Many authors quietly assume their publisher is better at marketing books than they are.
This perspective isn’t foolish—it’s actually logical. But, this mindset also puts the author’s book at far greater risk than they might realize.
Most authors don’t come from marketing backgrounds. They’re professors, counselors, pastors, executives, clinicians, artists, parents, or first-time authors who simply wanted to write a meaningful book. They’ve never run ad campaigns, built sales funnels, tested messaging, or studied buyer psychology.
Thus, when a publisher steps in with a marketing department, sales reps, and decades of experience, it seems reasonable to think: They’ve got this.
The problem isn’t the assumption. The problem is that most authors don’t realize they’re confusing two completely different types of marketing.
This confusion can be costly.
Retail Marketing vs. Consumer Marketing
Publishers are built for retail marketing.
Retail marketing pushes books into the marketplace. It includes sales calls to bookstores, securing shelf space, industry advertising, distributor relationships, metadata, and some publicity. This is the infrastructure publishers were designed to run—and they’re generally competent at it.
But retail marketing does not create reader demand. It merely makes the book available.
Consumer marketing does something else entirely. It pulls readers toward a book. It requires identifying the exact audience most likely to care and engaging them directly—through email, podcasts, social media, speaking, partnerships, communities, advertising, and word-of-mouth.
This is what actually drives sales.
Yet, this is where most publishers are weak. It doesn’t make sense for publishers to spend huge amounts of time and money building a custom audience for every book that they publish, especially when they publish hundreds of books per year.
Authors who lack marketing experience naturally assume marketing is one monolithic skill—and that the publisher must be better at all of it. In reality, publishers are optimized for retail access, not reader attraction.
When authors don’t understand this distinction, they over-rely on the publisher and under-own the one form of marketing that actually moves the needle: consumer marketing.
What’s Inside? vs. What’s In It for Me?
After coaching over 1,000 authors and consulting with numerous publishers, I’ve noticed that the marketing disconnect tends to first reveal itself in the marketing language.
When many authors finish their manuscript, they stop thinking about words and rely on their publisher to create the promotional text. Yet, these words are the language that readers will see to determine if they want to make a purchase, including the book title, subtitle, ad hooks, and description.
All too often, the author sits back and assumes the publisher is best-suited to handle this function. But, here’s what typically happens:
The publisher proceeds to create words that explain what’s inside the book.
But readers don’t buy books because of what’s inside of them. They buy books because of what’s in it for them. Do you see this important distinction?
From a retail perspective, bookstores must know how to categorize a book to fit within its inventory. Thus, the publisher creates a title, subtitle, description, and metadata that is meant to inform the retail industry.
However, language that informs is very different from language that persuades. Readers don’t need to be informed. They need to be enticed. They want answers to the following questions:
How will this book help me?
Solve my problem?
Improve my life?
Be worth my time and money?
Authors—especially those who are close to their audience—are best qualified to answer these questions. Yet too many defer this crucial language to their publisher, assuming the professionals must know best.
I’ve witnessed this disconnect on several occasions coaching my author clients. They turn in their manuscript and excitedly wait to receive the publisher’s marketing copy. Then, they contact me with disappointment complaining about how boring the text seems. They feel stuck because they assumed the publisher would do a great job at consumer marketing. But that is NOT the publisher’s job.
Publishers do retail marketing (inform). Authors do consumer marketing (entice).
Your Book Is Your Baby
You may not be trained in marketing—but you are the world’s leading expert on your message, your reader, and why your book matters. Letting someone else control the critical marketing elements is like letting someone else parent your baby. It doesn’t make sense.
I learned this early in my author career. My first publisher designed a book cover so dull that I was embarrassed to show it to other people. In addition, my publisher created an industry press release that contained factual errors and quotes I never said. Only by pushing back—through my literary agent to request multiple revisions—did I finally get marketing language that reflected the book’s true message.
My publisher wasn’t malicious. They just weren’t experts in consumer marketing or the content of my book.
Who Has the Final Say?
I’m not arguing against traditional publishing. I’m arguing for author ownership.
If your book is your baby, then you should have the final say on critical marketing details, such as the title and descriptive copy.
But the final say also requires that you take ownership for the consumer side of the equation—especially the language, positioning, and promise that attract readers in the first place.
This isn’t about doing everything yourself—it’s about owning what matters most.
Readers don’t care who published your book or who was supposed to market it—they care about whether it speaks to them and earns their time and money.
When authors take responsibility for the consumer connection, books find readers.
When they don’t, even well-published books quietly disappear.
Which fate do you want your baby to experience?
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Need help understanding how to master consumer marketing for your book?
My Book Marketing Master Class is designed to help any author implement these critical skills into a book launch and make it a success.
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