Novel Marketing

How to Write Short Stories with Joanna Penn

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 Pen

Should You Leave Kindle Unlimited in 2026? The Math May Surprise You

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 co

Get More Time to Write by Using a Grok Bot

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,

Will Your Back Matter Get Your Book Banned on Amazon?

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

SEO for Author Websites: The Only Guide You Need in 2026

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 i

The Comprehensive Guide to BookFunnel

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 othe

Why Your Cover, Blurb, and Hook Are All Just Guesses

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 th

The 5 Tiers of Audiobooks: Which One Should You Publish?

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,

Estate Planning for Authors: How to Protect Your Books (and Your Family) After You Die

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

Why Amazon Is Terminating Innocent Authors

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

Author's PR Playbook: How to Get Media Coverage Without a Publicist

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

How to Level Up Your Writing With Chris Fox

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 g

How to Revive a Dead Book With a Promo Stack

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 Nov

Why I'm Giving Away a $249 Course This Month

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

Announcing the 2027 Novel Marketing Conference

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

The Four Loves That Drive Book Sales

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

Rules for Book Advertising with David Gaughran

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

My Worst Takes & Mistakes Over 500 Episodes

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 ta

Stop Guessing: How to Know If Your Book Marketing Is Working

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 a

The Cultural Zeitgeist Shift That's Making Indie Authors Rich

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