“How long should I promote my book? Two months? Three months?”

Authors ask me this question all the time.

They’re often surprised by my answer: You should promote your book as long as it’s available for purchase and the content is relevant.

The book launch myth

I’m surprised at how many authors put all their effort into the period around the publication date, then abruptly stop. They abandon the book, even if (or especially if) they’re disappointed with sales results.

That’s often because many, many authors — you, maybe? — mistakenly believe that they can only promote their book when it’s new. That’s the farthest thing from the truth.

But they have this impression because there’s a lot of hoopla and hullabaloo around book launches. You can easily find launch courses and checklists online.

You’ll have to look a little harder, though to find programs like my Book Marketing 101 courses that look at book promotion more wholistically and explain how to support your books over the long term.

Readers don’t care about your publication date

In reality, you can — and should — promote and market your book as long as it’s available for purchase.

Readers don’t care if your book came out last week, last month, or last year. All they care about is that it’s a good book.

Here are five things you can do to promote your fiction and nonfiction books long after the launch has come and gone.

1. Pitch yourself to the press as an expert source.

If you’ve written a book on a topic, you’re an expert. Your expertise doesn’t have an expiration date. Your book is a long-lasting credential. But don’t wait for journalists to find you — go to them.

Note that you don’t have to be a nonfiction author to be an expert source. Novelists typically do a great deal of research around situations, professions, themes, and other specifics for their books. What did you learn more than you ever thought you would while researching your fiction? You can probably talk to the media about it with confidence.

Also read:

• Finding the hidden news hooks in your fiction
• How to be your own book publicist
• Promoting your book: 8 ways to pitch media outlets
• How to get trade journal publicity

2. Speak about your book’s topic.

Whether your ideal readers belong to the Junior League, Rotary International, or the National Society of Accountants, you can identify a topic that will resonate with them.

While this is often thought of as a tactic for nonfiction writers, novelists can also speak about topics related to their book’s content.

Also read:

• 5 real good reasons to be an author who’s a public speaker

3. Do podcast interviews.

Let’s be honest. Authors who hit the bestseller list as soon as their books are released are busy, busy, busy. They don’t have time to be interviewed by every podcast host who wants them as a guest, so they give their time to the most popular shows.

That leaves everyone else to interview everyone else, right?

The best part? Podcast hosts don’t necessarily need you to have a “new book” credential to book you. They just need you to be a good guest with something interesting to say.

Also read:

• 19 cool podcast facts every author needs to know
• Podcasts and authors: Should you be a host or guest?
• 19 of the best podcasts for authors and writers

4. Guest blog.

Blog hosts want interesting, original content for their readers.

Your book doesn’t have to be new for you to provide what blogs need and want. In fact, the longer your book has been out and the more you’ve learned about reader reactions to it, the better able you are to write guest posts that will address reader interests.

Also read:

• The guest blogging audience most novelists don’t know about
• 4 reasons to embrace guest blogging
• Download our free Guest Blogging Cheat Sheet

5. Use social media to keep your book title in front of the right readers.

Not too long ago, I bought a book because the author posted on Instagram that the Kindle version was on sale for three days. I’ve been meaning to buy it, but had forgotten to do so.

Then this $1.99 Kindle deal showed up in my Instagram feed. It was a no-brainer. (When I told my daughters about it, they each bought a copy, too, because they had heard good things about the book.)

You know that you don’t want to smother people with marketing messages and images on social media, but regular, appropriate, and humble posts will help remind people (like me) that your book is out there waiting to be read and loved.

You can also use social media months and months after your book is published to remind people to review it on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere. Encourage them to request it at bookstores and libraries, too.

Also read:

• Want to attract readers? Create social media content that resonates
• Instagram Stories for authors: How to create and use them
• Boost social media success with these 3 image types
• Create book promotion quote graphics
• BookTok for book marketing
• Three keys to selling more books with social media

Don’t forget . . .

There’s a lot more you can do, too. But here’s what’s important to remember:

• You don’t want to merely launch your book and move on. You want to continue to promote it months or even years later so it can educate, entertain, or inform the people you know will love it.
• Readers don’t care if your book is “new.” All they care about is that it’s good.

