Novel Marketing

Most authors know only one kind of Kickstarter campaign, and for many of them, it isn't the best one.

This week on Novel Marketing, you’ll hear from Russell Nohelty, a USA Today bestselling author of over 70 books who has run dozens of successful Kickstarter campaigns. Russell wrote the book on the subject, How to Launch Your Book on Kickstarter, and he didn't hold back, even when he disagreed with me.

In this week’s episode, you’ll learn

The chatbot told him his manuscript was brilliant. The humans gave his manuscript a C.

That's what happened to one author who trusted AI as his editor. If you use AI to help with your editing, it's probably lying to you too, and not just once in a while.

In this week’s episode, I talked with Matthew Bowman, a freelance science fiction and fantasy editor who has worked with authors for 16 years and runs the Novel Ninja blog. Matthew helped me develop many of the anti-flattery techniques behind the Patron Toolbox, and he's spent th...

Your book may not be dead. As Miracle Max would say, it might only be mostly dead. A book that flopped three years ago could sell better today than it did on launch day, but only if you fix what actually broke.

This week, I talked with Julie Broad, founder of Book Launchers and host of BookLaunchers.TV. Julie is a #1 Amazon bestselling author, and her team has helped more than 400 authors write, publish, and market their books. When her clients publish second editions, her team moves their reviews over all the time.

In this...

The slowest way to write a novel is to start writing a novel.

It sounds backward, but it’s not.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn. She’s spent years exploring short fiction as both craft practice and creative outlet, and she pushed back a bit on my claim about the slowest way to write a novel.

You’ll learn

Authors on KDP Select get access to $700 million a year in the Kindle Unlimited fund. One login, one dashboard, one algorithm, one company to deal with.

But that same company won't let you talk to a human with authority when something goes wrong, and it runs an algorithm that can end your career without telling you why.

So which is it? More money, or more freedom?

In this week's episode, you’ll hear from Kris Austin, CEO and co-founder of Draft2Digital, to figure out the real answer, and it isn't the same fo...

Authors have historically lamented all the administrative, technological, and marketing tasks that go along with being a writer. How many times have you sighed and said, “But I just want to write!”

 We have just gone through a massive transition in how authors use AI. You can now have AI agents do tasks for you, which means you can delegate all your non-writing tasks to a bot. You tell the bot what to do, and it does it! 

It might sound like magic, but in today’s episode, I’m going to show you it is real. Yo...

It's 1:30 in the morning, and a woman in Cleveland has just finished your book. She meant to go to bed hours ago, but she just couldn't put it down, and now she's at the end, feeling that particular ache that comes from finishing a book you loved. She turns the page to see what you have for her next.

What does she find?

Your book’s last pages might be quietly costing you thousands in sales, subscribers, or readers. They might even be getting your ebook banned on Amazon. But they should be thrilling your re...

If a reader Googled your name right now, what would come up? An abandoned LinkedIn profile from a career you left behind? A neglected Goodreads page? An insurance agent in Albuquerque who happens to share your name?

There's only one number-one spot on Google,  and if you don't claim it for your name, someone else will. The good news is that your most powerful tool for winning that spot is the one piece of the internet you fully control. It’s your author website.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Jason Barnard, digital...

You know you need an email list. You've heard about reader magnets and maybe you even have one, but you're stuck at a handful of subscribers, wondering how other authors build lists of tens of thousands of engaged readers who actually buy their books.

Damon J. Courtney knows how. He's an author and the creator of BookFunnel, a service that helps authors grow their email lists and deliver many types of digital products to readers.

In this week’s episode, you’ll learn 

Every month, traditional publishers lose more ground to indie authors.

One reason it’s happening is that in trad publishing, a committee or the highest-paid person in the room makes the call on book covers, marketing copy, and even what they suppose readers might like. Both get it wrong far more often than they want to admit.

