by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethspanncraig.com
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to shout about every new release. But I’ve learned that readers don’t follow books—they follow authors they like. When you focus on building yourself as a presence rather than pushing individual titles, every book you write benefits from the connections you’ve already made.
Build Relationships That Last Beyond One Release
When someone finds you because you shared something helpful or interesting, they discover your whole catalog. A reader looking for cozy mysteries who stumbles onto your blog post about small-town settings might browse your backlist and buy three books instead of just the new one. I like to think about promotion as introducing myself to potential readers rather than introducing one specific book. The relationships you build by being a consistent, helpful presence stick around between releases, which means readers are already waiting when your next book comes out.
Create Content That Keeps Working for You
Blog posts about writing, social media updates about your process, or discussions about topics you care about stay relevant a long time after you post them. Someone discovering that content six months from now might become a reader. Book-specific promotion, on the other hand, has a pretty short shelf life. After a few weeks, “Buy my new release!” posts feel stale, and the urgency is gone. But a post about how you approach plotting mysteries or what you love about your genre? That keeps working, bringing new readers to everything you’ve written.
Stand Out by Being More Than Buy Links
Every author has a new book at some point. What makes you memorable is offering something beyond announcements. When you share your perspective on craft, talk about books you love, or discuss topics related to your genre, you become someone worth following. I share writing tips because it’s genuinely helpful, but it also reminds people I exist and write books they might enjoy. Readers remember the author who taught them something or made them laugh, not the author who just posted cover reveals.
Make Everything Else Work Better
All your marketing gets easier when people already know and like you. Readers who follow you are more likely to preorder your next book, leave reviews, and tell their friends about you. Your newsletter gets better open rates when people actually want to hear from you instead of just tolerating release announcements. Social media posts get more engagement when you’ve built real connections. Everything compounds when you’ve invested time in being someone readers recognize and trust.
Build Something That Grows Over Time
Promoting individual books means starting fresh with each release. Promoting yourself as an author means every bit of effort adds to what you’ve already built. Each helpful post, every genuine interaction, and all the personality you share accumulates. Over time, readers start watching for your releases instead of discovering them by accident
How do you promote yourself as an author beyond just announcing new releases?
Author Branding: Build Connections to Benefit Everything You Write: Share on X
Guess I haven't been as good about branding as I should.
Actually, you’ve probably done the best job of anyone I know! You blog with helpful, fun posts, you created an author support community, and you talk about all your other interests: film and music among them. Great job!
This is really good advice, Elizabeth! I can see how author branding really helps authors to create a unique presence, and that helps readers 'match with' them more easily. As I think about it, it starts with the author answering the question: who am I as an author? Whether it's cozy, <i>noir<?i>, historical, etc., that's the first decision. After that, the branding (from website appearance to writing style and everything else) falls into place.
These are great tips, Elizabeth. And I'm guessing you know what works from marketing so many different series that you write.
I definitely know what doesn’t work, just from trial and error, ha. Thanks for coming by!
Hi Elizabeth
Great blog post. I agree completely. It is about building a relationship with readers, not just trying to sell them books.
Mike Martin
A relationship. Exactly!
I've tied my seminars into everything, offering tips from them on my blog. Plus I'm Spunk on a Stick everywhere!
You’re an excellent platform-builder!
Great advice! Being a real person is important when connecting with others.
I'm not great at the marketing thing, but I do try to keep it as real as possible :)
You do a great job!
Excellent post! As someone who hates marketing, this actually makes me feel less pressure.
I’m so glad!
Hi Elizabeth – building relationships, as well as writing to one's readers – but with your own voice … essential: at least that's what I've found … but I only blog – and then relate to bloggers I connect with in some pertinent way. I see from the comments below essentially we feel the same way – though others not in our arena are push, push, push … I ignore them. Cheers Hilary
Building relationships is so much better in so many ways! Thanks for coming by, Hilary.