Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast

Our Favorite Episodes of the Year (Plus a Few New Takeaways)

• Penny C. Sansevieri and Amy Cornell Author Marketing Experts • Season 5 • Episode 50

Share episode

Last week, we counted down your favorite episodes based on downloads.
This week? It’s our turn.

In this end-of-year episode, Penny and Amy each revisit one standout episode they couldn’t stop thinking about — not just because listeners loved them, but because they perfectly captured what authors struggled with (and grew through) all year.

This isn’t a nostalgia episode. It’s a clarity episode.

Both picks reflect the themes we’ve seen again and again in consultations, campaigns, and real author careers: realistic expectations, better positioning, clearer messaging, and the foundational work that separates steady progress from constant frustration.

And yes — full episode links are in the show notes, because we fully support holiday re-listens while politely avoiding family conversations.

🎙 Amy’s Pick: What Most Authors Get Wrong About Debut Success

This episode struck a nerve because it told the truth about debut books — without crushing optimism.

We revisit:

  • Why breakout debuts are the exception, not the standard
  • How misunderstanding the publishing industry leads to expensive mistakes
  • The most common sabotage pattern: skipping professional help where it matters most

New bonus takeaways include:

  • The 90-Day Reality Window — why early quiet doesn’t mean failure
  • Why social media “success stories” distort expectations
  • One practical action authors can take today to improve positioning and reader clarity

It’s a reality check — but somehow still feels like a hug.

🎙 Penny’s Pick: Hook, Line, Bestseller: The Art of the Elevator Pitch

If there’s one skill authors underestimate, it’s this one.

In this segment, we revisit why a strong elevator pitch isn’t just for media or conferences — it’s a universal tool that impacts:

  • readers
  • bookstores
  • book clubs
  • librarians
  • metadata
  • emails
  • and discovery everywhere

We break down why great pitches are specific, not vague, and why clarity always outperforms cleverness.

New bonus takeaways include:

  • The 5-Second Scan Rule f

Send us your feedback!

Help shape our 2026 content by taking our 30-second listener poll!

📱Text Penny & Amy: send us your show feedback, burning marketing questions and new topic ideas!

Text the word PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to sign up to send us messages and receive new episode announcements. And don't forget to save our number!

Check out our Book Marketing Jumpstart options if you're ready to take your brand, platform and SEO up a few notches.

Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts!

  1. Be sure you're following the show: by clicking the + Follow button on the top right of our show page. If you're already following you'll see a ↓ downward arrow.
  2. Locate Ratings & Reviews: Scroll down on our podcast page until you find the "Ratings & Reviews" section.
  3. Rate the podcast: Click on the stars to give the podcast a rating.
  4. Write your review: Under the star rating there will be the most recent review and just below that click "Write a Review" and compose your review in the text box that appears.
  5. Save: Once you've written your review, click "Save" to submit it.

Can't use Apple Podcasts? Email us your review and we'll put it on our website: inf...

SPEAKER_01:

Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sansberry and Amy Cornell. And we hope that you are me deep in this festive holiday season. Goodness knows, we certainly are we are both. We love this time of year, and we love the show. So last week we actually did a show on your favorite episodes. So we, Amy and I both picked one episode that we really, really loved. Which was actually kind of hard, right? It was hard. Yeah. I mean, because like let's be honest, we talk a lot if you've listened to us. Right. If you've listened to us, you know that sometimes, and we just a blanket apology if I ramble sometimes on because I just get so passionate about a topic and I'm just like, I just I have so much to say. Um but this isn't a so just to be clear, this isn't a nostalgia thing for us. Like, this isn't just, hey, now this episode is about us, you have to listen to us talk about our favorite episodes. These are episodes that we feel really strongly about, um, and and themes that we've also seen this year, like mindset positioning, foundational stuff, which we talked about last week. Um, and we're gonna put we'll put the links or Amy has an idea for the links in the show notes.

unknown:

We'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_01:

