Why Authors Avoid Marketing—and What’s Really Keeping You Stuck

If you’ve ever put off your book marketing, disappeared down another research rabbit hole, or told yourself you’ll get serious about promotion after the next book is finished, this episode is for you.

And no, we’re not here to call authors lazy.

Because what looks like laziness is often something else entirely: overwhelm, uncertainty, perfectionism, fear of making the wrong decision, or simply not knowing what to tackle first. Book marketing has a lot of moving parts, and when everything feels important, it’s surprisingly easy to do nothing—or keep doing the comfortable things while avoiding the decisions that would actually move the needle.

We start with one of the biggest examples: authors who describe their target audience as “women,” “people who like to read,” or, our personal favorite, “everyone.”

It may feel safer to cast a wide net, but vague reader targeting creates problems everywhere else. Your audience influences your Amazon categories, keywords, book description, positioning, retail presentation, publicity opportunities, and ultimately whether the right reader recognizes that your book is meant for them.

Specificity doesn’t shrink your market. It gives your marketing somewhere to go.

We also dig into the behaviors that keep authors caught in what we call the marketing spin cycle: endless preparation, waiting to feel motivated, putting off uncomfortable tasks, worrying so much about wasting money that you wind up doing nothing at all, and convincing yourself that one more book—or one magical marketing tactic—is going to solve the problem.

And sometimes the smartest investment isn’t paying someone to do more tasks. It’s paying for perspective, clarity, and expertise that helps you make better decisions in the first place.

We’ll also share a lesson from our own recent pre-order campaign about why genuinely useful reader value can outperform another piece of swag—and why paying attention to what your audience actually wants matters far more than simply doing what everyone else is doing.

If your book marketing has stalled, this episode isn’t about making you feel guilty. It’s about figuring out what’s underneath the avoidance, simplifying the decisions in front of you, and getting back to the kind of consistent, intentional action that actually builds visibility, reviews, and book sales.

Subscribe so you don’t miss future book marketing tips, share this episode with an author who may be feeling stuck, and leave us a review wherever you listen so more authors can find the show.

Order Penny's latest book, Think Local Sell Global and start building a book sales strategy you have more control over!

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Transcript

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Welcome Back And What Sparked This

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello and welcome back to the book marketing tips and author success podcast. This is Penny Sansaveri and Amy Cornell. And we are we're back. I mean, I know probably doesn't feel like we've been gone because you had us in your ear last Friday, but we've actually taken a hiatus. We recorded a bunch of shows in advance because I was on vacation um to Yellowstone and it was amazing. And so it's really, really good to be back. I mean, I've missed, I always miss recording these shows, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah, because it's it's our outlet for talking about all the things that we think y'all should know about. You know what I mean? You know, so it's like, wow, it gives us somewhere to put all of that information and what we send each other via text and what is, you know what I mean? Our our virtual water cooler talk, so to speak.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Right. And this this episode is really uh again, it very much aligns with some of the conversations that Amy and I have had, but also it was inspired by. So I don't know if any of any of you listening participated in the pre-order bonus for um my for my latest book thing, Global Sell Global. It and by the way, the book has done like extremely well. I am floored actually about how well this book has done. So thank you all to those of you who have purchased it, participated um in this. But it was to some to some extent, I think the show was born out of something that happened kind of on the back end. And when we did the pre-order bonus, there was a link that everybody had to go to to kind of fill out their information so that I could create these local blueprints, which some of them were like 11 to 15 pages. I mean, these were really, really, really thorough. So if you participated in the pre-order bonus, I got a couple of emails from some folks who said we were just blown away by this. It was a really, really great thing. I don't know how we're gonna top that for my next book, but this was really, really fun. Anyway, so we asked for information. So obviously, like your name and where you want to, where you're local to, where you want to do events, what kind of events you want to do. But then it also asked for who your reader is. So it asked both the the Google form asked both for the genre and then for the reader. And I did that intentionally because I wanted to kind of see where if there was a breakdown between the the actual genre and the reader. And in many cases there was. And in many cases, I actually I actually went in and fixed the genre because I felt like the genre that they had listed was not really as supportive as I thought. It wasn't necessarily wrong, but it wasn't as supportive as I felt that it could be. But what was really interesting was the reader. So who your reader is in many cases was wildly detailed. Like I was so proud of y'all. Like it was so detailed and spot on, and it was great. And that really helped me to develop these, the, the, this, this blueprint bonus. But then there was a couple of them where the reader audience was actually there was one in particular, the reader audience was women. So like every woman, which is not a thing, right?

