Track Changes: Marketing and Publicity (Part I)

Track Changes Logo.png

Sarah Enni:  Marketing and promoting for your book is a nerve-wracking proposition at the best of times. And this year? Well.

Jennifer de Leon: Up until a few weeks ago, I thought the pub date was still going to be May 5th and I was expecting to do the launch virtually and just have everything around that date virtual. But then my editor sent me an email saying that they pushed the date back to August 4th.

Sarah Enni: That’s Jennifer de Leon, whose debut novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, was actually moved again, off of August 4 and to August 18, 2020..

Jennifer de Leon: My initial reaction was disappointment because I thought, “Oh my god, I’m so close. And it’s just always that much further away.” I mean, the book, we sold it in January, 2018. So it’s already like two-and-a-half years ago. And, I just feel like, it feels like I’m pregnant and the due date keeps getting pushed back and I’m like, “Oh my god, when can I just give birth already?”

Sarah Enni: But Jenn’s publisher made that change in order to better support her book, and they had contingency plans at the ready.

Jennifer de Leon:  Simon and Schuster was great about immediately sending me these kind of pictures or logos or whatever to put on social media saying like, “New pub date!” You know? So that was great.

Sarah Enni:  So Jenn is making the adjustments and preparing for a virtual launch.

Jennifer de Leon:  I just have been trying to embrace virtual reality, I guess. I’ve never been a big technology person. I do like bare minimum with social media, and now suddenly I’m like, “I need to get a ring light.”

Sarah Enni:  In some ways, Jenn’s story is unique because--Corona virus! Changed pub date! But honestly, marketing and promoting every book is a unique challenge. It requires a lot of forethought, planning, and consistent execution from both publisher and author.

I’m Sarah Enni, and this is Track Changes, the podcast mini-series that’s getting into everything you don’t know you don’t know about publishing. Today, we’re gonna be focusing on what your publisher can do for you when it comes time to market and promote your book.

And, I’m just gonna cut right to the bad news.

Margot Wood: A lot of these books just sort of fall by the wayside. That happens a lot. I saw that a lot working at one of the big five publishers.

Sarah Enni:  That’s Margot Wood, Director of Sales & Marketing at Oni Press, and previously of HarperCollins, where she created EpicReads. Margot’s also a writer, and her debut novel is coming out in Fall 2021 from Abrams.

Margot Wood:  One of the most common questions I get as a former big five marketing publisher person is, “How do I get my marketing plan?” Or, “How can I hold the publisher accountable to making sure that my title and my book is getting the best limelight that it can possibly get?”

Sarah Enni:  First, let’s back up and start with: the difference between Publicity and Marketing

Publicists work on getting you press and they also handle the front facing parts of promoting a book, like scheduling tour events and interviews,

The thing about publicists is, when they pitch your book to journalists at media outlets, interest  is not guaranteed – they’re at the mercy of the journalist at that outlet who may, or may not, take an interest in the project.

Marketing, meanwhile…

Margot Wood: Marketing, for the most part, is a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff. So that's presenting your title to the rest of the company and getting everybody hyped on it. You always need a hype person for your book internally. They're doing all the galleys. Marketing is putting together those plans on the back of the book. They're writing all of that copy. They're doing all the social media stuff. They're kind of doing a little bit of everything.

Sarah Enni:  Unlike publicity, marketing is guaranteed. They create marketing materials, like galleys, and social media posts, and ads, and then put them in the world.

Every big publishing house has a marketing department that includes both marketers and publicists. Those departments have a budget, and that budget gets split between all the different titles that publisher is putting out.

But how many titles are we talking about?

Margot Wood:  When I was at Harper we published, I think, 200 YA titles in a year, in a single calendar year.

Sarah Enni:  Okay, so, the marketing department has an annual budget, and they split that evenly across all the titles they release, right?

Margot Wood:  I wish that I could say that that is how it is done. But it's not actually how it's done.

Sarah Enni:  Margot says, in reality, the marketing budget is split unevenly among three tiers of titles.