We'll talk about that at the end of the episode. Right. Um So, Amy, do you want to do you wanna kick us off?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I think what's really interesting, and full disclosure, y'all, we did not discuss this in advance. You know, we didn't we didn't engineer this to say, Oh, right. It was, yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, it wasn't like we engineered this to say, Penny, you need to pick something in this vein, and Amy will focus on something in this vein, and that like we really did just in email go, I like this one and I like this one. And it really, I hope it I found it very interesting how it worked out that we really covered some really important bases. So uh, so anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, you know what's so interesting just before you get started is that these episodes, for those of you who have been listening for to us for a while and kind of gotten to know us, these episodes are really kind of a snapshot, I think, of our individual personalities and things that we in our work environment really resonate with too. Yeah, that's true. Because yours, when you sent me yours, I was just like, that's so Amy. Really? It really, really, yeah, absolutely is. And mine is obviously because something that I'm really obsessed with. But no, but I think other than Costco.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, and yours honestly reminded me of an like an event you would do. Like it 100%. Yeah. Like I could see Penny talking to a group full of authors about this for hours. So I was like, this absolutely tracks. So without further ado, now that we've really buried the lead, right? Goodness. So I chose what most authors get wrong about debut success. And to Penny's point, she's very right. I think I gravitated toward this because I communicate with our clients on a day-to-day basis a lot. And I walk them through our campaign process. So, not just understanding what it's like to work with a team, but for so many of our authors, it's their first book. So, not only are they releasing a book for the first time, it's their first time working with a team and a first time doing a big marketing campaign. And that's that's a lot, right? Yeah, it's a lot. Even our clients that have been doing this for a while, a lot of them haven't worked with a team before or haven't created a really structured marketing plan the way that we do. And again, it's very exciting, but it's so much to learn and it's so much to embrace. And in that process, we Penny and I are both big on education, especially on creating more savvy authors who really understand how this industry works because we we truly believe you'll be more successful when you understand how things work. So working with the industry versus against it, you know. I know we mentioned this in our in our last episode, Penny, but you know, one of the biggest challenges is feeling you're going to be the exception to the rule. I think that's a huge hurdle. Yeah. This kind of goes wrong with that, you know, about what they get wrong about debut success. So it's it's really a behind-the-scenes truth about what it means to release a book. You know, there's the mindset, some of the misunderstandings. I mean, it was a reality check episode, but it was also we really wanted to do it because we wanted you to not feel like something was wrong. I think that was our biggest goal was to ensure that our authors that listen to us understand what the expectations are so you don't get derailed thinking, well, this was a big fat failure. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Let's be honest. We don't want you feeling that way. We want you to understand the realities of the industry in a way that you can then take that and be productive and be proactive versus getting buried, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, because right, because it's very easy to get buried. It's and it's very easy to get lost in this industry because there's all, you know, there's a lot of conflicting information out there. There's a lot to learn. I mean, not only are you publishing a book, but now you are immersed in the learning curve of both publishing and marketing, regardless of how you publish, right? So it's very easy to give up, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And it's, you know, how often do we hit them with that big old hammer penny where we remind them that publishing a book is starting a business?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

If you want to do it the right way, you know, yeah, you are you are a brand now. Like all of a sudden it's like, do you feel very Kardashian-esque? Like, yeah, it's like you have a brand and you have a business and you have all this stuff. And I'm sure a lot of our clients are like, oh my gosh, I didn't sign up for all that, but you did, and it's okay, and that's why we're here, right? Right, right, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think that it's it's also, you know, one of the reasons that I was glad that you that you picked this episode is that I think debut debut authors often forget the 90-day reality window, right? Um, a lot of you know, I have this slide when I teach a class on the perfect book launch. And the slide is, you thought your launch was going to be this, and it's a it's a it's an image, it's a actually a gif of the um the golden, the golden ticket, yeah, uh America's got talent, where they hit the golden buzzer and all the tickets fall and off the and then when actually your book launch was this, and it's based, it's a cat sitting with a black balloon by a trash can. Oh gosh, it's really depressing. But what's interesting about these two, you know, the the juxtaposed nature of these two images is that what attendees really get it, they're like, oh my gosh, yes, that's exactly how I feel. Because we expect a parade, but we generally don't see a I mean, even for book five, a lot of times authors don't see a parade. Um launches have been, you know, for debut authors in particular, launches, the realities of launches have been skewed for many years. And part of this I blame on traditional publishing because when authors, you know, years ago, when I was 25 years ago, when I was first in the industry, when an author launched a book, they were shot out of a cannon. And it was exciting, and they were all like all the things, and that's just not the case anymore. I mean, just across the board, this isn't just, oh, that trend has changed. This is it's not realistic. No.

