Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
Ready to supercharge your author journey? Join bestselling author and book marketing maven Penny Sansevieri and savvy publishing insider Amy Cornell for lively, no-nonsense conversations filled with smart strategies, creative inspiration, and publishing know-how you can actually use.
Whether you’re self-published, traditionally published, or somewhere in between, this podcast delivers real-world advice to help you sell more books, build your platform, and thrive in the ever-evolving publishing landscape. From clever promo hacks to critical industry insights, each episode is designed to move the needle on your success.
Fresh ideas. Actionable tips. Unfiltered talk.
If you’re serious about your author career, hit subscribe and tune in—your next big breakthrough could be one episode away.
Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
From Beach Reads to Bestsellers: Marketing Your Book in Summer
Summer is upon us, and savvy authors know this season presents unique marketing opportunities—but what exactly makes a book beach-worthy? Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell dive into the evolving definition of "summer reads" and reveal practical strategies for positioning any book to capture readers' attention during these warmer months.
The podcast challenges traditional notions of what constitutes summer reading material. While escapist genre fiction remains popular, today's readers are equally drawn to true crime, activity-based children's books, and "maker" titles that inspire summer projects. With rising travel costs leading many to embrace "staycations," books offering at-home experiences or local exploration guides are experiencing unexpected popularity surges. The hosts emphasize that even serious books needn't be shelved until fall—they simply require different positioning to connect with summer readers.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is its focus on low-cost, high-impact marketing pivots. Rather than suggesting expensive cover redesigns or content overhauls, Penny and Amy recommend simple tweaks and easy changes to grab more summer readers!
Ready to transform your book into this summer's must-read? Update your marketing approach with these practical strategies, engage your fans with seasonal promotions, and watch your conversions grow. Remember—these techniques work for books of all genres and publication dates, and once developed, can be adapted for any season throughout the year.
Buy Penny's book The Amazon Author Formula
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Hello and welcome back. This is Penny Sanseviery and Amy Cornell, and this is the second of our rerun shows that we're doing. This one is actually from June of 2021. And it was a really, really popular show at that time. It had a market yearbook as a summer read and we were going to redo the show, but then we listened to it and were like, oh my gosh, this information is still very current and it was so popular at the time. So we decided to rerun it and we'd love to get your feedback on presenting these shows, because we have grown this audience for the podcast so much in the last year that I think many of you missed some of our heavy, like our super, super popular shows from even a year ago. So we hope you enjoy it. And here we go. Bye-bye, hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Zansbury and Amy Cornell, and today we're talking about is your book, a great summer read and, amy, this is another idea that you and I have discussed quite a bit recently, actually.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's hard not to Everybody gets excited for summer, right?
Speaker 1:I know, I know, especially this summer, and you know I did a blog post on this, but I felt like it was worth mentioning, because authors don't often see their book as a summer read and I think that, and then there are others who insist that their book is a summer read when it's really not. So I think it's good to, I think it's good to create sort of that distinction. Not that you shouldn't push your book out all the time, but Summer Reads, as you'll learn from this podcast, has a little bit of. You know, there's a little bit of, there's some changes that you can make to your book and there's some enhancements that you can do that really help to push it out in front of you know, in front of your audience. And I think that one thing that we're going to see this year, that we're going to talk more about, is are people really are summer reads in 2021 the same as they were, let's say, in 2019, because we can't really say 2020, because nobody really has summer in 2020, but, you know, are they really the same? And that's hopefully what we're going to. You know what we're going to expand on.
Speaker 1:But before we get too far down this topic, I just want to remind everybody that we are doing we're doing a new promo, which is your most pressing marketing question or publicity question, either, or, and if you can send that in, the contact details will be in the show notes. We will answer your question the last five minutes of the show so that we know you have to listen to the whole show. But one of the reasons we really like this is because I know sometimes and we won't mention your name if you don't want your name mentioned on the air, absolutely, and make sure to put that in the note too you may feel like your question is really embarrassing and you should know this, or everybody else knows this. You might really be surprised that a lot of people don't. A lot of people may have the same question that you do, so I think it's definitely worth mentioning. We also love reviews. So by all means, wherever you listen to your podcast, please make sure and leave us a review. Tell us what you liked. We love show ideas. So contact details again in the show notes. Send us your show ideas. What do you want us to talk about on an upcoming show?
