10 Unique Challenges of Book Marketing in 2024

One publishing professional's take on how book marketing is different than Marketing in other business sectors

I have been in the book business for over twenty years, having worked for book retailers and publishing companies, including one of the Big 5.

In 2019, I started Amplify Marketing Services where book marketing is one of the two core specialties we offer (non-profit marketing being the other specialty), and over the last few years, we’ve been honored to serve as the marketing agency for more than ten publishing companies, managing millions of dollars in ads each year for thousands of books via Amazon Ads, Google, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Pinterest, & more.

I say all this to establish some qualifications for addressing ten unique challenges of book marketing. They are listed below, with hyperlinked text for easy navigation to each section of this article.

10 Unique Challenges of Book Marketing in 2024

1. Each book has its own market

2. Direct relationships with customers are difficult to establish and maintain

3. Book marketers have too many products to promote

4. There is little brand awareness among consumers

5. It is difficult to get positive ROI from advertising

6. Amazon is the preferred retailer for many book buyers

7. Book marketers often have to “fly blind”

8. The competition is dominated by 5 giants

9. The retail landscape is dominated by a handful of giants

10. Author & agent relationships are challenging to manage

Challenge #1: Each book has its own market

Unlike many sectors where the bulk of a company’s products fit neatly into a handful of related categories, each individual book has its own specific audience or customer base. This means that publishers have thousands of individual markets to identify and reach - that’s a daunting task!

If you worked for a phone case manufacturer, there might be hundreds of variations of cases with different materials, features, and color options for every popular phone brand and model, but all of those phone cases serve the same need - they protect a phone from damage.

The ad headlines, product taglines, and marketing copy can be similar for all of the variations of a phone case.

The amount of research necessary to understand the primary market for a phone case is less complicated than it is for each and every book that is published. I’m oversimplifying this to the point where I’m sure to offend phone case marketers, but I’m using this example to make a case in point (dad joke intended) that…

The market for books is not merely “readers.”

I can almost hear an “Amen” echoing from hundreds of book marketers who have been accused of having a simple job.

The book market crosses over many types of customers. Sure, there are the “Power Readers” whom every book marketer hopes to reach, but the market for books is much broader than just readers.

Someone who rarely reads for entertainment will become a book customer if…

• It is from a celebrity or influencer they admire

• It offers a solution to a problem they’re facing

• It could be a thoughtful & meaningful gift

More on that last point - books are often purchased as gifts - for graduation, birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, baby showers, anniversaries, and more.

In these instances, it is not only the reader who is the target customer for a book - it is the parent, grandparent, friend, coworker, etc. - the gift-giver.

In fact, it is a good idea for the publisher and marketer to focus on the gift-giver’s perspective as they develop a book concept, instead of just considering the persona of the ultimate reader of the content.

During the product development phase, ask questions like:

• What will the gift-giver be willing to pay?

• What title would best position this as a gift?

• What tone and feel would make the cover and packaging appear more giftable?

Every book has 1) unique content, 2) the distinct perspective of the author, 3) and a combination of various customer types (including gift-givers) that would find it relevant and meaningful.

Unlike the phone case marketer who has 500 SKUs to promote to people whose felt need is to protect their smartphones, a book marketer has hundreds of books to promote, each one with a distinct audience to reach - an audience that:

• Pays attention to different influencers

• Listens to different podcasts

• Watches different programs

• Uses different social media platforms

• Responds to different price points

• And gives gifts for different occasions

Challenge #2: Direct relationships with customers are difficult to establish and maintain

Since each book has a different market, few consumers will sign up for a publisher’s newsletter, follow their social, or subscribe to their YouTube channel because they aren’t interested in the bulk of what a publisher produces - they just want that one book that is relevant to them at the time.

In other business sectors, whenever a company needs to raise awareness of a new product, they can…

• Tap into their email list to notify previous customers that a new model is available.

• Announce it via social posts, boosted posts, and social ads with fans who follow them because they share a common interest.

• Publish compelling video demonstrations that subscribers to their YouTube channel will want to see.

But since each book has its own market, few will follow a publisher’s brand, and those who subscribe will often unsubscribe after seeing the first 2 or 3 attempts to sell books that are irrelevant to them.

Challenge #3: Book marketers have too many products to promote

That leads us to challenge #3. In most cases, a marketing team at a publishing house has hundreds of books they are responsible for. Among those books are a mix of:

• Frontlist (new releases)

• Evergreen bestsellers

• And hundreds of backlist titles

The percentage of revenue coming from frontlist vs. backlist will vary by publisher, but one thing is certain - the new releases always get the bulk of the attention, budget, and publicity.

Backlist might make up for 80% or more of a publishing company’s revenue, but the marketer’s plate is so full with new release campaigns, the 20% becomes nearly 100% of their focus.

With cutbacks at publishing companies, many marketing teams are too small to give due attention to all they are responsible for. That’s a very real challenge, and it is worth addressing honestly.

Challenge #4: There is little brand awareness among consumers

Another challenge that publishers face is the lack of brand awareness among consumers.