When “Anyone” Becomes No One

SPEAKER_01 3:30

And I shared that with Amy, and I think that's where we started to kind of bounce around the idea for this episode. And then there was other, you know, where they had the reader market, and the reader market was not even close to where it should be, which we've done a whole show on that. So I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole. But I think this really kind of so this may be a tough episode for some of you to hear, but I think it's definitely worth having a conversation about this because a lot of us really need to ask ourselves a question. Am I uncomfortable marketing? Am I lazy? I know we hate the L word, but we are going to give some context to so don't turn off the show. Right. Don't don't stop listening to us. We want, we wanted to do this show because I think it's important to help authors understand the difference between being overwhelmed, being just completely lost, and avoiding the work that comes with being a published author. And it the goal of this episode is not to shame anybody, but really to help you identify where you're stuck and how you can move forward. Because a lot of times, procrastination, feeling uncomfortable, or you know, saying, well, I'm just lazy, which you probably aren't, usually tracks to something that you just that you're just genuinely lost, or you feel uncomfortable doing it. And an example of this years ago when I was first in business, I did my own bookkeeping. I hate math, I'm not good at bookkeeping, I put it off all the time. But you could call that lazy, which frankly I was. So there was basically no bookkeeping for like, I don't know, six months. Don't ask me how I survived, I don't know. But we, you know, I think that it's important to kind of look at the things that are really holding you back. I mean, Amy, I know that was sort of a long intro, but chime in because we both feel very strongly about this.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, and I think it's I kind of like to think of it as a spin cycle too. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like you get this narrative going in your head that if we're being totally honest, creates a version of an excuse that lets you avoid maybe doing the hard stuff or doing what you don't like doing, or learning that new thing that you keep putting off because you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't think being a published author would involve so much learning, right? Like that's not what I thought I signed up for. But that's really what it comes down to is that a lot of times the lack of progress really comes down to something much more specific than what it what it is showing on the surface, right? So there's a lot of ways that these tend to surface, and it's, you know, we I'm gonna list a few of them because I thought these were very relatable. So, you know, waiting for motivation disguised as patience. Like we see this a lot where authors will come to us, their book's been out a little bit, and they were really hoping the book would kind of do its own work, right? Like that they would publish it, it would, it would take off, it would start gaining traction, and they could avoid having to do all that ugly marketing stuff, you know. But that's typically not how it works, right? Like you have to create your own motivation, you you have to be proactive, right? That that's just but that's a very common one. And perfectionism, you know, kind of disguised as preparation. So, like, well, I want to do this right and I want to do that right, and I want to do, but it's like, are you really just avoiding the next step? Right? Like, let's let's kind of let's let's move it forward. To be a successful author involves doing, right? It's not theoretical

Lazy Versus Lost The Real Block

SPEAKER_00 7:30

anymore. It very much is hands-on, right, Penny. Like this is hands work, right? This is not the field of dreams, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Exactly. And I think that that, you know, but in terms of the motivation, I think a lot of us kind of wait for motivation. And the truth is that motivation comes out of taking action. Motivation comes out of doing. And I think that part of where authors get hung up is that they feel that everything has to be perfect the first time. So you know what I mean? And and and they they fear making mistakes, like maybe you're part of a Facebook group and somebody made a mistake and it cost them, I don't know, ten thousand dollars, just hypothetically. And we so that fear of you know, making a mistake is tethered to, oh my gosh, but this person lost so much money. And so I'm just gonna sit here and wait and not do anything. And that is the most lethal thing that you can do for your book. And then three years later, you know, you're left wondering why nothing ever happened. Right. Right. Which is absolutely sorry, now I just made everybody sad.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

