This month we asked nonfiction authors to answer this question: Which was harder: writing your book or marketing your book? Here’s what they had to say:
Elizabeth Blade
I would say marketing was way more harder than actually writing the book. Although the subject nature of my book was very emotional it definitely flowed at times. Looking at new ways to market my book and get my name out there and to find an audience can be challenging.
Elizabeth Blade is the author of A Rising Moon on domestic violence and you can find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/ElizabethBladeWriter and twitter @Moondance_81
Chris Herrmann
Book 10% effort
Marketing 90%
It’s like starting a small business. The book is your product. If you think you’re job is finally done after all the effort that has gone into at last getting your book published, you’ll be disappointed. You’re only 10% there. Your work now as a marketer has just begun!
Chris Herrmann, past small business start up owner and now speaker and author of his latest book, The Youthful Art of Midlife Travel. youthfulmidlifetravel.com
Sally Eberhardt
It’s a no-brainer! Marketing is harder than writing. Writing my book entailed logical thinking, discipline and some natural aptitude for producing friendly, conversational and engaging content. ‘Pain-free Networking for Introverts’ is based much on my own experience of 20 years as well as additional research to broaden the perspective. Marketing takes more effort on an even more regular basis – and entails stuff that doesn’t come so naturally to most writers. It’s a steep learning curve but one worth doing the hard yards on so that you sell some books and they aren’t just glorified business cards.
Sally Eberhardt – .Author of ‘Pain-free Networking for Introverts’ and enthusiast of connection, collaboration and empathetic leadership.
https://sallyeberhardt.com/
Lizzy Williamson
Writing the book was harder for me. I had never written a book before and was faced with a lot of self-doubts. There was a very mean inner voice going on in my head telling me, Who was I to think I could write a book? Time was also a factor. Running a small business and being a mum, I was writing my book every morning at 5am for an hour while out walking (I would voice memo it and transcribe later) and didn’t miss a morning – rain, hail or shine. A lot of my recordings begin with a very shaky voice saying, It’s so cold, it’s so cold. But at the end of the year, I had enough of a book to get a publisher. Working with an editor was when the real work began. Late nights, lots of sacrifices including no TV for a year. I had my daughters cheering me on the whole time though saying, ‘keep writing mum…you can do it!’ Marketing the book was a lot of work but fun with morning tv and media interviews which I loved doing.
Dubbed by Best Self Magazine as “the excuse-buster from Down-Under”, Lizzy is a certified Personal Trainer, Speaker, and Author of Two Minute Moves who has been featured on Studio 10, The Today Show, Good Morning America.
Kim Calera
Writing my book was most definitely harder than marketing my book. I’ve always been a good writer, but if you have an existing audience, it’s actually relatively easy to market your book. Plus, it’s not as mundane and you don’t end up with writers block! 🙂
Kim Calera – Best selling author of Zero Waste Secrets (best selling in front of Greta Thunberg!) https://honestmiracle.com/products/zero-waste-secrets-book
Laine Brown
Animal Emergency Service has four locations throughout QLD, and some of the most well-renowned emergency vets in the industry – and are the thought leaders in emergency and critical care in Queensland.
The production of our First Aid Book – A Guide To Common Emergencies – wouldn’t be classified as easy. The writing of the book involved putting together data and research of the most horrific emergency cases we see in our hospitals and hours of deducing technical terms into laymans terms, all whilst giving the best possible veterinary advice, proofing, image sourcing, graphic design and more. However, despite the hours of work that have gone into the production of the book – the hard work has just started for our small team. The marketing of this book is so important for its success, and we are finding smaller bookshops don’t want to take the risk of holding inventory (likewise for online pet stores). Larger book stores and chains won’ t take the book on because we’re an independent publisher. Add to this mix the shopper’s expectation to constantly receive discounts and cheap products, which instantly devalue the content within the book (written by the foremost vets in the industry with years of emergency experience). This puts pressure on an independent publisher to meet not only price pressures, but inventory holding expectations – the easy part was writing the book.
Laine Brown – Marketing & PR Manager – Animal Emergency Service
If you like this blog post, you’ll love our Author Toolkit on writing nonfiction books. It includes checklists, templates, worksheets and more. Check it out!