Speaker 1:So let's dig into some ideas for summer reads. I mean, like what kind of books could be considered summer books, and I realize that we're sort of at the cusp by the time this show airs. We're sort of at the cusp of, hey, it's already summer, but summer is different depending on when kids are out of school and things like that across the country. And we know that genre fiction has always been big. Typically. You know, genre fiction is a big. It tends to align with a big summer book. Everything has been just the world news and everything that's going on. I think we might start to see more lighter books for summer reading, so nothing too heavy at the same time. At the same time, true crime continues to be really big and it's also something that you can lose yourself in. So I think you know we are going to see a lot of that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, the escapism factor for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know, as a parent I am 100% here to say that kids' books are huge. I have a child that's old enough to be an independent reader so I'm always open to great books that will keep her reading this summer. You know that will actually engage her, keep the reading up. You know full disclosure. I'm not one of those parents that has them do homework all summer long, but the reading thing is still disclosure. I'm not one of those parents that has them do homework all summer long, but the reading thing is still big in my house. So I think kids' books for sure help a parent out, get out there, do your part to kind of wave your hands in the air and get in their faces, because parents are looking for things like that as well.
Speaker 2:And my kids also love a project and an experiment and an experience. So books that focus on activities or learning something new or or trying something different are also super appealing and a lot of adults like a summer project, you know, like and I'll admit I didn't have the time to jump on all of those fads of like making your own kombucha or sourdough starter, or because that just wasn't my life when quarantine happened and a lot of those things were happening and I I don't think I'm entirely by myself in that. So I think a lot of these maker books are also have a lot of potential to be really successful this summer as well to people that want to catch up on all of those things, because there are plenty of people that had a really hectic, you know, quarantine, you know, they weren't just sitting around with a ton of free time on their hands.
Speaker 2:So so, if you have one of those books, keep pushing that, because I think people are also just getting happier. It's summer you know we're getting out more, so I think everybody's just really open to a lot of positivity as well.
Speaker 1:Well, and I also think to your, to your point, that a lot of people were busy during quarantine. I mean, you know, there's a lot of really funny memes out there about how, oh, I finished Netflix today and, granted, you know, granted, some people, you know, had a lot of time on their hands. But I think that, with the price of gas and with the price of airline tickets I mean airline tickets are, in particular, really expensive right now I think you're going to find a lot of people doing staycations, so craft stuff, like you mentioned, right, I think people who said you know, I didn't really have time to do this during quarantine it was also, let's face it, it was chaotic. If you've never worked from home and you're trying to figure out how to work from home, there was a lot going on and we had a lot sort of in our heads and now everything feels like it's smoothing out. So people may be making time for crafts, right, but also, you know, in terms of staycations, exploring your own neighborhood.
Speaker 1:So, if you have a book that is, you know I'm in San Diego if you have a book that's all about San Diego and hidden San Diego, or something like that, you know, think about think about really giving that a do, and when we the reason that we're talking about summer reads sorry, I'm like falling over my own words here, but the reason that we're talking about summer reads now is I'm like falling over my own words here but the reason that we're talking about summer reads now is because now is a really good time to do something kind of special and maybe a little bit different, which we'll address in, you know, in a few minutes, but I think in rare occasions, you know books that aren't really good.
Speaker 1:Summer reads might be, like we talked about earlier, a little bit more serious in nature. I think we're sort of fatigued on politics and big name memoirs right now, because we had so many of them in 2020 in particular, that you may want to not necessarily not market your book if it's super serious or political or something like that, but the extra boost that we're talking about really kind of gives a nod to hey, if you're going to be, you know, if you've got some time on your hands, you may want to make that. Try that sourdough starter or whatever that craft is.
Speaker 2:So let's talk. Yeah, sorry, real quick, penny, I think you make a really good point too, because a lot of the people that come to us also are just they start to get confused about where to spend their time and money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. So I think I think I just wanted to highlight that because you made a really good point. I didn't want to to move away from that too quickly because most authors are dealing with a finite marketing budget for the year. Sure, this is also about being smart. So, like you said, some of these heavier topics, you know, don't do nothing. You know there are still some smart things you can do because obviously we don't all fall into the same boxes and do the same things for the summer. But this is a good time to get smart about when, to pull back a little bit, maybe on what you're spending on marketing and the type of ads you're running, if you're running ads and things like that and give yourself a break so you can really use some of that budget and time for a time of year that really is more lucrative for you as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:That makes a good sense too. And same thing for summer reads. This is a time where you don't necessarily want to be super conservative, because there will be other times a year where your book doesn't quite fit in as naturally. So you know, kind of embrace when it works for you.
