The success of any title lies in publisher and author collaboration. Independent publishing is now focused on a reader-center business model. Readers are now looking to both retailers and authors for their next purchase.
Below are some resources we've compiled with updated industry news and author resources for book promotion and author branding to help you connect with your readership.
Additional links and resources will be made available the second Monday of each month.
Stay up to date on the latest industry information
2025
LitHub, “How to Talk About Your Own Book” (01/16/2025)
Lit Hub, “Getting Rid of Book Blurbs? Easier Said Than Done” (02/13/2025)
LitHub’s “The Challenges We Face” series by Josh Cook
Part 1: “Trump 2.0: What the Book World Should Do Now” (01/21/2025)
Part 2: “What Publishing Can Do About Trump: Preserve the Independence of Our Bookstores and Libraries” (02/04/2025)
Part 3: “The Reforestation of American Civic Life: What Publishing Can Do in the Face of the Trump” (03/21/2025)
LitHub, “What Does It Mean to Be a ‘Good Author’ When You Publish a Book?” (04/10/2025)
NPR, “Social media is influencing how authors promote their books. Here's how” (05/21/2025)
PW, “Independent Publishers Are Fed Up with Barnes & Noble” (06/26/2025)
Archive: 2019-2024
BookBrowser, "The 13 Things Book Clubs Look For When Picking Books" (7/15/19)
Book Riot, "Over 50% of Adults Have not Finished a Book in the Last Year" (6/21/22)
Publishers Weekly, "Getting the Word Out: 25 Years of Changes to Book Publicity" (4/19/2022)
Literary Hub, "How Writers Can Best Conceptualize Their Work" (4/6/2022)
Publishers Weekly, AWP 2022 recap (03/28/2022)
Certified B Corporation Report on Bookshop.org (March 2022)
BookLife, "The Rampant Coding of Literature" (05/12/2022)
Book Riot, "Indie Bookshops and Indie Authors: You Can Be Friends, I Promise!" (05/18/2022)
Book Riot, "Is BookTok Changing the Way We Talk About Books?" (05/20/2022)
BiblioLifestyle, "The 5 Best Book Tracking Apps for Readers" (posted 2023)
LitHub, "What Oslo’s Future Library Means for Writers and the Written Word" (02/07/23)
LitHub, "The Small Press World is About to Fall Apart.” On the Collapse of Small Press Distribution" (04/03/24)
LitHub, "My Local Indie Won’t Stock My Buzzy Debut and I’m Pissed: Am I the Literary Asshole?" (07/11/24)
BookRiot, "How Much Time Do Americans Spend Reading Per Day?" (07/17/2024)
BookRiot, "A New Era for Banned Books Week: Book Censorship News, August 2, 2024" (Literary Activism) (08/02/2024)
Publishers Weekly, "Fall Regionals 2024: Bookselling in an Election Year" (08/16/2024)
07.16.25 "Why Email is the Best Marketing Channel for Authors" (BookBub)
Social Media Marketing for Authors Panel (about 1 hour) - an extensive panel covering a variety of topics, including building engagements, the biggest time wasters, what content format gets the most traction, and which platforms still work and which are dying (July 2025)
Build Your Author Brand
07.16.25 "Why every author needs a brand" (BuildBookBuzz)
07.17.24: "How to Grow an Author Platform: Beyond Quick Fixes to Lasting Success" by Jenn Hanson-dePaula
Create custom social media graphics for your books at any time
It's always important to have a hub where people can go to find information about your work. If you're not a web developer, there are plenty of free platforms where you can host an author's website.
Blogger - The original blogging platform, it offers easy setup and a lot of customization options depending on how much time and effort you're willing to put in (there are also plenty of free themes you can choose from online to update the look of your site). Adam's website is currently built on Blogger.
Wordpress - There's a free and paid version of Wordpress. The customization is a bit limited with the free version, but offers more than enough to build out a nice website to support your work.
Wix - Another free service, you can do a bit more stylistically than with something like Wordpress, but they require a lot of Wix branding unless you upgrade to a paid version.
Google Sites - Requires a Gmail account. It has a very simple drag and drop content builder that utilizes some simple templates. This site is built using Google Sites.
Create an Author Newsletter - This is a great way to engage with fans and keep them up to date on your work, events, any author or non author related news you may want to share. Below are two services that offer free tiers that can be used to manage your newsletter.
MailChimp - MailChimp is the go to service for a lot of people and should suit most of your needs. It includes many simple ways to create signup forms to let people subscribe. And lots of templates that are intuitive and simple to use.
SendGrid - Lacks the ability create sign up forms, so you'll need a separate way to collect people's information, but their user interface is much more robust and you can create much more elaborate emails.
07.17.24: "50 Ideas for Author Newsletter Content" by Zoe M. McCarthy
07.17.24: "To Substack or Not to Substack: A Comprehensive Guide for Authors" by Jenn Hanson-dePaula