The Nice Author Doesn't Finish Last in Book Marketing

Being personable and kind actually sells more books!

We have all heard about authors that were elitist or difficult. They like the glass of water at their podium to be an exact temperature and such.

Once upon a time, an author’s reputation was mostly determined by his or her writing. Fans didn’t know that much about your personal life, so you could get away with being reserved. You could even get away with being rude! In fact, a little edge only added to your allure.

Now, however, social media has altered the expectation.

Today, fans digitally follow their favorite authors and want glimpses inside their life. The choice of which authors to follow online is no longer based just on whether one is a fan of their book, but also whether that author is an interesting follow. Fans expect to be entertained regularly.

Yikes.

Before you get too intimidated, let me clue you in on a little secret. I used to work as the Communications Director for an art center. We hosted author events and writing workshops. I got to be behind-the-scenes for these, as well as in front, visiting with attendees and gathering feedback. Do you know what was the most common compliment I heard about our visiting authors? It was always a variation of this: “She was so nice!”

Sometimes, the praise was worded differently, maybe they would describe the author as “personable” or very “down to earth,” but the point is that attendees were surprised and blown away by the author’s kindness. That doesn’t mean they didn’t value the author’s writing as well, but they expected the writing be good. So that didn’t feel as noteworthy.

The timeless wisdom from Maya Angelou is true even from a marketing standpoint:

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

—Maya Angelou

There are a LOT of books out there. Books are a saturated market—meaning, there are more books available than there are readers interested in consuming them. There are a lot of tips and tricks an author can use to try stand out from the noise and get seen. But this one is so simple: just be the guy or gal that your fans sincerely like.

Online, that looks like being vulnerable enough to share about your personal life. Respond to comments and DMs. Follow back some of your most engaged fans. Avoid political rants.

In person, it looks like staying after a reading to visit with fans for as long as you can. Asking fans questions about themselves. Showing interest in what they do for a living or the family they brought with them to your reading.

Now, no discussion about vulnerability and access is complete without also acknowledging boundaries. You can’t give fans as much access as they probably prefer. It wouldn’t be safe or healthy for you. So set some guidelines for yourself first.

But this “trick” is so simple. It’s an important foundation for your career and your marketing strategy. If you are the author fans want to see or spend time with, or the one that event coordinators want to ask back…then you will see greater sales from that.

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I was recently on the Resilient Writers Radio Show and this very topic of being personable came up! Host Rhonda Douglas shared a story she knew about a writers panel where one author was very elitist and the other funny and relatable. Guess which author had the longest autograph line after the event?

I bet you guessed correctly, but you should also listen to the episode to get further details about the story, as well as hear the many other book marketing topics that Rhonda and I discussed!