SPEAKER_00:

It's yeah, no, it's absolutely not. You know, it's I like the idea. I love that you mentioned the 90-day window. Because, and we talk about that with clients a lot because it is, it's easy to get excited about is this happening now? Is this happening now? Is this happening now? But the reality is you're going to be much more successful if you are focusing on what do I need to be doing in three months? What do I need to be doing in six months? And not in a way that means you need to be doing everything and that every month there's more and more and more to do. It's just about the consistency. Right. You know, your consistency is going to make you successful, not these one-off promotions or waiting for something to go viral. That is very much a myth of how it works to be successful in publishing these days. Um, it's just, you know, and when you think, but it's like, but Amy, I've seen people on TikTok or on Instagram and they blew up because of one post. But, you know, we haven't quoted this in a while. There are over 11,000 books published every single day. So if that if that really was how it works, that's all you'd see on the internet right now when it comes to books. So the fact that you see one of those maybe once a year, maybe a couple of times a year, when there are 11,000 books being published every single day just shows you how that like you can't focus on that as being the way you're going to be successful. And come on, I mean, you don't want that. Like that is so random and out of nowhere. You know, I just those kind of piss me off, honestly. And now it's turned into a, you know, a therapy episode. Sorry, everybody. But I get so I get so mad when I see those because it's so unrealistic. And the other day I actually saw a um, and I'm gonna start tracking these pennies so we could do send some traffic to some people's way, but I saw a fabulous author account the other day, and he just had a really straightforward post about something in his garden. And I didn't even realize he was an author at first. I just liked the content. All like he was very engaging, and then I realized, oh, like I saw his descriptor and he's an author. And I'm like, I want to know what kind of books he writes. And I clicked through, and all of a sudden I spent five minutes looking up this guy that I didn't even know he existed because of a very genuine, very human, very engaging post that he did on Instagram that had nothing to do with his book. And that's the kind of stuff we talk about all the time, right? Focusing on the right things, the ones that really matter, that really connect with people on a very natural organic level versus focusing on these kind of big win moments that are really misleading.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think that's a really good point. I think that we focus, we as authors, we focus on the glitz and the glamour of or creating the best post or finding the best hashtag, when in reality, the thing that really resonates with readers is like that post that you saw, the authenticity of it. Um something that really speaks to the, you know, speaks to them and and captures their readers in the process. I mean, I think that that to me is that's a lost art in book marketing, in my opinion. Because we, you know, we with what there's a fever pitch when you publish, right? Like, oh, you publish your first book and all this expectation and your family's like, oh, how's your book doing? Is it a bestseller? Because the majority of people outside the industry don't really understand how challenging it is to get a bestseller, if you even ever get one, right? Right. So we get all this thing and all this like pressure, and how's your book doing? How's it selling? Like all this other stuff. And we feel that and we take that with us, and it becomes part of our marketing and that feverish, like gotta sell more books, gotta do all those things. That's really where we see a lot of authors uh fail. And I was actually gonna mention that one of the episodes that we mentioned last week was how authors sabotage your own success. And this is this is one way. And I'm not saying that you publish your book like in secret and not tell your family or your spouse or your friends or anything, like, no, I'm doing this secret thing and you all can't know about it. But listen to some of our episodes. Sorry, now this is totally a plug for the show, obviously, because you're already listening. But if you're a new listener or you haven't listened, listen to go through 2025. Look, you'll have plenty of time during the holidays. Tell your family, don't miss out for holiday parties. I promise you that we talk about this so much in this, in the in this show, right? You know, the realities of what this looks like. And I cited this before. I know I talked about this a lot because this still just to this day just breaks my heart. Um, a thriller author that I worked with a bunch of years ago, before Amy, actually, so it was a long time ago. And debut book, fabulous book, absolutely like I've read this book and I rarely say this, but I read this book and I'm like, this book's gonna be a movie. Like someday this book's gonna be a movie. And the author was all about what they weren't getting, who wasn't paying attention to them, what wasn't happening. And the book actually did well, but never wrote another book. Never, and it was it was really a shame. So don't be this thriller author who showered me unnamed. But because we can really undermine our own success.