Margot Wood:  You have your lead titles and then you have your mid-list titles and then you have the stuff that's gonna get printed and then it's gonna get the bare minimum.

Sarah Enni:  Lead titles are the books every season that publishers decide to give a big push.

Margot Wood:  Some publishers might be like, they pick five titles every season, and those five titles are it. Everything else fall in line underneath those five titles. But like these are the ones that get the tour. These are the ones that get all the advertising. These are the ones that get those big banners at BEA. Some houses pick one, they pick one title per season.

Sarah Enni:  If you are a tier one, lead title? You’ll know.

Margot Wood: A tier one title may get $25,000 or more in marketing.

Sarah Enni:  Then there’s tier two titles, which we sometimes call mid-list. One publisher told me they prefer “Books with breakout potential.”

Margot Wood:  A tier two title might get, oh, between 10 and $20,000 of marketing. There's an industry thing where it's like mid-list is death. And I hate to say it, but too often I saw mid-list titles get the bare minimum and they come, and they go, and that's about it. And if they didn't hit the New York Times bestseller list right out the gate, they're kind of forgotten about. And then if they signed a two book deal, that second book, that's gonna get even less marketing. If they have a three book deal, God help you.

Sarah Enni:  The mid-list author has a lot of responsibility to step in and use their platform and connections to generate interest in their book.

And then there’s what we’re going to refer to as Lower Tier titles. I want to be clear, we are purely discussing tiers of marketing and publicity, not reflecting on the the artistic merit of the books in any way.

It’s a sad and strange reality that sometimes publishers buy books and then just don’t give them very much support at all when they come out.

Margot Wood:  By low tier title, I mean it had a $5,000 marketing budget or less. Every house has their own different tiers for budgets, but I'll just speak to the one that I was at, at the time.

Sarah Enni:  In those cases, it rests on the author to promote their book.

So what determines what tier you end up in? Often it comes down to three things: level of advance, in-house enthusiasm, and sales team buy-in.

Margot Wood:  A lot of it has to do with what numbers were they acquired at? Those books that get those million dollar advances, they better have a marketing budget, because how else are you gonna make money back on that book?

Sarah Enni:  But that’s not always the case. We broke that down a bit in our episode on Advances, establishing that there are definitely exceptions to this rule. Books acquired for a song that get all the support in the world, and books with huge advances that the publisher simply doesn’t follow through with.

Another factor we’ve touched on a little bit in this series is enthusiasm about your book in-house.

Margot Wood:  Another factor that is very hidden, that most people don't know about, and I find this very, very, very fascinating is… how good is your editor at pitching your book to the marketing teams?

Sarah Enni:  In-house enthusiasm starts with your editor. They had to hype your book to the acquisitions meeting to be able to buy it, and after working with you to get the book in its finest and final and finest form, they then have to pitch it to the marketing department.

Margot Wood:  Some editors are so damn good, they could be selling you a piece of poo, but you want to buy it because you swear that it is gold, because they've just sold you so hard on it.

Sarah Enni:  If the marketing team is psyched, they’re gonna translate that into a robust and creative marketing plan. Then, the marketing team takes that plan, and its proposed budget, and presents that to the sales department.

Margot Wood:  The life cycle of your book begins about a year before your book goes on sale at a thing called sales conference. And what this is, is the marketing teams and the editorial teams are presenting your title to the sales department. And the sales department comprises of all of these field reps.

Sarah Enni:  Field reps as in, the publishing professionals who work directly with book buyers for Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, as well as independent bookstores, distributors, and wholesalers.

Margot Wood:  They all come in and they sit around in a big conference room, or they phone in and they're on a video screen, and they all are in this big conference room and they present the next season's titles.  And then the sales team takes those and then they go out and they sell your book.

Sarah Enni:  So the sales team enthusiasm is huge, and could directly translate to thousands of books sold.

Margot Wood:  Getting the sales team excited about your book is the most important thing you can ever possibly do. And it is the one thing authors have absolutely no control in. And you have to remember that because you are not there; you're not gonna be presenting your own title.

Sarah Enni:  There are a few, very rare exceptions to this. Like, remember a few episodes ago when Jenn walked us through her opportunity to pitch at sales conference? This is why that was so monumental, and such an invaluable opportunity.

Margot Wood:  After the sales conference, based on the feedback that they get from those sales reps, that's when the marketing budgets are finally solidified.

Sarah Enni:  Let’s take a look at this lower tier of in-house marketing. $5,000 dollars. That’s not nothing. That’s like, a Geo Metro. Or a really great weekend in Vegas. Surely you can get a lot done with that?

Well...

Margot Wood:  There's not much you can do with that because that goes towards printing galleys and galleys are very expensive, and that also goes towards any kind of, if you want to bring the author out for BEA, or ALA, you have to cover that expense.

Sarah Enni:  Margot is referring to authors being flown out to attend Book Expo America and the American Library Association conferences, industry events that happen every year. Or, in the case of ALA, twice a year.

If you’re one of these lower tier books? There is hope.

Margot Wood:  Sometimes those bare minimum titles though, those are the ones that break out. And that typically happens almost never by efforts done by the publisher, but almost entirely done by fan response and word of mouth.

Sarah Enni:  And, Margot has one really great example of a book that broke out in just that way: Simon Versus the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.

Margot Wood:  That was not considered a lead title at all. At the time that that book was published That was a low tier title.

Sarah Enni:  We’re gonna come back to Simon’s success a little later. For now, let’s get into what you can do to maximize what your publisher offers you in marketing. be sure you’re getting the most from what your publisher offers.

One of the biggest marketing tools they’ll provide is the service of their design department. I’m talking about…

Christine Riccio:  The cover.

Sarah Enni:  That’s Christine Riccio, author of Again But Better and a booktuber whose channel, PolandBananasBooks, has more than 4009,000 subscribers. Christine says that when the time came for her debut book to come out, the cover was a key concern.

Christine Riccio:  Because I know how much that has affected my book buying for the last 10 years. And if a book doesn't have a good cover, you just automatically skip it with your eyes on the shelf. So I was very concerned about that and I'm so glad that my publishing company was really inclusive of asking my opinions, and very much took my suggestions into consideration and put them into the cover actually, which is really, really nice.

Sarah Enni:  Christine also paid close attention to the flap copy, and what was written on the back of the book.

Christine Riccio:  You don't write the synopsis as the author and on the back, I remember, they wanted to use a quote from the book, but the quote that they wanted to use felt so spoiler-y to me and I was really, really insistent on the book not being spoiled.

Sarah Enni:  Key point here: Rather than just complain about it, Christine offered a solution.

Christine Riccio:  So on the back I ended up writing extra content because I was like, “Can we? I'll write something. Can I do this for the back?” So I wrote out like a little journal entry, cause she has journal entries throughout the book, for the back, that just wasn't in the book, but gave you an idea about what it's about.

Sarah Enni:  There’s something of a truism about publishing, which is: for every book you only get so many fights. You have to pick your battles carefully. The cover? Might be a place to stand your ground.

And when I say stand your ground, I mean respectfully, with the assistance of your agent.

Margot Wood:  It's probably a small team that's working on your book. They're woefully underpaid and way overworked, but also making sure that they're not dropping the ball on your book, too. Because you've got to look out for you and your title. This is your business and you should have a say in what's being done to promote your book.

Sarah Enni:  Another thing that can be done with the assistance of your agent, and your editor: blurbs. A blurb is a quote from another author endorsing your book. The publisher can put that quote on the cover of the book, or the back, and in other marketing materials. Here’s Jenn again:

Jennifer de Leon:  I feel like everybody has their opinions on blurb etiquette. And it’s so funny, because there is a range, you know? There are just people who are blurb happy and they just give up blurbs like nobody’s business. You’re like, “Okay.” And then there are people who are much more reserved, I guess, and choosy.

Sarah Enni:  When the time comes to ask for blurbs, think about what other authors you have good relationships with, and what other authors write books like yours where your audiences might overlap. And, of course, it’s great to have blurbs from authors with big followings, or who have earned accolades. The vast majority of the time, you will help brainstorm authors to approach, and your editor will handle communications for blurbs. But talk to your team about this, because it’s unique for every book.

Jennifer de Leon:  One of my author friends said, “If you do get a blurb from someone, like send them a thank you note, maybe a gift basket, maybe a nice bottle of wine, but do that, because it's kind of a lot of time.”

Sarah Enni:  Other blurbs, or pull quotes, used for marketing come from trade reviews at places like The School Library Journal, Booklist, or Kirkus. Your publisher sends your book to those publications for reviews, and you’ll typically get an email from your editor with the review attached. Blurbs are things you can put all over your website and social media as well.

Okay, let’s get back to that marketing plan Margot was talking about. She says step one is: Have your agent ask for that marketing plan so you can hold it in your hot little hands. But once you get it….how the heck are you supposed to understand everything that’s in there?

Margot Wood:  There are some tips and tricks that you can utilize to be able to understand what it means, what those things mean on your marketing plans. Because a lot of them are boilerplate. A lot of them are cookie cutter and they are also very generic, and that's for a reason. And again, that's so that marketing teams can be more nimble and flexible with how they are gonna be promoting your book.

Sarah Enni:  Margot, because she’s awesome, offered to explain by walking through the marketing plan described on the back of one advance copy of a YA book that came out in 2019.

Margot Wood:  Okay, so I'm looking at a YA galley right now, I won't say which one. And on the back there is a national marketing campaign. You're gonna see these a lot on galleys.

Sarah Enni:  Well, that was true when there were physical galleys anyway. But some of this information will also be listed on NetGalley and Edelweis for digital galleys as well.

Margot Wood:  “Prepublication buzz marketing campaign.” There's so many things that could mean! Does that translate to ads? Does that translate to sales pitches at things like the American Booksellers Association? Does that mean galleys? So if you see a bullet point like that, it's okay to ask, “Can you please elaborate on this?”

Sarah Enni:  And Margot says that if your publisher comes back and says, “This is just the general stuff that we do for every title.” -- Like it's going to get promoted or pitched at sales conference and other things that are typical for all titles --

Margot Wood:  Then you know what? That's good. You want those things, they're all gonna happen. So if that's what their explanation for that bullet point is, then that's fine.

Sarah Enni:  Okay. Next bullet…

Margo Wood:  “Appearances and promotions at book festivals.” Does that mean author appearances, or are they just gonna be giving away and doing timed events things? Because if they're expecting you to do appearances, then you probably need to know that ahead of time.

Sarah Enni:  Your publisher pitches you for festivals. And Margot says that bullet is a really good one, because festivals -- like BEA and ALA, but also the Decatur Book Festival, or YALLFEST, or the North Texas Teen Book Festival -- those are opportunities to interact directly with readers. And that generates word of mouth.

Margot Wood:  Word of mouth is always and will forever be the best kind of marketing you can do.

Sarah Enni:  Thank U, next: 

Margot Wood: The next one we have, mmm my favorite: “National media campaign.” So when they say that, that typically means advertising. But if you look up the next bullet it says: “National consumer advertising campaign.” So I guess then, technically, national media campaign means publicity. So that's an important thing to note is, every publisher has a different name for all of these things.

Sarah Enni:  And if you need clarification, it’s okay to ask. Next?

Margot Wood:  Next is a YA blog tour. I actually really like blog tourists still. And I say bloggers, and specifically mean bloggers, not like bookstagrammars or booktubers. But I do still think that book bloggers are incredibly valuable in the, particularly, the YA community in word of mouth marketing and getting the word out. Because they are considered like trusted resources for book recommendations among their peers.

And if you're doing an author tour, then they are dedicating hours and hours and hours of work, that is unpaid, to promote your book. And those are really good people to have in your corner.

Sarah Enni:  But what about those other book influencers? Here’s Christine again:

Christine Riccio:  I feel like a great thing to do if you are an author and you want your promotion on Instagram or you want promotion on YouTube is to talk to your publishing company about that straight off the bat. Like, “I know that this is effective, so I'd like for you to maybe look into marketing in this way.”

Sarah Enni:  And, in fact, that was the next bullet on our marketing plan.

Margot Wood:  Okay, here you go: “Digital influencer campaign targeting book tubers, bookstagrammers and other online tastemakers.” So that sounds like they're gonna be sending your galley around, maybe with a little tchotchke or something else, in hopes that they are going to be opening the book and posting pictures about it online.

Sarah Enni:  Something to consider here: Bringing in third party marketers like influencers is a tricky area. Because the work that those folks do to promote your book is just that: work.

Margot Wood:  I think it's important to ask, “Does your publisher pay for these things?” I don't believe in paying for reviews, but I do believe in paying people for their work, and these things are work. And if they say no, then I'll be like, “Well then why don't you guys put your efforts towards someplace else and I will cover that.” Because I do believe in fair compensation for fair work.

Sarah Enni:  Like I said, we’re going to touch on that more in the next episode. Now let’s get back to the plan. those social media publisher communities we talked about. That’s in the next bullet:

Margot Wood:  Ooh, yay. My other favorite bullet point: “Social media engagement campaign.” That pretty much translates to, you'll get maybe an Instagram post, maybe a few Instagram posts if you're lucky, and a couple of tweets. And it also depends on the publisher.

So for that bullet point, I would ask, “Are you planning on putting money towards promoting the social media or is it just you're gonna be posting about it?” Because if they are putting money towards promoting like an Instagram post or something like that, ask them, “Can they put money towards promoting your Instagram posts of your own book from your account?” Because then not only is it promoting your book, it's also promoting you, the author, and your account.

Sarah Enni:  Another thing to keep in mind: how all these marketing efforts can be turbo-charged by taking the time to add thoughtful details, like a handwritten note. Like, for example, if your marketing team plans to reach out to teen book clubs.

Margot Wood:  That's a perfect opportunity. Find out which book clubs that they're gonna be promoting to. Can you write an author note? Can you write a handwritten note that would go in with every single one of those mailings? Because you'd be surprised at how such a “low touch” thing, that's what we call “low touch” when it's like, I guess, analog? Handwriting. But it's a low touch thing. Can you write a note? A custom note that would go into all of those mailings and that would make that much more thoughtful and special.

Sarah Enni:  And, the final bullet.

Margot Wood:  “Outreach to key educators and library contacts.”

Sarah Enni:  This is a big one.

Margot Wood:  I cannot stress enough how important the library market is. It is huge for sales, for visibility, for reaching under served markets, for getting your book in places where you would not normally get your book into.

Sarah Enni:  Margo says getting the chance to go to ALA, or the Texas Library Association meeting, or the National Council of Teachers of English conference, is a huge deals.

Margot Wood:  Those are amazing shows. Those are shows full of librarians who aren't just there to grab your galley and then show what their haul was and then they either throw away the book, or give it away, or never see the light of day again. These are folks who come to your both and they're like, “Please take 45 minutes out of your day to talk with me about this one book and tell me why my library should get this book.” And they will listen and they ask interesting questions and they are so engaged. They are just, librarians are the best. They're the best.

Sarah Enni:  Phew! Okay that was an awesome overview of some things your marketing team might be considering. But, Margot says it’s important  thing to keep in mind is that marketing plans are living documents.

Margot Wood:  They are not guarantees, they are not confirmed, they're all just, “This is what we'd like to do.”

Sarah Enni:  So don’t follow up on every single thing and ask about what that is, and where is it, and why hasn’t that thing been done yet?

Margot Wood:  That's the surest way to annoy the marketing people because now they feel like they're under an insane amount of pressure and that they are being sort of micromanaged to death.

Sarah Enni:  It’s important to keep in mind throughout this conversation that we’re talking about book publishing here. This is a business, but it’s an emotional one. Marketers who are annoyed by authors might just … not work as hard for those authors. They’re people, too.

Margot Wood:  Publishing is all about relationships. So if that's anything I want everybody to take away is: build a relationship with your marketing people.

Sarah Enni:  So once you’ve gotten the lay of the land of what the publisher has planned, start to think about how you can be a value add. That starts at having an honest conversation with yourself and your team about how much you can, or want to, be involved.

If you do want to be involved, Margot says one way you can help your marketing team do what only they can do, but better, is by coming up with a really good pitch for your work.

Margot Wood:  The first thing I always say is, learn how to sell your book in a sentence, like an elevator pitch. I always use Dorothy Must Die as the perfect example, because it is The Wizard of Oz, but now Dorothy is the biggest bitch. Like it is the easiest sell in ever. Yeah, there's way more happening in that series than just that pitch. But that hook, that hook is right there. So that elevator pitch, nail that elevator pitch.

Sarah Enni:  I was pretty partial to Margot’s advice on how to hone a perfect pitch.

Margot Wood:  What helps is think of yourself as Stefan from SNL and do the thing where it's like, “This book! It's got everything! It's got blah, blah, blah!”  Just start naming off those things that it has.

Stephan Clip:  This place has everything! Raffi’s, yetti cabs, pedi cabs driven by yetti’s. Slow pokes! A woman with nowhere to turn.

Margot Wood:  It might feel disingenuous. It might feel like, “Oh, but it's not expressing the true meaning and depth of this story.” Okay. But you've got a salesperson who has to sell a hundred titles in a two-hour block. What is your pitch that's going to break through and cut through that noise?

Sarah Enni:  Here’s a big thing to keep in mind when you’re trying to think about maximizing marketing: What are things that an author can do just about as well as a publishing house? And what are doors that only a publishing house can pry open?

Jo Volpe: Authors can do a lot.

Sarah Enni:  That’s Jo Volpe, President and Literary agent at New Leaf Literary and Media.

Jo Volpe: I think more and more these days. And they also have access to more and more, in the time of social media and newsletters and things like that, they can do a lot, frankly, in terms of reaching their audience.

Sarah Enni:  And, if you have the resources, it’s always an option to hire outside help.

Jo Volpe:  Authors can do a ton and there are some incredible freelance publicists out there. If you really want to, there are PR agencies and marketing firms that you can bring on as well to do ad creative for you. Publishers used to, when we first started doing some of that, used to not be very happy that we were doing that. But now actually I’ve found them to be very collaborative, at least a lot of the big houses.

Sarah Enni:  But when you’re thinking about what the publishing house should prioritize, Margot says...

Margot Wood:  You can schedule your own tweets, you can run your own Goodreads giveaway, you can email influencers on Instagram, you can do all that stuff on your own. What you can't do is get yourself to ALA. What you can't do, or which is too costly, is to get yourself at sales conference or those meetings with Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million. That is where your publisher should be focusing their efforts on, is all of the stuff that is too costly or you just can't do, because like Barnes and Noble’s never gonna take a meeting with just you. Would you rather have your publisher be tweeting about you all the time, or do you want them making all these sales calls to all these indie buyers and pitching your book?

Sarah Enni:  Okay, so all of this can sound … pretty depressing. Elevator pitches, Twitter ads, presentations at sales conferences that you’ll probably never see or hear about. Is there hope for a book that’s just… good?

Simon Clip:  My name’s Simon. I’m just like you, except I have one huge-ass secret.

Sarah Enni:  That brings us back to Simon Versus the Homosapien’s Agenda. Which went on to win the Morris Award, be long-listed for the National Book Award, sell hundreds of thousands of copies, and was even was turned into a movie called Love, Simon.

Margot Wood:  Love, Simon is one of my very favorite rags-to-riches marketing story for a book.

Sarah Enni:  So, like Margot said, Becky Albertalli’s debut book was sold to Harper, and it was given a low tier budget. $5,000.

Margot Wood:  They did not think that that book was gonna do anything at the time. Because at the time, the books that were selling were these big epic fantasy trilogies, these big sweeping sci-fi fantasy stories, not this standalone queer romantic rom-com.

Sarah Enni:  But the key here is, Margot worked at Harper in the marketing department. And she loved the book. Loved the book.

Margot Wood:  I had read it and I was like, “Holy crap, this book is so good.” It was a one-sitter for me, a one-sitter book.

Sarah Enni:  She asked for more money, but was told the finances just weren’t there.

Margot Wood:  So we pivoted.

Sarah Enni:  Margot built EpicReads while she was at Harper, so she decided to harness the full power of that marketing and content-creating machine and use it to boost Becky’s book.

Margot Wood:  So we did all of these quizzes, and all of this extra content, and all of these posters, and all this social media stuff, and we did a hashtag campaign, and we did all of this, so much extra work. When I say extra work, I'm not just talking about like, “Oh, they just like actually did some stuff while during the office nine to five.” I'm talking about like staying late, working weekends, like really putting our blood, sweat and tears towards this book because we believed in this book so much.  I literally was shoving that book down everybody's throats.

Sarah Enni:  But Margot’s enthusiasm and hard work alone were not a sure-fire ticket to bestseller status. A crucial component? Word of mouth.

Margot Wood:  The book spoke for itself, it was that good. And when people pick up a book, maybe they hear it from my recommendation, maybe they hear it because they saw it on Goodreads, but they pick up the book and they're like, “All right, I'm hearing a lot of hype about this thing.” And when they finally read it and it lives up to the hype, that's it. It's done. They're gonna be telling everybody, all of their friends about it, like for forever and ever and ever.

Sarah Enni:  So, after all the information we packed into this episode, it really boils down to one core truth about publishing.

Margot Wood:  You can do all the marketing you can in the world, but if your books sucks, like there's nothing you can do about that. No advertising, or marketing is going to change that. So as an author, I will always say, don't worry about the marketing. Just make sure your book is good.

Sarah Enni:  Next time, we’re getting into way more detail about what authors can do to promote on their own.

Find Margot Wood @margotwood.com; Christine Riccio @christinericcio.com, and Jo Volpe @NewLeafLiterary.com. As always, the show notes for this episode will have links to everything we talked about as well as more resources.

You can follow me @SarahEnni on Twitter, Instagram and everywhere. Follow First Draft @FirstDraftPod on Twitter and Instagram, and head to FirstDraftPod.com/TrackChanges for more information and updates on Track Changes.  And be sure to check out the First Draft Facebook group to join the conversation.

If you want to go deeper on the publishing process and get some original industry reporting from me, sign up for the Track Changes newsletter. For $5 a month, the Track Changes newsletter hits your inbox every Thursday, sometimes Friday, with information to provide context, up-to-date and behind-the-scenes data, that will educate and empower you no matter what stage of the publishing journey you’re at.

And, if you sign up @FirstDraftPod.com/TrackChanges today, you’ll get a 30-day free trial to see if the newsletter is right for you.

Help support Track Changes by subscribing to the First Draft with Sarah Enni podcast wherever you’re listening right now. And please leave a rating or review, especially on Apple Podcasts. It only takes a couple minutes but it really helps the show and gets us in front of new listeners.

Also, First Draft participates in affiliate programs, specifically bookshop.org. So that means when you go to FirstDraftPod.com and click on a link to buy a book there, it helps to support the show and independent bookstores at no additional cost to you.

If you’d like to donate directly to First Draft either on a one-time or monthly basis, you can do that at paypal.me/FirstDraftPod.

Track Changes is produced by me, Sarah Enni, and Hayley Hershmen. Zan Romanoff is our story editor, and Julie Anderson provides transcripts for every episode. The theme music is by Dan Baily and the logo was designed by Collin Keith.