Last week, I received an email from a professional acquaintance announcing, “So we became the #1 book on Amazon.”

Whoa! A parenting book was Amazon’s top-selling book? How did the author knock out Cassidy Hutchinson’s “Enough” or the Elon Musk biography?

And how did a book using a pay-to-play author services company do it?

Trust me, I was beyond impressed.

Until I wasn’t.

Smoke and mirrors

I pulled up Amazon’s best-seller list and discovered that this “best-seller” wasn’t “the #1 book on Amazon.” It wasn’t even in the top 50.

But it was the “#1 new release” in the Motherhood category.

Ohhhhhh.

When this individual wrote, “the #1 book on Amazon,” they meant, “#1 new release in the Motherhood category.”

Now I feel foolish

via GIPHY

They sucked me in, and I felt tricked. Duped. Manipulated. Now I feel foolish.

I admire the author. We’re connected on social media. Normally in a launch situation when I have some connection to the author and I’m sure it’s a good book (and I’m certain this one is), I’ll share information about it with my social networks.

And, yeah, my networks include young mothers and grandparents who buy parenting books as gifts for their daughters.

But not this time.

By making me feel foolish, they have lost my trust.

They’ll be fine without my support, of course. (I’m not delusional.) But if I feel this way, it’s likely that a few others who received the email do, too, right?

The last thing you want to do, no matter what you’re marketing, is lose your fans’ trust.

3 ways to display honesty in book marketing

Here are three easy ways to make sure your marketing is honest enough to retain the trust you’ve established with readers.

1. Stick to the facts.

Avoid “alternative” facts.

Your book is only the top seller on Amazon if it is, indeed, ranked number one on the best-seller list.

If you’ve achieved category best-seller status, bask in the glory. Adding the word “category” gives your message authenticity and accuracy while still allowing you to claim that impressive “best-seller” status.

Plus, adding the word “category” doesn’t diminish your accomplishment.

2. Don’t underestimate readers’ intelligence.

I got sucked in by the “#1 on Amazon” email because the author has a huge platform. In addition, she and her husband/business partner are professional marketers. If anyone could turn a parenting book into the top-seller on Amazon, it’s them.

It was a plausible claim.

Readers understand this. If they know you’re “internet famous” or if you’ve published blockbusters already, they’ll believe that your book actually could be “#1 on Amazon.”

But does that describe your track record? If it doesn’t, that “#1 on Amazon” claim won’t fly. Readers know how these things work, so they’re increasingly skeptical.

3. Showcase your true accomplishments.

Answer these questions to identify potential accomplishments you can showcase without stretching the truth:

• Has your book been honored with an award?
• Have you won writing awards, or have any of your short stories appeared in publications?
• Have you received industry recognition for knowledge or expertise that’s relevant to your book?
• What fabulous things have early readers said about your book? Have any luminaries or influencers praised it?
• Did the book achieve category best-seller status, even for a brief period? (And did you grab a screenshot?)

Don’t discount any achievement. Claim it, own it, share it.

It’s okay if you haven’t experienced any of this, by the way. “Accomplishments” aren’t a necessity. But they’re a valid alternative to the smoke and mirrors approach that can mislead or confuse.

How much do you value your readers’ trust?

You get to decide how you might or might not stretch the truth in your book marketing.

I choose honesty and transparency. You might think my approach is too rigid. And, hey, you might be right. But just as I’m transparent because that’s what I’m comfortable with, you need to proceed with what works best for you.

I encourage you to look at things through your readers’ eyes first, though. I trusted the author who sent me that “#1 on Amazon” email. That trust was undermined by one sentence.

I’ll get over it, as will your readers. But I move forward with even more skepticism than I had before that message dropped into my inbox.

Have you ever felt tricked by marketing for any type of product? Please tell us about it in a comment!

Don’t know how to get the influencer endorsements and testimonials for your book that convince readers that it’s a great read? I’ve got everything you need in the multi-media program, “Blurbs, Endorsements, and Testimonials: How to Get Experts, Authorities, Celebrities, and Others to Endorse Your Book.” Get details here.

They understand how social media works and they use it effectively.

For example, they know that each social media site has its own personality, so they don’t share the same content across all networks. Each post is tweaked according to the social media platform’s unique needs.

I’m also seeing a lot of book launch mistakes on social media.

This can turn into a real issue for authors making several of them because it can kill their connections quickly.

Here are the three I’m seeing most often, along with suggestions for turning them around.

1. Every single thing you post on every single platform is about your book.

Every. Single. Thing.

I’m interested in your new book. Really, I am. I am all about books and your books in particular.

But I’m connected to you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and all I’m seeing from you is how excited you are that your book will soon be published/is being published today/was just published.

People will tolerate that for a few days, but three weeks of nothing but new book posts is pretty intense.

At first, we might think, “Oh, that’s interesting! I’ll have to check it out.” As we see more and more posts, we start to think, “Is that all you’ve got going on these days?” Eventually, we disconnect from you because of the constant repetition.

During your book launch period, share some of the content you usually share, too, so you’re not a one trick pony.

Maddie Daws, the pen name of best-selling author Sandi Kahn Shelton, is an example of somebody who has this figured out. Her Instagram account has a nice mix of book and everyday life content as she approaches the launch of a book that is part of Amazon’s May “First Reads” program for Prime subscribers.

2. You’re doing what everyone else is doing.

Classic example: The “OMG My First Case of Books Arrived” video post. One I saw recently went on for at least five minutes. That was four minutes and 30 seconds too long.

If you’re doing it because you’re certain that your network truly can’t wait to see you cut open a box of books, then go for it.

But if you’re doing it because everyone else is doing it, don’t. Try something different to capture interest and attention.

Start by asking yourself: “What does my audience need to know about this book?” or “What about this book will excite my readers?”

3. You aren’t helping us help you.

We want to help you let the world know about your wonderful new book, but we’re all pressed for time, ya know?

So, when you ask, “Can you help me spread the word about my book?,” give us the tools we need to do that.

Please provide:

• A short book description so we can describe it accurately
• Sample tweets and Facebook posts
• A few social media graphics we can share
• A link to your book on your preferred retail site or to your list of purchase site options on your website

When my friend Monica Bhide asked me to support her new book, Read. Write. Reflect., she also provided a social media graphic with a pre-publication blurb I had written (see below). This made it easy for me to promote her book on the social networks where I’m active — all I had to do was add some text that reinforced my testimonial, grab an Amazon link, and post with the image.

The more you help us help you, the more we can do to support you.

Everything in moderation

To help keep your network engaged, learn what works on the various platforms you’re using and create custom content on each so there’s less overlap (and network burnout). Then, create a mix of everyday life and book launch posts so what you share isn’t such a dramatic change from your routine when you don’t have a new book.

Finally, remember that everything doesn’t have to happen during the small window of time surrounding publication date. You should be promoting your book as long as it’s available for sale. If you burn out your audience during the launch, you’ll have many fewer connections to promote to later, when it’s just as important.

What’s the one thing you’ve done on social media during a book launch that you think has had the greatest impact?