Most indie authors aren't much better off. They just swap the highest-paid person’s opinion for their own, and trust their own gut on covers, titles, and blurbs.

But savvy authors skip this guessing game entirely. They...

For most of publishing history, creating an audiobook meant writing a check for thousands of dollars and hoping you'd earn it back in sales. Because of the expense, many authors decided it wasn't worth the risk. So, they skipped audio entirely.

Here's the problem. That decision now backfires in a way nobody saw coming.

The number one sign that a book was written by AI isn't bad writing. It's the missing audiobook.

In this week’s episode, audiobook expert Derek Doepker will map out exactly how to avoid that trap. We discuss the fi...

You will die. 

It could be today, it could be 15 years from now, but no one lives forever. Your books, however, can outlive you. In fact, seventy years after you're gone, they’ll live in the public domain.

That means your grandchildren's grandchildren could end up responsible for your intellectual property. Most authors have done zero planning for what happens to their books, passwords, and royalties when they're no longer around to manage them.

In this week’s episode, attorney Kelley Way (one of the rare lawyers who practices both estate planning and copyr...

What do you do if your Amazon account gets suspended but you didn’t do anything wrong? 

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't care if you're innocent.

That's not pessimism. It's strategy.

Once you understand what Amazon cares about (hint: it's not you, the law, or fairness), you can start speaking a language they respond to.

In this week’s episode, I spoke with Lesley Hensell, co-founder of one of the largest Amazon consulting firms in the world. She has helped thousands of authors claw their accounts back from suspension, and she knows Amazon's enfor...

Is hiring a publicist a waste of money or not?

A typical book publicist charges between $3,000 and $10,000 per month, and they often require a three-month minimum. At $3 of profit per book, you'd need to sell 5,000 copies just to break even. Most PR campaigns don't come close to selling 5,000 copies.

But the publicist gets paid either way, while the author takes all the risk.

Here's what most authors don't know: the access publicists used to sell is now free.

There are tens of thousands of podcasts looking for guests, and you don't...

Do you feel like an imposter as a writer?

You probably are. Most authors who experience imposter syndrome are imposters, but they don't have to be!

As the saying goes, “There are no good writers; just bad writers who didn’t quit.”

Every author starts off as a bad writer. To make a living at writing you must improve through hard work, determination, and training. 

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Chris Fox, author of over 80 books and three million copies sold. 

You'll learn:

Are your book sales stuck? Maybe sales have slowed. Maybe your launch never took off. Or maybe you're spending money on ads without seeing results.

This week on Novel Marketing, Amazon ad specialist Bryan Canter explains how "promo stacking" can revive a struggling book and put it in front of new readers.

You'll learn:

Whether your book launched last month or five years...

Instead of a guest interview or a marketing deep-dive, in this week’s episode I'm inviting you to something I've spent years building for authors who want to be taken seriously.

You’ll discover:

How you can get lifetime access to my $249 course this month for $0

How you can get your questions answered by me live on a monthly basis

How you can get my digital doppelgänger (ie. AI Thomas) to answer your questions faster and (sometimes better) than I can.

Listen to this short episode or read the b...

A writers conference with no pitch appointments, no breakout tracks, and no recordings? What’s left? A conference that sold out last year! The Novel Marketing Conference is different, and every single attendee that responded to our survey said they were glad they came in 2026.

In this week's episode, I break down exactly why I removed those traditional writers conference elements and what we added instead. Here are three things you'll learn:

Have you ever finished a book you loved, handed it to a friend, and heard back, "It was fine"?

That disconnect has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. It has everything to do with a principle C.S. Lewis understood well enough to write classics that have endured for decades.

In this week's episode, I sat down with bestselling novelist Angela Hunt to break down the four ancient loves that drive all fiction, and how mastering them can help you produce a bestseller and a classic.

You’ll learn

The difference between making thousands of dollars on your next book and losing money can come down to a few cents per click.