When I was leading a marketing team at one of the Big 5, I was invited to speak at a national marketing conference about one of my favorite topics - customer journey mapping.

While at this event, I met with marketers from Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Yelp, Velcro, Southwest Airlines, and other household name brands, and I was shocked (and slightly embarrassed) that many of these people had never heard of my employer at the time - HarperCollins.

Eventually, I learned to overcome this embarrassment by rattling off the names of a few New York Times bestselling authors who published with us, and then we could move past the awkwardness to talk shop.

There are exceptions, but in most cases, people (including readers) are not aware of the publisher behind their favorite books.

Ask 100 fans of Harry Potter who published the series and you might only find a few who know that it was first published by Bloomsbury in the UK and then Scholastic Corporation in the US.

When we’re in our normal circles (trade shows, conventions, book fairs, etc.), a marketer from one of the Big 5 is proud to display their badge because everyone knows and respects their publishing house, but outside of those places, our employers’ names are largely unrecognizable.

Book readers pay little attention to the publisher's name on the spine. Their primary concern is the content of the book and/or the author who wrote it.

The only exception I can think of is when a publishing house chooses to stay in one lane and they are vigilant in maintaining high standards for every book they publish. In these cases, a publisher can become a known and trusted entity with their core market.

But the challenge that the rest of us face is a lack of brand awareness among our customers. Apple fanatics buy anything Apple makes. Costco fans trust anything Costco sells. But few people are even aware of publisher brands and even fewer will inherently trust that what we publish is worth buying.

Challenge #5: It is difficult to get positive ROI from advertising

The third unique challenge is getting a positive return on an investment in ads. A combination of the 5 factors below contribute collectively to a significant challenge for book marketers.

1. Low price points: Compared to other products, the price points for books are relatively low. There are price caps for each type and format of book, and if you go above them to try to be more profitable, consumers won’t buy them. For example, children’s board books can rarely rise above $9.99. Paperback trade books are difficult to sell when priced over $19.99 (sometimes less). And no matter how many full-color pages are in a hardcover trade book, if the price is over $34.99 (often, much less), the market will be limited.

2. Rising advertising costs: Amazon Ads have proven to be the most profitable (and provable) way for publishers to increase discoverability and sales of their books (that’s why we have chosen as an agency to specialize in this), but as more publishers increase their Amazon Ads budgets, the extra demand drives the cost of this real estate up. And when you are selling a $9.99 children’s board book, an increase from $0.35 per click to $0.60 per click can make all the difference in the world for your profitability. [Note: Most ad platforms have also become more expensive, so this presents a challenge across the board for book marketers.]

3. Rising cost of goods: The cost of paper has gone up significantly over the last few years, but consumer price point sensitivities haven’t risen in proportion to it. Some consumers will grudgingly accept a 25% increase in certain food items or a $0.50 increase in gasoline, but those same people will hesitate to spend more than they are used to for books.

4. Author royalties: Cell phone case manufacturers don’t need to factor in the cost of royalties. Most sectors don’t have to deal with that line item expense, but publishers share a significant percentage of their revenue with the authors who have chosen to partner with them. Each year, author advances and royalty percentages creep up, making it challenging to pay for ads, cover the rising cost of goods, and author royalties.

5. Retailer discount schedules: That leads us to the last of these 5 factors that make it challenging to be profitable with book ads. This one is listed last because it is not unique to publishers. Manufacturers in every sector have to share a percentage of their revenue with the retail partners who display, sell, and ship their books. But book publishers are at or above the high end of the spectrum (which is 10-50%).

Challenge #6: Amazon is the preferred retailer for many book buyers

Amazon has disrupted many market categories over the years, but its dominance in the book market is unparalleled. This is largely due to the fact that the book category was the first sector they focused on way back in 1994.

Amazon’s steep discounts, fast shipping, and excellent customer service (not to mention their early dominance in the eBook market with Kindle devices) quickly made Amazon the preferred retailer for savvy book buyers (those “Power Readers” we were talking about earlier).

Why is this a challenge? Book marketers have to accept that their efforts to increase discoverability for a book will not likely result in, A) a direct sale on their site, B) a new relationship with a customer with which to build long-term value, or C) a measurable means of proving the part each marketing tactic had on conversion.

There is one exception. If your other retail partners won’t punish you for it, you can include a tagged URL in social ads, Google Ads, emails, etc. that directs to the Amazon product detail page and Amazon will give you stats about which source resulted in sales. This program is called Amazon Attribution.

Challenge #7: Book marketers often have to “fly blind”

Due to what is often called “channel conflict,” key retailers will indeed punish a publishing company if they use any of their sources to drive traffic to Amazon’s product detail pages.

Even though Amazon is a dominant book retailer (often making up for 50%+ of a publisher’s revenue), the other 50% is still important an necessary for publishers to retain. It is simply not worth risking relationships with Barnes & Noble, Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, or Target just to have better metrics to inform book marketing decisions.

That means book marketers are often forced to fly blind.