But no, but but it's true. I think at the I think that kind of false narrative of that that breakout moment also is one that tends to keep authors kind of on the edge of their seat, going, like, do I have to right? Do I have to yet? Do I have to do this? Do I have to do that? Or maybe something's going to happen, maybe the book's going to pick up, maybe I'm going to get that review that's really going to tip everything over the edge. But that's really not the successful authors are the ones that keep showing up longer than everyone else. Like it really is a marathon, not a sprint. It's not like, let's wait until tomorrow because maybe tomorrow I'll check my stats and my book will have sold a ton overnight. You know what I mean? Like, I know a lot of you listening are probably not those authors, but plenty do because again, taking the next step and putting in the work is a version of the fairy tale of becoming a published author coming to an end, right, Penny?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Right, exactly. And we do a lot of shows. We've done a lot of shows about doing all the wrong things. And I think that along the lines of the example that I just gave, like the author who did the wrong thing and lost all this money, but doing wrong things is comes in many different disguises, right? And and I think there is a fear of, you know, well, if if I if I do it wrong, it's just gonna be, you know, and and I and I've said this to team members as well. If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying. So mistakes are part of life. They're part of, you know, they're part of making like we don't obviously we don't want to make mistakes, but they happen. And I'll tell you just firsthand, and this is going to be really triggering for Amy. Every single time I've launched a book, we have followed the same metric. So we give away a bunch of swag and the pre-orders and the swag. And it got to the point when I launched my most recent book that Amy and I, actually mostly Amy, because I tend to be a little bit Pollyanna. Amy's kind of keeps me grounded, is we were talking about this, and Amy was like, nobody wants the swag. Like, I because we would know, like, people would pre-order the book, but they would never want to claim the swag. Like, don't you want this really cool tote bag and these door hangers and all of this stuff that's like piling up in my house? And one of the things that we realized is that we, you know, we we both kind of had to step back and say, this is really fun stuff. It was a great idea, but the thing that really aligns with what this audience needs is XYZ, which in this case happened to be this blueprint. And literally the books just flew off the shelf. Now, I will say I have 25 books out now. We didn't do this pre-order thing with all of them because otherwise we would be really slow learners, right? Like, oh, it took you 24 books to realize that this idea sucked. But I would say for the last three, Amy, don't you? I think we did this. And finally, and it was discouraging because we would get the pre-orders, but nobody would claim the stuff.

Motivation And Perfectionism Myths

SPEAKER_01 11:40

And we just finally kind of looked at this and said, and sometimes you just really have to step back and say, if you're doing the same thing over and over and you're not getting the results that you want, then you have to kind of take a pause and look at what you're doing and make a choice that's better for your reader, right? I mean, at the end of the day, that worked so brilliantly. It was actually kind of blew us away, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, it it was it made a huge difference instead of focusing what, and we've said this on plenty of shows, so it's ironic. But instead of focusing on what we thought was cool or exciting or fun, we finally had to get serious and think, okay, what is really going to motivate authors to take the next step and engage beyond just purchasing the book. And it was absolutely, yeah, this blueprint, which actually gave them something very concrete to work with that actually changed what they were doing. Like the second it was in their hands, they could start making positive changes in their, you know, book marketing plan. And that was huge. And I think that's that realization is important because I think that, you know, on the author side, a lot of times, you know, and I think we do hear this, you know, you publish a book, the book comes out, a lot of times it's just like, I'm just so proud of myself for doing this. And then after a little bit, you know, you realize, like, wait, I really, I really want people to love this, you know? Yeah. And I would like to make some money on this too. And and that is perfectly fine. That is actually absolutely that ex that shift is very much expected. You know, there's nothing wrong with wanting to earn money off your books and wanting to see those positive reviews and get that validation. But again, you have to figure out where that next step of engagement, what do you have to do next to engage to keep that momentum going? You know, similar to what Penny and I had to do to figure out like how do we keep this momentum going for like beyond just purchasing the book? You know, how do we engage with these people more? On the author side, you have to finally get serious with yourself about engaging with your audience and moving the needle. Because if you give yourself, you know, the laundry list of excuses for why you're not really taking that next step and you know, and doing making a decision, putting in the work, you're going to end up in that spin cycle still. You know, like a lot of people want the identity of being an author, but when you fully embrace the responsibilities of it is when you start to see actual sales, success, reviews. Like it really is such a big difference. It's a big step.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Well, and I think that a lot of times authors don't embrace the responsibility of being a published author and what that means. Right. I think we hear this a lot that, you know, it it's a huge accomplishment to publish a book. Believe me, I, you know, wind myself around the axle to finish a book and get a book out. And it's a it's a big, big, big deal. So you you definitely want to celebrate that, but you also want to embrace what it means to be a published author, which is, and we've done a ton of podcasts on this. So go back. If you're new to this show, thank you, by the way, for listening. But if you're new to this show, definitely go back to some of the other shows that we've done because we talked about the, you know, a lot of tactics that, you know, especially newly published authors need to launch their business, which publishing a book is absolutely a business. And it's not to say that um you sometimes we just get lost. I mean, because when I talk to authors, they say to me, and matter of fact, I talked to somebody yesterday, and he said, you know, there's a lot of information out there, and I'm not really sure where to start. And that's a very fair statement, right? But I think you have to ask yourself, are you lost or really refusing

