As the book publishing landscape evolves, small and independent publishers face numerous challenges that demand strategic adaptation. Below are my thoughts on the key challenges that impact title and author awareness, consumer engagement, and sales, along with actionable recommendations to navigate these complexities.

Market Challenges

• Sales Plateau: The pandemic-driven spike in sales was temporary, and retail sales have reverted to pre-pandemic (2018) levels, with flat ecommerce growth mirroring this trend.
• Dominant Players: Google and Amazon control discoverability, often promoting their own products over others, and they control (and do not share) the data collected on consumers.
• Fragmented Consumer Journeys: Google’s AI Overviews, research capabilities within search results, and AI-organized search results within Google, Amazon and YouTube reduce click-through rates to publisher sites. 
• Diminished Social Media Impact: Declining organic reach and engagement, due to algorithms that favour sponsored content (ads), limit the impact of publisher-created content on these platforms; meanwhile privacy legislation increasingly limits audience targeting and tracking capabilities.
• Declining/disappearing Book Coverage in Traditional Media: Influential personalities on newer media channels like Substack and TikTok can have larger audiences than traditional media, requiring a reimagining of earned media strategies. Plus, social platforms block access to media links.
• Screen Fragmentation and Competing Attention: Consumers split their attention across multiple screens, reducing time for deep reading.
• Plus, book bans, awards boycotts, the war against diversity, the lack of clarity on licensing AI training rights, and copyright in the age of generative AI are all heartaches facing the industry.

Marketing Opportunities – Targeted, Actionable Recommendations

1. Title/Author Awareness (Discoverability)

Leverage “Micro Influencers” and Niche Communities

Building partnerships with influential creators who have algorithm-favoured reach (e.g., BookTok influencers) is crucial.

• Identify smaller, engaged influencers (BookTok, Substack creators, YouTube niche reviewers) who resonate with specific genres.
• Create evergreen partnerships, compensating influencers based on engagement or signed copies, rather than single campaigns.

Embrace AI and Search Optimization

• Specifically, embrace SEO tailored for AI and structured data to surface books within these search environments.
• Create compelling content snippets directly for search engines to help capture reader interest at the search level.
• Optimize book metadata for structured data to increase discoverability on search engines and generative AI results.
• Invest in explainer content (author Q&A snippets, book guides) designed to rank well on Google.

Track Success

• Adopt multi-touch attribution models to track the consumer path from online discovery to offline purchase.
• Emphasis should be on capturing email addresses and engaging readers repeatedly over time rather than relying solely on immediate sales conversions or one-off interactions.

Collaborate with Retail Partners for Exclusive Discoverability Initiatives 

• Negotiate exclusive online previews or author features on retailer sites like Amazon, Kobo and Indigo (for those with larger budgets), or work with independent bookseller networks and community sites like 49thShelf.com and All Lit Up.
• Incentivize in-store promotions linked with digital QR codes to track engagement.

2. Consumer Engagement (Word of Mouth, Recommendations, Reviews)

Selectively use social media for engagement rather than direct sales, with content focused on storytelling and brand authenticity. Try to sell the list vs. individual titles. Offer behind-the-scenes looks.

Focus on privacy-friendly content strategies like contextual targeting and authentic influencer partnerships.

Invest in owned media (newsletters, communities) and automation tools (email onboarding journeys, AI agents for book recommendations, content repurposing & scheduling tools) to improve efficiency and ROI.

Gamify Reader Engagement

• Create reading challenges or loyalty programs tied to book reviews and social sharing.
• Reward readers with exclusive author content, merchandise, signed editions, or discount codes for completing tasks (writing reviews, sharing posts).

Own the Community Conversation

Build long-term marketing plans centred on author brands, categories or themes rather than one-off title launches.

• Launch a branded digital book club with virtual author visits and exclusive discussions.
• Use Pinterest, Discord, Substack or Slack to build dedicated spaces for readers by genre.
• Conduct early reader surveys to identify sleeper hits before marketing more broadly.

Reinforce the Value of Reading

• Promote reading as a mindful, immersive activity distinct from digital distractions.
• Create companion digital experiences (audiobooks, enhanced ebooks) to capture more fragmented reader attention.

Invest in Review Generation

• Partner with NetGalley alternatives focused on micro-influencers and reader reviews.
• Encourage “review clubs” among loyal readers with periodic emails requesting reviews for free digital or early-release books.

The Caveat

The recommendations in #2 are resource-intensive for small publishers. I suggest prioritizing a few key engagement strategies based on existing staff expertise and bandwidth. Focus on simpler reader engagement initiatives, band together with likeminded publishers, or leverage your interactions within an existing community.

The most important consideration here is that unless your trade partners, who historically managed the b2c relationship, are nailing this, then consumer engagement has to be part of a publisher’s marketing activities.

If you’re already saying “yeah, but…” to the above, you’ll really hate the ideas below. Let’s laugh it out together! 

3. Sales (Retail, Digital, Direct eCommerce, Trade/Wholesale)

Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) First Strategy

• Launch limited edition book bundles available exclusively on the publisher’s website. Or, given resource constraints, try a single, well-executed early release to super fans or your newsletter subscribers.
• Offer pre-order bonuses, such as exclusive digital content, for direct purchases.

Experiential Retail Integration

• Collaborate with independent bookstores for pop-up events featuring multi-sensory experiences (reading, tastings, or related workshops). Need to dream smaller? Suggest themed shelf displays to key retail partners.
• Use author-led tours or events to boost foot traffic to physical stores. Or find novel partnerships with pubs or coffee shops who would run book-trivia nights featuring a group of authors.

Leverage Your Data

• Analyze consumer insights from your ecommerce, email, and social media accounts to offer bundled deals (themed series, holiday collections) or curated book suggestions.
• Move backlist titles by creating Subscription Boxes or Bundles that combines a frontlist title or exclusive content with a selection of relevant backlist titles.
• Identify high-performing blog posts, book pages, or social media content to guide future campaigns. 

4. Operational Efficiency for Scalability

Streamlined Author Marketing Support

• Provide author marketing toolkits, including templated social media posts and pre-formatted/sized imagery, media outreach plans, and virtual event guides. 
• Create a self-guided online training session for authors on engaging directly with readers through social platforms.

Resource-Sharing Partnerships

• Form alliances with other publishers to share marketing technologies, distribution resources, or influencer partnerships.
• Work with your provincial or national associations to create the author marketing toolkits or automation tools suggested above.
• Create a repository for templated social media posts and pre-formatted images that retailers, librarians and other trade partners can access.

Again, I fully acknowledge the resource constraints. Yet we cannot risk ignoring the compounding effects of shifts in the market. I encourage you to view the above recommendations as a menu of opportunities. Try one or two approaches that align with your current workflow. The goal is to find incremental value by leveraging smarter discoverability tactics, fostering deeper consumer engagement, and optimizing sales strategies.