy into authors they trust and recommendations they believe in. Your job is to build that trust. One authentic post and one genuine review at a time. So let’s make this super practical. A giveaway isn’t just about giving something away for free; it’s a strategic move.
First, create some eye-catching graphics that people actually want to share. Then team up with another author to cross-promote to each other’s audiences. That’s the way you can double your reach instantly. Then you can make a huge deal of the announcement to get as much engagement as possible.
Okay, so you’ve built your foundation and you’re engaging with your community.
3. Amplify Your Reach: Leverage Audiences
Now it’s time to amplify. This phase is all about working smarter, not just harder, by tapping into audiences that other people have already built. The chart below shows a powerful way to think about your outreach. You’re not just shouting into the void. You’re strategically placing your story in front of people who are already listening and reading.
A little pro tip: When you’re pitching podcasts, don’t just talk about your book. Offer a unique angle or some expertise that serves their audience. That’s how you get a yes. Just remember, a single recommendation from a podcaster or a book blogger that people trust is worth way more than a dozen ads. You’re basically borrowing their credibility for a warm introduction to a whole community that’s already primed to love books just like yours.
4. Drive Sales: Convert Interest into Action
Finally, we get to the conversion phase. This is where the rubber meets the road. All the work you’ve done building a foundation and engaging a community, well, now we need to translate that into action, both in sales and in deeper connections with your readers. Think of these as your turbo boosters.
Targeted ads on platforms like Amazon or BookBub can put your book directly in front of buyers at the exact moment they’re looking to buy. You think targeted ads are just noise? Think again. A single, well-executed BookBub campaign can seriously ignite your sales — a potential lift of over 75%. Why? Because it puts your book in front of hungry readers at the exact moment they’re ready to click buy.
And never underestimate the power of connecting with someone in person at an author event, a festival or a book signing.
Sales Aren’t Everything
But sales aren’t everything. The connections you make at a workshop or a signing, that’s what transforms a casual buyer into a lifelong fan who will buy every single book you ever write. That’s the long game.
This isn’t just a random list of book marketing tactics. It’s a cohesive four-phase book marketing blueprint that takes you all the way from the ground up.
Here is the entire journey in one place. You start by controlling your assets. Then you use them to build a community. You leverage that community to expand your reach. And finally, you convert that reach into sales and lasting connections.
See how each phase builds on the last one? It’s a system. So the real key here isn’t to get overwhelmed trying to do everything all at once. Success comes from a strategic approach, doing the right things in the right sequence to build sustainable momentum for your book and really for your whole career.
You’ve already done the incredibly hard creative work of writing the book. So the only question left is, are you ready to build the platform that makes sure your story finds the audience it truly deserves?