Stop Pushing Swag Start Helping

SPEAKER_01 15:50

to engage? That's a hard question to ask. It's a hard question to answer, actually, right? Because like with this form, and the person who wrote when I, you know, who is your who's your reader? Women, that's super, that's like saying anybody who likes books. And actually, that was another one that was actually on the form was anyone who likes books. Okay, that's super non-committal and vague. And if we were in person, I would absolutely call you out on that. Because here's the thing though, too, is we Amy and I respect the fact that you wrote a book, but we also and we wanted to use this podcast as a vehicle to do that to push you to be better. So if you come to us, and especially if you go to Amy and you're like, this is my audience, anyone who likes books, she will absolutely in a very nice way push you to be better because we want you to be better. I mean, it's kind of like opening up a restaurant and saying, My customers are people who eat. Okay. So technically, right, that's a solid plan. You're gonna be you're gonna be out of business in like six weeks, right? Because technically that's true, but it's a useless statement, right? It's a useless statement because it does not help you to really identify who your market is, what they want, what you know, what the book cover needs. I mean, all of the things, again, not to get too far down the rabbit hole. Um writing or saying that your book is for anyone who likes books isn't a measure of an audience. It's really opting out of the work that needs to be done. That's a very I hope we didn't lose people when I say that, but it's a very, very true statement.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

No, and that's that's I I like that too, because you know, there's a difference between not knowing, which is fine, everybody starts somewhere, and not thinking. And sorry if that sounds harsh, but truly the not thinking is the not engaging with the work that needs to be done and what it takes to be a successful author. So I think, you know, we come back to that a lot, Penny, that if you don't care about making money or getting reviews or doing any of that, then you can ignore us completely, right? Do whatever you want. Right, exactly. But we talked to too many authors that are really focused on that. They've put in the hard work to get the book out there, and they're like, I want some validation that this is worth my time and energy, you know, which is fair. They would like to sell some books, they would like to get some reviews, they would like to know people enjoyed it. With that comes a level of engagement on your part to treat this like a business and engage in the work. So it's about, you know, knowing the difference between do I not know this and do I need to learn, or am I refusing to think about it because that's hard. Right. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

And I think that the fact that, and I use the example of the author who spent, you know, so much money and didn't really get anywhere or got hoodwinked or something, is a lot of times authors say they don't want to waste money, right? And and nobody wants to waste money. I mean, that's a very, very fair statement. But I think the opposite of that is what's the cost of doing nothing? And I gotta tell you, that cost is really high when you poured your heart and soul into a book. Um and and I think that, you know, uh you should be paying for a lot of authors, assume that hiring help means paying someone to physically complete a task. But you should really, if you're going to hire somebody, if you're gonna bring somebody in, like I years ago brought in a bookkeeper because I was terrible at that and I procrastinated at that and I did, you know, I made terrible decisions. Um, you want to hire somebody who should, you should be paying for perspective. So somebody who understands biopsychology, who knows how readers make decisions and who can look at your Amazon retail page without any kind of emotional attachment that you have. Because we and this, Amy and I see this a lot, is authors who are who've lost objectivity because they're so close to their own work. And it's very easy to get to that point where you're so close to your own work. But uh that's that's where you want to if it brings somebody in who can have that emotional, who can be emotionally