Speaker 1:Well, and the beauty part which we want to get into, you know, we want to get into some of the some of the marketing ideas. The beauty part about this is that it doesn't really take much right. So we're not talking about, we're not talking about re-releasing your book with a new cover. We're not talking about, you know, making massive changes. We're talking about some really thoughtful and smart pivots to get it to get onto people's radar screens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, because people want a sure thing and you say it all the time, penny everything is distracting. You know Amazon's distracting, everything's distracting. You add in summer and kids home and people going out more, so there's a lot of distractions going on. So buyers want a sure thing and you want to make their decisions super easy. So you know, one really simple thing you can do is add a reference to being a summer read or summer activities or finally making time for yourself now that summer is here. Things like that, added to your book description, could actually make a really huge impact on how quickly people are converting from shoppers to buyers.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah absolutely you could also do. I'm a big fan of the Amazon shorts video. You could also do a really fun short video for your book page too.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I would love to see that. If somebody has a maker type book, I would like, 100% love to see that. If somebody has a maker type book, I would like 100%. You've probably got me. If you do a clever little short video about like a before and after or something like that would just be like oh okay, like you've sold me, I know what this book is about, now I can buy it. I feel good about buying it. Like I think that's really brilliant.
Speaker 1:You know what. That's such a great idea. If you have some kind of a how-to book, you could do a quick little snippet video of some of the things that you cover, or one thing in particular that you cover in the book in terms of because you know that for most of us, like we love to try things. Amy is so much better at this than I am. I'm just going to be full disclosure.
Speaker 1:I am so intimidated by some of these maker books. I'm like, oh, it looks really good and I'd love to do it. And then Amy doesn't. It looks brilliant. And I'm like, well, mine would probably totally suck. But I think that you can speak to that majority audience that's looking at this, thinking this would be a fun craft to do over the summer, maybe with the kids or whatever it is. Be a fun craft to do over the summer, maybe with the kids or whatever it is refurbishing an old desk or something like that. If you did a short snippet video showing people really how easy it is, or a quick little tip, I mean something like that would absolutely capture my attention.
Speaker 2:Right. It makes a big difference, because I think there's something with online retail now that bridging that gap and making it feel like a reality for the potential buyer is, is is challenging, and I think video is something that really shows the meat of what you have. Is is really smart and it helps bridge that gap much quicker, because sometimes these books can be very conceptual, you know, and so I think that's really important. I love that video idea and we're always pushing authors to keep their author central fluid. You know that should not.
Speaker 2:That is not a static strategy. That is not a set it and forget it aspect of your amazon presence. But changing seasons is a really great reason to change up what's in the back end of your author central account and capitalize on plugging in a few more of those in this case, summertime references, you know. But again, like, get yourself set up. This is just a good reminder that with changes, like set up a reminder and challenge yourself to come up with a few ways your book can relate to the current season or time of year and get into Author Central and kind of make some of those key updates, because it really does stand out, because 99.9% of authors aren't doing that. So when a buyer lands on your page and they see that you're making references to summer plans and activities or what a great read. This will be by the pool with your cocktail those things stand out as special and it makes potential buyers feel like they're a part of something special, and everybody wants to be special.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, and I just want to add to this, too, this really interesting stat. If Amy said the word author central and you think, oh, when was the last time that I looked at my author central account on Amazon, author central pages get more than 1 billion hits a year. So it's not. And you know what's so crazy is that it is something that I know a lot of authors overlook. Um, it's easy to overlook Like I get it, but you really shouldn't, and you can use your author central pages for all kinds of really fun stuff which we haven't done a podcast just on Author Central. We definitely want to do that. I know we did a series on Goodreads, which was super fun.
Speaker 1:Speaking of Goodreads, I think that there are some really fun promotional things that you can do, also by doing a Goodreads giveaway to help spike some attention to your book, or an ebook promotion, or you could you know you could do both.
Speaker 1:You could also have some fun with Amazon ads, too, which I love doing and, I think, especially as a seasonal element.
Speaker 1:So if you're running Amazon ads now, you could run another one or another set of them, and when I say set, I usually run all three.