SPEAKER_00:

I know it's it's really the foundational. And now I need to make sure I go back and give this author a shout out. I need to find his account. But to everything that we talk about, Penny, he was really doing all the right things. Like I said, I ended up finding out he was an author by accident. I ended up looking through his things, I was impressed by his social, not impressed, like, wow, he's a marketer. I was impressed by the content. It was genuine, it was real, I found it interesting. And then I checked out his books. The covers were good, the retail pages, and I'm not, I'm not blowing smoke. They were well done. And I was like, this is exactly all the things we talk about that, you know, he's just doing his thing. And when the right person finds him, it makes sense. And it made sense to me. And all those foundational pieces were in were in place. So his entire first impression that I got looking into his work was stellar. Yeah. And it was awesome. And I was like, yes, this is the kind of experience we want readers to have all the time with the authors that listen to our show or the authors that work with us, you know, just a super organic, positive first impression. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I you know I can I completely agree with that. Um, all right. So my episode, I know this was so this is so me. And it's actually a recent episode. I was, I was hoping to go back further, but then this I don't know. I I have a very weird attachment to elevator pitches. I love them. I talk about them all the time. Amy tolerates me talking about them all the time. And the other thing is though, too, is authors desperately need them. So my episode was Hookline and Best Hook Line Best Seller, The Art of the Elevator Pitch. And I I don't know if there's anything more that I can really add. Elevator pitches, you gotta have an elevator pitch. Does your book need a book cover? Yes. Does your book need an elevator pitch? It's in the same bucket. Yes, again, right? Yes and yes. Um the the problem with elevator pitches is that the majority of authors don't have them, right? So elevator pitches, go back, listen to that episode. I promise you, because we also cite elevator pitches in a lot of our shows. So we keep coming back to the topic of elevator pitches again because I'm obsessed. I it's weird, I get it. I one time taught a it was the day before it was Whitby Island Writers Conference, which was a great conference. I taught an entire afternoon, I think it was a four-hour class of elevator pitches, and it was amazing. And I talked about that in the show. I remember I cited an example, which I won't repeat here, but um just to tease that, go back and you know, go back and listen. Um elevator pitches, if you haven't listened to that episode, they are a universal tool. You can use it with readers, book clubs, media, bookstores, um, your Amazon retail page, which we talk about a lot, email intros. And one of the things that we really addressed in this episode was great elevator pitches are specific. They're not generic. So things like love and loss, overcoming obstacles, the journey of healing, those are all nebulas. They don't necessarily like that, doesn't really tell me anything. Right. It doesn't tell me anything about what your book is about. So we talk you through specifics on how to create, you know, great elevator pitches, the clear hook, the clear promise. Like, what is your book gonna do? When I talk to authors, and this is very particular to nonfiction authors, although both fiction and nonfiction authors should have elevator pitches, but I always ask them not only what is your book about, but how is your book different from every other book that is sharing the bookshelf with yours? And that is the thing that your elevator pitch should answer. Right. Um the other thing that I think is worth mentioning too is that great elevator pitches, they're not for you, they're for the reader. That at the end of the day, that is yes, that is the only thing that really that that's the only thing that really matters. So regardless of what your genre is. And the other thing though too, uh, is that um I don't know, we call it the five second rule, but I just think that attention spans are really uh have really shrunk. Um and an elevator pitch really has to get somebody's attention in five seconds. So if I can leave you just with a couple of tips before we close out the show, um create three versions of your elevator pitch, right? Create one that's one sentence, that's really, really hard. Create one that's two or three sentences. In fact, you may want to start out with something that is a little bit longer, let's say four or five sentences, and then just whittle it down from there. That's actually one of the best exercises that I can recommend to you right now is start with something that's a tiny bit longer, so four or five sentences, and then start whittling it down. And what's really fun is that you really, I mean, I don't know, again, I'm such a nerd. So maybe I'm an outlier about this, but I really think that's fun. Like taking something that's maybe a little bit too long, has a little bit, you know, too many extra words that you don't really need, and whittling it down to something that's that's shorter. And then I recommend read it out loud. I cannot tell you how many times I have read out my own elevator pitch or book description and thought, how am I allowed outside? Like so read it aloud. I really recommend that you do that because that's something, I don't know, reading it on the page versus reading aloud, two different experiences, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