Want to learn more? Register for the “Book Marketing 101 for Fiction: How to Build Book Buzz” or “Book Marketing 101 for Nonfiction: How to Build Book Buzz” e-course to learn how to do all of these things and more.

What can you do today to promote your not-so-new book? 

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2018. It has been updated and expanded.)

Is your book on any of those lists?

Maybe it isn’t, but it probably belongs in some other editorial “roundup” article about books, whether it’s now or another time of the year.

What’s a “roundup” article?

So what, exactly, is a roundup article?

For book publicity purposes, a roundup usually gathers up the best, worst, most, least, newest, top, funniest, etc. products related to a specific category or theme.

Examples of roundups specific to books include:

• Top InstantPot/slow cooker/air fryer cookbooks
• Most popular romance novels this year
• Best new gardening books
• 7 home improvement books you can’t live without
• Great books for newlyweds
• Treasured all-occasion gift books

There are also topic roundups that include other products besides books. Here are a few ideas:

• Best gifts for new college grads
• 10 must-have tools for every home kitchen
• 15 things parents say they can’t live without
• Favorite stress management resources
• Top home office products

You get the point, right? Roundups are easy to spot once you’re aware of them. You’ll find them in online media sites, magazines, newspapers, and blogs.

Your book’s roundup topic

Your book can be part of a roundup article that appears in the press, too. To make that happen, first determine the roundup topic.

Start with your category. If it’s fiction, is it science fiction, historical romance, chick lit, hen lit, mystery, young adult, or children’s? If it’s nonfiction, is it a self-help, health, memoir, biography, business, or how-to book? There are more, of course. The point is, get specific.

Next, move from category to sub-category. For example, my recently updated book, Get Your Book in the News: How to Write a Press Release That Announces Your Book, is a business book. That’s the category. The book teaches authors how to write a press release that announces a book, so the sub-category could be “authors.”

Use the category and sub-category to brainstorm topic ideas. For example, knowing that my book is for authors with a new book, the roundup topic for it might be, “Best books for new authors” or “Top resources for authors launching books.”

Written a mystery set in New York’s Adirondack Mountains? Get regional publicity with a roundup on “10 books that showcase the Adirondacks.” Need some attention for your book on how to care for a dog? “20 books all dog owners should own.” Got a young adult novel coming out? “18 teen gift ideas.”

How to use your roundup idea

There are a couple of ways to turn your roundup idea into something that generates results.

You can pitch the idea to the press (more on how to do that in “How to pitch a round-up article“) or you can create a press release that helps do the job for them. 

To write the press release, simply do the research to build the list of options for your roundup topic, and include your book in the mix. If it’s a “books only” roundup, you probably know what other books to include because they’re your top competition.

If your roundup idea includes non-book products, you know your topic and audience so well that you already know what should be on your list.

For example, if your topic is “top home office products” and your book is related to remote work (something a lot of employees are familiar with right now) or solopreneurship, you might also recommend a stand-up desk and ergonomic office chair, among other products.

Download this roundup press release template

I’ve created this downloadable fill-in-the-blanks press release you can use to do that. Click here to view, then download it:

Build Book Buzz roundup press release template

For information on how to distribute it to the press and bloggers, read “How to build a killer book publicity media list.” If you don’t use my preferred press release distribution service mentioned in that article, be sure to read “How to email a press release to journalists” before hitting the send button.

Actual roundup examples

Here are a few published roundups to give you an idea of your end goal, whether you’re pitching the idea or writing and distributing a press release.

• 20 Books to Read in Quarantine This Summer
• 16 Best Political Books to Read Before the 2020 Election
• The 26 Best Baby Shower Gifts of 2020

Remember, you can also use the list as a blog post or newsletter article. I do this every year with holiday gifts for authors and writers. I don’t pitch the idea to writer’s publications or newsletters, and I don’t send a press release, but I hope I help my readers and the people who shop for them at the holidays.

Spend some time thinking about what type of list your book should be a part of, then take action. It’s a fun way to support your book and those of others.

What roundup article should your book appear in? Share your book’s topic and the roundup title in a comment.

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013. It has been updated and expanded.)