Speaker 1:I run the product placement, keywords and automatic ads with a seasonal tie-in, you know, with a seasonal ad tie-in too. But I think that, and not to get too far off the mark, you know in terms of promoting on Amazon, but if you're going to go after that summer read market, you know in terms of promoting on Amazon, but you're, if you're going to go after that summer read market, you know your social media should align with that too. So if you have I mean you know we talked about the video for the crafts, right you could reuse that video in your social media. Or if you have images of crafts, um, or summer reading images or things that you know spike their attention, you really almost have to and I'm not implying that readers are not thoughtful, but you really actually have to kind of make that connection for people sometimes and say oh, I hadn't really thought of this, this is great, I would love this book while I'm, you know, on vacation or doing a staycation or whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you know you should always enlist friends to help you out as well. If you can, yeah. So ask them to take a picture of your book in different locales, share those with you directly to send them to you to use or, better yet, ask them to share on their own social and tag you, you know, the goal is to never be the only person talking about your book, and summer is absolutely not a time to be shy. So, or just straight up friends and family, um that, that that's totally allowed. Ask them to share on social, you know, ask them to post images and and and help you with that, because, again, just to Penny's point, you need to show people, show it in action, essentially, that this book is already being enjoyed.
Speaker 2:And that makes such a huge impact on somebody's decision to finally click buy Well, and I think that you know this is a good opportunity.
Speaker 1:If you have a super fan, know this is a good opportunity. If you have a super fan group, this is a good opportunity for you know, to invite them to not only share it on their social media but also send you pictures of them reading the book. We did a really fun promo with an author that we worked with and it was. We asked people to submit their favorite place to read the book and we ended up getting a lot of beachy pictures because it was it was a romance novel and it was something that she used in her social media. It was so, so, so fun. So you could engage your readers to get um your fans or or email list or whatever, to have them send pictures and maybe offer them some, you know, some kind of a prize or something.
Speaker 1:And I think that it's also important to note that whatever you implement so we're not asking you to continually reinvent the wheel every single season but whatever you implement for this summer reading kind of campaign, you can really duplicate for any season, right? So whether it's back to school or late summer or holiday, we talked, we just did a podcast and I think it's probably going to run after this show, but we just did a podcast on publication dates and aligning yourself with publication date. You know with a particular date and how to pick it, et cetera. But you know, once you create the set of strategies that you do for your seasonal sort of promotional boost, you could very easily replicate that for every season.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That's so smart. You know the focus is different, but pretty much the strategies that really work and that resonate with people are pretty consistent. So it's reinventing why your book currently fits into readers' lives, why it's fulfilling needs, why it's answering current questions, and it's just. It's a great exercise anyway to keep yourself on top of all of your marketing, because you know again, it's so easy to get off the rails here, but when you start brainstorming these now, you have new ideas and new things to pitch to bloggers as well. You know what I mean. All of these things we talk about how your marketing efforts should always be supporting other efforts that you have going on, and so there's no reason to not use these ideas that you come up with in lots of different ways. Utilize them throughout different strategies. There's no sense in wasting all of these great ideas and efforts on just a single season.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's absolutely true, and I also think that you know this is this type of thing is not. This is not just for you. Newbie books out there, right? If you're listening to this and you think, well, my book is a few years old, this is not meant just for new releases, jump on this train, because as long as your book is evergreen meaning that your book isn't, you know, outdated get out there and promote it. In fact, I was teaching a class about a month ago and an author mentioned to me that she had a book. Actually, it happened to be a sourdough starter book and this book was, I don't know six years old or something, and she has been selling this and it wasn't even a book that she was pushing. Obviously, now it is because it just started selling out of the clear blue, which is a high quality problem to have. But you know this is not a date sensitive thing and you know this isn't just for new releases. So, if you have a book that's out there, think about, you know, creating this great summer read and then replicate this across different seasons, cause you'll get much more bang for your for your buck.
Speaker 1:I want to thank you so much for tuning in for listening again. Once again, what is your biggest marketing challenge? Send that over to us. Contact details are in the show notes. We love reviews, so please tell us what you think. Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Penny Sandsbury and the ever awesome Amy Cornell. Thank you so much for listening and thank you for helping to make the show so popular, because we're really rising up the lists of marketing podcasts and we're showing up in Google. We're getting some really great attention, so we so appreciate it. We hope the show is helpful and we always welcome your ideas. Bye-bye.
