It seems like book marketing sanely gets attention the old-fashioned way with well-written content. Sarah, in her blog Marketing Christian Books, has an interesting post this morning called How to get more attention for your books. The idea of intense, seemingly unnatural, social campaigns may be slowly passing away. Don’t get too excited though.

The idea that search engines are pulling back in front of social media is no real surprise. However, it remains true that this applies more to non-fiction than novels. People often forget that non-fiction still dominates the industry. In adult books, nearly two-thirds are non-fiction—though accurate figures are very hard to find. More than that, adult non-fiction sales are rising faster or falling slower—depending on the time period chosen.

Book marketing sanely gets attention the old-fashioned way

You post regularly on your blog(s), provide guest posts for other blogs, give seminars, webinars, teach, train, and work hard on your SEO. Though the social media attention feels good, giving strokes to aching egos, it rarely provides readers, followers, or sales. To quote Sarah’s post:

When it comes to promoting your book on social networks, do you feel like you are wasting your time? You might be right… you really might be barking in the wind. —from How to get more attention for your books posted April 16,2018

She goes on to say;

Recent studies show that social shares are way down. Recent studies by Buzzsumo and Shareaholic show that social sharing is way down. Due to algorithm changes on Facebook, social shares have decreased almost 50 percent in the past year. —same place

So, book marketing sanely requires realism

Facebook has lost much of its luster to authors as it becomes merely advertising. It seems so yesterday when you think about it. Now, Facebook groups still matter a lot. But, it is rarely for reader access. Look at things closely, please.

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