Spend Wisely Build A Strong Foundation

SPEAKER_01 20:40

detached, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yes, in the best way possible. Yeah, that can yeah, that can be objective because again, once you get too attached to your book and you're too close to your own work, you lose that objectivity. And again, you know, not to sound like a broken record, but I think that's when you enter that level again, right, Penny, to where no decision feels like the right decision and everything feels wrong, and you're not sure what the next step should be, and then you end up just with inaction overall, right? That we these little excuses pop up for why this isn't getting done or why you haven't figured this out yet, and it gets very overwhelming. And we completely yeah, we completely appreciate that. And it's like that's one thing that I do. I I have this conversation with authors all the time that reach out to us is that like our real value isn't that we know how to how to get tasks done. Like, yes, we're exceptional at that. Like, yeah, yes, you know what I mean, right? But it's like our focus is really on making sure authors understand how to make better decisions, you know, doing things in the right order. So, those of you listening to the podcast are also picking up on a lot of these things too, right? So, the whole point if you're worried about wasting money and that's why you haven't really moved on, made any moves in terms of moving the needle, making progress. With your book, if it's just sitting there stagnant, you know, know that it's always a good investment to start with the foundation and make sure that you have something solid to build on later. So at minimum, you know, if you find yourself stuck in a spin cycle, consider getting help with your foundation, which means your Amazon stuff, your retail page. That place that people go when they like decide if they're going to click buy or not, that is never going to be in that a bad investment if you're working with the right team. I'm just going to say right now, because that is where, again, if you're concerned about wasting money and that's what's kind of kept you in the spin cycle, invest in something that's a sure thing. And that's in, you know, a lot of that is going to be in how your book presents itself to the world.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Right, exactly. And I think, you know, sitting in a spin cycle, sitting in a lack of motivation, sitting, you know, being kind of your own worst enemy when it comes to getting your book out there, that's a really not great place to be for obvious reasons. But I'll tell you that after you've spent so much time working on your book and you wanted to get it out there, it just starts to become kind of a slog, right? Like you're walking like you're walking through mud or something. So the more that you can take action, um, and and the goal of this episode was never to determine whether or not you're lazy. Look, we all get, I mean, truly, we've all had uh moments of being lazy. It this is really hopefully, that was our goal for this episode anyway, was to identify what's really hiding underneath your inaction or your lack of progress or your pressed procrastination. And I think the next time that you hear yourself saying, I need to do more research, I'll figure it out after my next book, I don't want to waste money. Anyone who likes books, we keep coming back to that. You have to you have to really ask, is this true? Because honestly, you know, you could spend that you could spend the day doing research, and you could just spend years, and then days turn into weeks and months and years doing research. And meanwhile, your book is just languishing. Right. Um, but I think, you know, and we've said this before, writing a book is a huge accomplishment. Being a published author means engaging with everything that comes after. And hire out what you feel you're that you're not good at or that you don't like that you don't want to tackle, but you do have to be ready and prepared to be engaged in your own success.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Right. Absolutely. And I think it's true. I think a lot of times what you're avoiding is probably what you really need to be doing, right? Yeah. That's true for a lot of us in a lot of ways, not to get all woo-woo on everybody at the end of the show. But but truly, typically you avoid what's uncomfortable. And a lot of times that is probably exactly what you need to be

Text Us Ideas And Leave Reviews

SPEAKER_00 25:05

doing and focusing on engaging with or finding a way to get to that next step, you know, break through that wall. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Right. Exactly. So we hope that this, we hope that you listened all the way to the end of the show. Uh and that you didn't hit unsubscribe on your um wherever you listen to podcasts. But thank you all so much for listening. We love um, we welcome show ideas. We love your um, we love your show feedback. Text the word podcast to 888-402-8940. You know, you can send us your show ideas, what you thought of, you know, the latest episode, feedback, good or bad. We are open to all of it. And also we love reviews. So wherever you listen to podcasts, drop us a review, drop us a comment. We will definitely respond. We look forward to to hearing from you, and we'll see you next time. Bye bye.