Overwhelmed with Book Marketing? How Marketing is Like Parenting

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Hi. This is Shelly Hitz, and in this episode of Author Audience, I'm going to talk about marketing your book. I recently had one of my Author Audience Academy members tell me she was overwhelmed at the thought of marketing her book. And so this is an illustration and some advice for you today if you are feeling that way as well. It's an ongoing process. I always like to say it's kind of like giving birth to a child. You have the pregnancy of nine months and you give birth, and, yes, that is intense. I've never been through the process, but I know many people who have. And it's an intense process. You know, it's painful, it's hard, it's difficult, but you're just starting the process of parenting, and that parenting is lifelong because your child will always be your child. My mom is still in my life, and we're still connected, and she's still parenting me in many ways and helping me in different things. And so when we publish a book, that publishing process is like being pregnant and birthing that book, you know, having that birth process. But then we have the ongoing process of marketing. But it doesn't have to be intense every season. So there will be seasons where you have an intense marketing time, like during a book launch or a special promotion or if you're doing maybe a podcast tour or a blog tour or you are doing a lot of speaking engagements. There might be an intensity with the marketing at different times, but it's a lifelong process. And there will be times that it will be more intense. There will be times that it will be less intense. But. But the cool thing about it, some people then feel overwhelmed. But it's so overwhelming because there's so much and there's so much to do. But the thing is, you don't have to do it all today. It's a process, and it's like a layering of the different things that you do over time. It's going to have the biggest impact. So you're going to continue to do things little by little by little. But right now, to be honest, I'm taking a breath. I'm taking a breather. And December is not going to be intense for me. I need a little bit of a break. And yes, I'll still do the podcast for Roku Cray and still color. I'll still do stuff for Author Audience Academy. I'LL still do some things, but it's not going to be the intensity that November was for me as far as marketing and book launches and all these things. There will be seasons. But don't pressure yourself, because if you pressure yourself and you start having these certain expectations of what you have to do and what you have to get it done, guess what? It's not fun anymore. And you start to dread it. And then it becomes hard and it becomes laborious and it's stressful and it comes out of our flesh and we're pushing, trying, striving, and it's not going to be as effective either when you're in that place. So just enjoying the process. Join the process of parenting your book through the marketing. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And breathe.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her Six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.