If your ads generate even a few pennies of net profit, you can run them until you've sold tens of thousands of books. But if you're losing money, no amount of spending will fix it.

 In this week's episode, David Gaughran, a veteran of digital advertising, joins me to talk about how to make your book advertising actually pay you back.

Here's a taste of what you’ll learn:

We’ve arrived! It’s the 500th episode of Novel Marketing.

To celebrate, I’m giving away the MacBook Neo I reviewed a few episodes ago, but I’m also revealing my worst takes and biggest mistakes over the past 500 episodes.

Some of those takes were correct, but when circumstances changed, the advice was no longer good. But sometimes, I was wrong from the start. Gather ‘round and hear the tale of the evolution of the host and his book marketing advice.

Listen in or read the blog to find out which pieces of advice...

Most authors can tell you their royalties but not their net profit per book. They spend money on ads, see sales come in, and assume things are fine. But are they? Sales and profit are not the same thing.

How can you find out if you’re making money or just making sales?

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Eiri Theodorou, founder of Publisher Champ, an analytics platform used by over 25,000 authors.

You’ll learn

There’s a culture shift underway that most authors aren’t seeing. Even traditional publishers can’t figure out why their titles are resonating. If your book isn’t selling, it could be a cover or craft problem, but it might be a zeitgeist problem.  

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from fantasy and LitRPG author Seth Ring. We discuss the biggest cultural shift in storytelling in two decades and what it means for your books.

You’ll discover

I bought and tested Apple's cheapest laptop so you don't have to.

I stress-tested the MacBook Neo with a 250,000-word document, ran every major writing app, and pushed the machine to its limits. Whether the Neo is right for you depends on what you use your computer to do, because authors do more than just type words into a word processor.

In this week's episode of Novel Marketing, you’ll learn

Your author friends are lying to you about your book cover.

Well, not on purpose. They can’t help it.

When authors are trying to pick a book cover, they often ask their friends which cover they like best. But that strategy doesn’t work because your friends look too closely. They think about your feelings. They vote based on which cover has more votes.

But your cover isn’t for your friends.

It’s for strangers.

In this week’s episode, we unpack why beautiful covers, which are loved by y...

Many authors say reader magnets don’t work anymore. But when done right, a good reader magnet can grow your email list from zero to thousands of subscribers before your first book even launches.

In this episode, you’ll hear from author, podcaster, and producer of the Novel Marketing podcast, Laurie Christine, who built an email list of thousands using various reader magnet strategies, all while writing for Christian moms and middle-grade boys.

You’ll discover:

Do you ever wish you had a team of writing, publishing, or marketing professionals to consult? Do you wish you had an assistant to help with the business and marketing side of writing?

What if you could have both for less than the cost of a couple of lattes?

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear about the newest additions to the Novel Marketing Patron Toolbox, a growing suite of practical tools designed specifically for authors like you.

Inside this episode, you’ll discover:

Is your writing a hobby or a profession? The answer to that question changes everything.

Many authors claim to be professionals but act like hobbyists. They write what they want instead of what readers will pay for. They try to fit a finished book into a genre instead of studying the genre first. They publish without a marketing plan or budget and are shocked by low sales and few reviews.

They expect professional results from a hobbyist approach.

If that sounds familiar, there’s good news. You can choose the professional path.

...

If your book isn’t selling, it may not be your writing.

It may be your metadata.

In this week’s episode of the Novel Marketing Podcast, you’ll hear from Dave Chesson, creator of Publisher Rocket, and learn about the hidden engine behind book sales on Amazon.

Even if your book is well-written and professionally edited, Amazon doesn’t read your book. It reads your metadata. And if your metadata is unclear, inconsistent, or confusing, Amazon won’t show your book to readers, even if it’s amazing.

In this episode you’...

Many authors assume book formatting is complicated, expensive, or something only professionals can handle.