There are many metrics that we track when advertising books outside of Amazon (using Google Looker Studio dashboards that pull data in from Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Analytics, HubSpot, etc.), but the last piece of the puzzle is missing - ads in other channels won’t show us who actually purchased the book on Amazon.

This lack of conversion data is indeed a challenge for book marketers!

Challenge #8: The competition is dominated by 5 giants

The publishing industry has 5 giants that dominate the market:

• Penguin Random House

• Hachette

• HarperCollins

• Macmillan

• Simon & Schuster

The scale of these large publishers results in, A) deeper pockets for author advances and royalties as well as advertising, B) negotiating power with printers for lower prices and prioritized timelines, C) enough volume to secure meetings with key retailers and distributors, D) the clout to get a team of staff at Amazon dedicated to them (that’s rare!), and E) the stability to weather difficult downturns in the economy.

Those are some powerful advantages to being a marketer at one of the Big 5, but if you’re leading a marketing team at any other publisher, you have to work without these advantages.

You might not be able to out-bid a Big 5 publisher for author advances or out-spend them in advertising, so you’re forced to get creative and work smarter and harder to find gaps in their strategies and ways to work sneak past and through these giants to achieve your sales goals.

It can be done - we’ve helped many small and mid-size publishers experience measurable growth without outspending the Big 5, but it is a specialized skill set that we’ve worked hard to refine over the years.

Challenge #9: The retail landscape is dominated by a handful of giants

Just as a handful of giants dominate the publishing world, a handful of giants also make up the bulk of the retail space.

When I worked for one of the Big 5, the “customer” the marketing teams focused on was usually the buyers at our large retailer partners, not the end users (readers). If we couldn’t convince the book chains, distributors, and big box store buyers that our new books were going to appeal to their customers, then they wouldn’t order them, and we wouldn’t sell enough units to be successful.

This is a significant and ongoing challenge for book marketers. Not only is it difficult to focus on both backlist and frontlist, we also have to focus on marketing to two segments: consumers and retailers.

But that requires planning, time, and money. Much of the marketing budget goes to corrugated displays, featured placements on tables, walls, and endcaps, and marketing materials specifically designed for sales reps to use when pitching the next season of new releases.

When you think about it, there is a 3rd segment that is also considered a “customer” who needs to be convinced of a book’s relevance - the internal sales team. If sales reps aren’t excited about your books, they might not carry that enthusiasm into their meetings with these gatekeeper buyers at the retail giants.

That means that much of our attention was spent preparing for pub board meetings and sales conferences.

I was always surprised by how much of our time, attention, and resources went toward talking to ourselves and not to the end user of our books (the readers for whom the books were written), but that is the nature of book publishing.

Let’s get back to discussing the giants of retail. Another way that this presents a challenge for publishers is that when a retailer knows they are an important part of a publisher’s success, they leverage that to get increasingly favorable terms with the publishers. This includes higher discounts, free freight (to the retailer and from the retailer when the books don’t sell as expected), and sometimes longer terms before payment needs to be received.

Big publishers and big retailers present substantial challenges to book marketers and that will continue into 2024.

Challenge #10: Author and agent relationship can be difficult to manage

Up till this point, we’ve seen that a book marketer has to focus on both frontlist and backlist from the vantage point of a variety of “audiences” including the end user (reader), the gift-giver, their own internal sales team, and their key retail partners, but that is not a complete list.

Book marketers are also tasked with at least part of the relationship management responsibilities with authors and their agents.

Marketers often help the publisher acquire a book by presenting marketing plans that impress the author enough to sign with them, and then, when a book is published, the bulk of relationship management shifts to the marketing team.

They are tasked with helping the author build and leverage their platform to promote the book, and they also become the point person for questions about sales or concerns about how things are going.

For example, it is common for authors to let marketers know about their frustration that their book wasn’t in their local bookstore or retail stores. They also express their concerns when their book isn’t the first one to show up for relevant searches on Amazon and Google.

Relationship management with authors and agents is an important part of a marketer’s job, and it is one of my favorite things to do, but it is time-consuming and can take away from the important work of marketing to end users and gift-givers.

One of the things that we do for our publishing partners is create Google Looker Studio dashboards for priority new releases where the author and agent are likely going to be highly involved. These dashboards give them real time access to results, so they can have it at their fingertips, making the author relationship side of their job a little bit easier.

We also provide talking points and anecdotal evidence to our marketing contacts that authors will find interesting.

Making a book marketer’s job easier and helping them be the hero for an author is something that we find very gratifying as an agency.

Conclusion

Book marketing is complicated and there are many challenges to overcome. I empathize because I have been there (and I am still here). I love book marketing, but for us to be successful, these challenges should be acknowledged and addressed by our marketing teams and publishing companies.

I hope you will refer to this list when it comes to discussions at your company about goals, expectations, marketing budgets, headcount, and more.

By the way, at Amplify, we recently expanded our team to take on a couple more publishing partners. If you’re interested in exploring a partnership with us for book marketing (including Amazon Ad management, metadata optimization, Social Ads, Google, YouTube, etc.), schedule a free exploratory call by booking a time in my calendar below.

Franklin Goldberg, Founder/Marketing Strategist