You know? Um, and and the other thing that I really, if you have your elevator pitch, who's actually after we did that episode, we actually got a couple of them that listeners emailed to us. Feel free to email us your elevator pitch. I'd love to, I would definitely love to take a look at it. Um all right, so those are our two favorite episodes of the year. If you haven't checked them out, Be sure to be sure to to to take a listen to those. Amy, are we gonna link them in the show notes? No, we're gonna just let people go find them, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. We'll put a link in the show notes, but depending on the platform you listen to, the link may or may not work, but we'll put it in there so you know the full title of the show to make it easier to find. And also remember, these are our favorite episodes of this season, this year. So if you're scrolling for it and looking for it, if you hit 2024, you've gone too far. So that's we we've narrowed it down a little bit.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. Um, so just really quickly, just to wrap up, I know this is our we have one more show this year. Um if you have the time, and of course, make the time between now and the first of the year. One thing to fix before January, update your book description. Just make those tweaks. I know you've been putting it off. Make those tweaks. Um sharpen the elevator pitch, sharpen the promise of the book. Have that review, right? Um and this is something that Amy and I both hate, but something to look forward in the new year or two. Short form video. Short form video, I cannot emphasize enough. Not just because of TikTok, but YouTube Shorts has just gangbusters. You know. Um Amy, do you want to talk about the one thing to skip doing next year, which I know you love?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh yeah, stop. I mean, we've mentioned it in the last couple shows, but stop trying to skip the line.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

This is one of those things, you know, it it kind of fits into both of the last couple episodes that we've done. But truly, in today's market, it's very competitive. Honestly, doing the right things in in as much of the proper order that's possible. You are human, you know, so we get it. But doing the right things, really putting the time and energy into the foundational pieces, it will make everything else that you do so much simpler. And you'll get a lot better return on your investment, both in time and money on your marketing if you do your foundational pieces properly, instead of thinking, I published my book and now I shall wait for the fanfare. Like, unfortunately, that's not how it goes. If it was, we'd be selling those packages and living somewhere fabulous overseas, right, Penny?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we'd be doing this from a mansion in the south of France. Just saying.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. We would not be hiding that secret. We would be telling everybody about it. So sadly, that secret does not exist. What the reality is, is that you can do the right things. And that's why we have this show. We try to cover all the right things you need to be doing and make it somewhat easy for you to digest and execute on your own. And then, of course, we're always here to help. So please don't re like, you know, hesitate to reach out. We love hearing from listeners. We've gotten a lot of listeners that have turned into clients over the last couple of years, which has been really fabulous. I personally love working with our podcast listeners, Penny, because it's amazing how much they know when they show up at our door. I know. I know. I know I'm always so impressed at how much they've actually retained when listening to the show and they say, okay, I know you've said this, so I've done this, or I have this ready, or I'm not gonna ask about this. And it's like, oh my gosh, I love this. That yeah, that you come so prepared. So congratulations to our listeners. You know, we appreciate how much you do pay attention and the effort you're putting into educating yourselves.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and we want to thank you all so much for listening. Thank you for for you are the reason that we do this show. We don't, as much as we love to yada, yada, yada, we don't do it just to hear ourselves talk. We we love our listeners and we do this for you because Amy and I are both huge fans of education. So we think that educated authors make better choices in terms of, you know, for their for their book or choosing a marketing company. We've had a fantastic year, and we just want to say thank you all so much for your listening for your feedback. And speaking of feedback, we have the survey. It's in the show notes. Fill it out, let us know what you think, what you want to see more of, the length of the show. We are building 2026 around you. So, not to say that the first five years were about us, but we really want to get your feedback for the upcoming season. And we have some really exciting announcements that we're gonna go into next week. So we wish you all a very celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah, happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas. Um, whatever you celebrate, we wish you much joy, and we will see you December 26th. Bye bye.

Head Shot

Penny Sansevieri

Host
Head Shot

Amy Cornell

Co-host