In ​this week’s episode​, I talk with Bryan Canter about why that assumption is outdated, and how tools like Vellum have changed what authors can do. If you’ve ever wondered whether you need to pay a pro or learn to format your book’s interior yourself, this conversation will give you clarity.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

American Taxes, pay too little and you go to jail. Pay too much and you lose the money you need to reach more readers with advertising and promotion.  If your records feel like a mess of Amazon deposits, Ingram payments, Kickstarter funds, affiliate income, coaching fees and dozens of random expenses you’re not alone. 

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from a CPA who works specifically with authors, about how to handle bookkeeping and taxes with confidence. Seth Norris welcome to the Novel Marketing Podcast!

Do you ever feel like your book is taking forever to write?

Maybe you’ve been working on the same manuscript for years, and then you look up and see other authors publishing a book a year, or more. How do they do it?

In this week’s episode, I ask Jerry B. Jenkins that very question. He has sold more than 73 million books, including his mega-bestselling Left Behind series, and he breaks down the habits and mindset that helped him produce quality work on deadline for decades.

You’ll discover:

Most authors begin writing as a solitary pursuit and soon realize they don’t know other writers or industry professionals who can help them grow. So how do you go from a solitary outsider to a connected insider who knows designers, editors, marketers, and more?

In this week’s episode, we talk with Dale L. Roberts, an award-winning indie author and host of Self-Publishing with Dale, about how genuine networking can strengthen your career and relationships.

In this interview, you’ll discover:

If you ask a bestselling novelist how long it took to go from aspiring writer to published success, the answer is usually about ten years. One reason it takes so long is that most authors learn about writing in a haphazard way. They read a blog post here, listen to a podcast there, attend a conference where they receive a firehose of information, and then watch YouTube videos hoping to fill in the gaps.

It is an overwhelming way to learn. If you have ever felt overwhelmed by everything you need to know about publishing, you know...

ChatGPT used to be the go-to AI for authors, but it's no longer the best choice for every task. New models like Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok are outperforming it in specific areas, from creative writing to research to automation.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from The Nerdy Novelist, Jason Hamilton. We discuss which AI tools work best for your writing, your budget, and your genre.

You’ll learn

I am not a big fan of Substack for novelists. Most novelists are better off using the free version of Kit and WordPress. However, Substack is a completely different story for nonfiction authors.

If you’re a nonfiction author who wants to grow your platform without juggling five different tech tools, this week’s Novel Marketing episode is for you.

In this week’s episode, I talk with screenwriter and Substack superuser James Cary about how nonfiction authors can use Substack to attract readers, deepen engagement, and earn recurring income.

You’ll learn

Hardcover books are back. Beautiful, premium, collector-quality editions are gaining momentum with readers who want books that look and feel special. But how do you know if you should create a premium hardcover edition of your book?

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from author Paul Millerd, who created a luxury edition of his bestselling book. We dig into the strategy, psychology, risks, and rewards behind premium hardbacks and whether they make financial sense.

You’ll learn:

Authors talk about “the algorithm” the way the little aliens in Toy Story talk about “the claw.” Does the algorithm randomly choose your book, or is someone else controlling the claw?

In this week’s episode, you’ll discover what we know about how Amazon decides which books to show, and how to get your book in front of the readers most likely to love it.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Lately, I’ve been getting swamped with emails from authors asking about Shopify. Many are losing money and wondering what went wrong and how to fix it.

Here’s the truth most authors don’t want to hear: Shopify is usually a bad deal for most authors.

In this week’s episode, you’ll learn
✅ Why Shopify sounds so good but often backfires
✅ The math behind why most authors lose money by using it
✅ Better alternatives that save time, stress, and money

Shopify is lauded as an attractive option for author...

Are you wasting money, time, and paper by using the wrong printer?

Before you buy your next printer, make sure it has the features every author needs. The wrong setup can cost you hundreds of dollars a year or, worse, stop working altogether when your Wi-Fi service fails.

In this week’s episode, you’ll learn: