Book & Art Marketing Q&A: Answering the most common marketing questions!
I run a creative marketing membership for authors and artists, and every single week my students bring me their most pressing questions. I wanted to pull together five of the most common ones I've been hearing lately because chances are, if you're asking them too, you're not alone. These answers are a bit more general than what I give inside the membership, but my hope is that they help you feel less stuck and a little more clear on where to go next.
If you want to hear the full breakdown of these questions in context and see how I think through them in real time, you can watch the full video or listen to the podcast linked below.
Prefer to watch or listen rather than read this article?
How Do I Know If My Strategy Is Working or If I Just Need More Time?
This is probably the question I hear most often, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you're already seeing in your data. Let's talk through a few things to check.
First, look for any signs of growth, even small ones. If your strategy isn't converting to sales yet, is it doing anything at all? Are new people following you, and do they seem like the right people for what you create? Are your saves, shares, and overall reach trending upward over time, even with the natural ebbs and flows?
Sales data takes longer to show up, especially from organic social media. Inside my membership, I recommend giving a focused strategy around 90 days before making any major changes. A lot of creatives have shiny object syndrome and switch things up after a week or two, which means they never actually get to see results. As someone who has been consistent on social media for 10 years, I can tell you there are always ups and downs but I have always seen results from showing up consistently.
If after 90 days of genuine, consistent effort you're still not seeing improvement, get another set of eyes on it. Whether that's me or someone else in your network, honest outside feedback can help you figure out what to shift.
Should I Be on Every Platform or Just Focus on One?
You absolutely can repurpose content across every platform, and if you have the bandwidth, go for it. But here's why I typically don't recommend it, especially for creatives who are building their audience on their own.
One, it can lead to burnout quickly. Creating content is fun and energizing; reposting it across five platforms is tedious. And if the tedious part takes over, you're less likely to keep going at all.
Two, and this is the bigger reason: it becomes really hard to tell what's actually working. Each platform has its own nuances, and when something isn't performing, it's difficult to pinpoint why or make meaningful adjustments when you're spread across so many places. Focusing on one to two platforms lets you actually observe your content's performance, make small optimizations, and see real results from that effort.
What Do I Post When I'm Not in Active Launch Mode?
This is one of my favorites to answer because I've been doing it for a long time. After my first book launch, I went three years without launching anything new but I kept showing up, kept posting, and kept marketing that one book the whole time.
In between launches, I focus on two things: continuing to sell (people should always know your work is available) and growing your audience. That second piece is really about sharing content that's genuinely shareable like inspirational, entertaining, relatable, the kind of thing that brings new people into your world. I talked about this more in depth in a recent video on what to do when social media isn't working.
Don't be afraid to repeat yourself, either. You can share quotes from your book, reader photos, excerpts, reviews, stories behind the work, behind-the-scenes of your writing process and the list really is endless. If you're a fiction writer, tease your plot, leave people on a cliffhanger. All of that counts as marketing, and none of it gets old as quickly as we think it does.
My Engagement Has Dropped a Lot: What Do I Do?
Engagement has shifted across the board, and it's not just you. I covered this more in the video I mentioned above, but the short version is: people are engaging more privately now. They're sharing posts with friends, saving them for later, and hitting the like button far less than they were a few years ago. That doesn't mean your content isn't landing but it just means the way people interact with it has changed.
Please don't use likes as your primary metric. I still catch myself feeling like a post flopped when it gets 60 likes, but then I look at saves or shares and realize it actually reached people. There is a new baseline, and adjusting our expectations to match it makes a big difference in how we feel about the work we're putting out.
That said, if engagement and results across the board are consistently down, that's worth paying attention to. Look at what content has performed better versus worse, take those learnings into your next posts, and if things still aren't moving after real consistent effort, consider shifting your strategy rather than just doing more of the same.
What's the Right Mix of Content to Post?
For those familiar with my Show, Sell, Storytell method, this one's for you. The most common follow-up question I get is: what's the right ratio?
During ongoing, in-between-launch marketing, I tend to keep a fairly even balance of all three. Show content helps you reach new audiences. Sell content speaks to the people who already know and trust you. Storytell content nurtures that relationship and builds connection over time.
During a launch, I shift that balance. I lean into more Sell and Storytell content to help new people trust me and understand what I'm offering, and I dial up Show content before the launch to bring fresh eyes in. Something like 50% Sell, 30% Storytell, 20% Show tends to work well during those windows.
The reason to lean into selling during a launch is simple: people miss things. I've followed creators I genuinely love and completely missed that they had something new available because they held back on promoting it. Don't assume your audience is seeing everything but give them enough touchpoints to actually know your work is out there.
Closing
If you'd like personalized feedback on your social media, email newsletters, bio, and more along with templates and training every month then you're welcome to join the waitlist for the Creative's Content Club, my marketing membership for authors and artists. Join the waitlist here.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. These questions tend to sit at the core of most marketing uncertainty for authors and artists, and I hope it helps you feel a bit more grounded in what to look for as you continue building your work.