You present — “pitch” — those ideas to the right media outlets as a way to get interviewed. You’re identified in the article or segment as the author of Insert Your Book Title Here. Your book, of course, is the credential you need to be interviewed on that topic.

Many authors in full-on promotion mode understand this. They know that the fact that they’ve written a book isn’t enough to attract media attention. These authors realize they have to be pro-active about contacting the press with a newsworthy angle.

They get it.

What they struggle with — and maybe this describes you, too — is generating the article and segment ideas they can use to snag the interviews that will get them that priceless media exposure.

“Local author writes book” isn’t newsworthy anymore

I was reminded of this recently during a coaching conversation with a nonfiction author.

She knew that it wasn’t enough to contact her local media outlets with a “local author writes new book” angle.

First, the growth in self-publishing means that many, many more people are publishing books today than in years past so “I wrote a new book” just makes journalists yawn.

Second, she’s in a major metropolitan market where competition for radio time and newspaper space is stiff. She knew she needed an angle, hook, or idea that would capture attention.

How to generate article ideas

Generating the kinds of ideas that work isn’t as hard as it might seem. For the most part, it involves doing two things:

• Studying your target media outlets to learn what kind of content they use.
• Re-visiting your book with the media outlet’s audience in mind to identify how the content can help them.

Let’s start by addressing how to generate those ideas you can start pitching to the press immediately. Then I’ll share a few examples from my inbox.

PAUSE: The following information is for nonfiction authors. Fiction writers, you’ll find what you need on this topic in my earlier post, “Finding the hidden news hooks in your fiction.”

Start by adopting a “service” mentality. Ask yourself, “How can I help the newspaper/magazine/website/radio talk show/TV talk show’s audience?”

With that in mind, set aside some time, grab a pen and paper, and do the following.

1. Examine your book’s table of contents.

Many authors can turn each chapter title into an article or segment idea.

For example, I recently received a review copy of You Get What You Pitch For, so I’m looking at its table of contents right now. One chapter is “Understand Their Pain (and Be the Cure).”

Here’s an article idea from that chapter title: 5 ways to identify your customer’s problems so you can provide solutions.

2. Write down the questions you hear most about your book’s topic.

If the people you’re talking to about this subject have the same questions over and over, others will, too.

Turn those questions into article and segment ideas.

Let’s say that an organizing expert keeps hearing, “I want to downsize but I have so much stuff that I don’t know where to begin.” A relevant article idea for that author might be, “A blueprint for downsizing.”

3. List the problems your book helps solve.

Returning to what’s on top of my desk right now to provide an example, I’m looking at my longtime friend Sue Hertz’s book, Write Choices: Elements of Nonfiction Storytelling. (I read it; I love it.)

Sue has told me while the book helps nonfiction writers learn how to cultivate their storytelling skills, it has resonated with memoir writers in particular. Keying in on that, and thinking about the struggles non-writers might have telling their own stories, here’s a topic idea: “How to begin telling your life’s story when you don’t know where to start.”

You’ve got all the information you need in your book, brain, and files to create a list of ideas that will resonate with the press. You just need to sit down and do it.

Article ideas from my inbox

Here are several article ideas for books from my inbox that might help you see how this works. (I receive a lot of email pitches from publicists and others.) These first two came from Dottie Dehart.

For High Velocity Hiring: How to Hire Top Talent in an Instant, she’s pitching: Debunking the biggest myths of hiring: four faulty beliefs that could be hindering your company’s selection process.

One of her article/segment ideas for The Power of Positive Leadership: How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World is: Can a negative leader become a positive leader? Seven leadership tips that make people feel great and achieve incredible results.

I’m on Cathy Lewis‘s mailing list, too. Here are examples from her.

For Crunch Time: How To Be Your Best When It Matters Most, she’s suggesting: 6 ways to perform like a champion under pressure.

Her pitch for Upside: Profiting from the Profound Demographic Shifts Ahead, is: 7 top trends that will shape the coming decade.

Just one rule

The only rule for this process is simple: The article idea must have a direct connection to your book.

That’s because your book is your credential with the press. It’s what qualifies you to be interviewed about the article idea. If there’s no direct connection, there’s no reason to interview you.

What’s your book about and what article idea can you pitch for it? Share both in a comment below.