“Be more human,” we are told, if we want to thrive as indie authors in the age of AI, continue to sell our books, and remain relevant to readers. But what does that mean in practical terms? In this session, based on ALLi’s Reach More Readers guidebook, Orna Ross surveys how machine and human intelligences are becoming more integrated. She explores ways to strengthen and augment humanity in book marketing, offers tips on using AI assistance across three marketing models, and explains how to let go of what no longer serves your purpose as a writer and publisher while optimizing what does.
Listen to the Podcast: Being More Human and How AI Can Help
Show Notes
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About the Host
Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing”. She also publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and is greatly excited by the democratizing, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website.
Read the Transcript
Orna Ross: Hello, hello everybody. Welcome, welcome. I'm looking forward to talking to you about book marketing, and what we'll be looking at particularly is the combination of how AI can assist and how to be more human. And if you want to lean fully into the human side and not do the AI side, that's absolutely fine. Not so fine to do it the other way around, though.
We are going to be taking a dip into our most recent guide — the definitive guide to book marketing. When we talk about our definitive guides, these are our large, comprehensive guides. We also do short guides, member handbooks, and so on. But we completely redid our marketing book, which is Reach More Readers, and we are currently redoing our promotions book, Sell More Books. The reason we did that is because of all the changes that have happened. It's not that long since we last updated the marketing book, but so much has been happening in this sphere, particularly because of AI.
If you're not an AI fan, please don't hate me — I am going to be talking about using AI assistance in book marketing during this presentation. If that offends or upsets you, I understand. But our members use AI in their publishing, and as a writers' association we have a responsibility to keep up with what's going on and to help our members understand. The mix of this webinar, however, is very much about not just using AI assistance, but how you can also be more human — in your use of AI and in everything you do in your book marketing. That phrase is being bandied around a lot at the moment, but what does it actually mean to be more human? We'll be looking closely at that and giving examples.
Why Book Marketing Is Hard
Let's start with some basics and make sure we're talking about the same things. Book marketing can mean very different things to different people. I want to talk about why book marketing is hard, because that's the basic we need to start with. This is not an easy task.
Writing a book is not an easy task. Producing a book is relatively easy — not the first time out when you're learning about all the platforms and tools, but once you learn how to do it, it can go along at a clip. Book number three is much easier than book number one. The writing is not like that. Each book is a challenge and sets its own challenges. And it's very similar with marketing. Each book is a challenge — particularly at the beginning, when you're setting up your marketing and positioning yourself in the marketplace.
So the first thing I want to say is: if you're finding book marketing hard, that's because it is hard. Why? It's very unpredictable. Even the biggest publishers, who've been in this business forever, put bets on sure things that don't work out and find that books they didn't expect to succeed do. You're in unfamiliar territory when you first seriously try to market. Then you have the contrasting intent: as a writer, you see yourself as being in service — entertaining, educating, inspiring your readers. Whereas in marketing, it's much more about visibility, targeting, and persuasion. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, as we shall see, but they can feel that way, particularly at the beginning.
Another reason it's hard for author-publishers is that you're often turning to marketing after you've just finished writing a book, putting it together, formatting it — you're creatively tired. And then this job comes in, and very often we skim it.
The Outer Challenges
The outer challenges at the moment include a content glut in our sector that isn't getting any smaller — a complete tsunami of content. Shrinking organic reach on social media: it's almost impossible now to reach people without investing in advertising. Algorithm volatility as all the platforms introduce and refine AI systems, making things feel a little all over the place. Drowning in email spam — many of you are probably already getting messages telling you how amazing your book is and asking you to click here and pay money. And the costs of advertising and everything are going up, alongside the ongoing challenge of reader attention and trust.
Seven Kinds of Marketing Situations
I'm going to define seven different kinds of situations you can find yourself in with your book marketing. Note down which one you fall into.
The first: you actually don't know how to do it. You have a very hazy idea or no idea at all. The second: you have a good idea of what you'd like to do, but for some reason you have a mental block and you can't get going. The third: you've fizzled out. You did it for one book, it went well or it didn't, and for one reason or another it's all fizzled out. If you're in one of these three categories, you've basically got pretty much no marketing going on at all.
Then there are those who have some marketing going on. The fourth: you're stop-start — you do it for a while, then nothing for ages. The fifth: you have tactics you picked up from somewhere — something that sounded good, something someone else in your niche is doing, something a friend recommended — but actually they're the wrong tactics, and you kind of know that but you keep doing them anyway. The sixth: the wrong target. What you're doing is right and pretty well laid out, but you're actually addressing the wrong people — maybe you haven't segmented enough or it isn't niche enough. The seventh: you're doing a bit, chugging along, but it's very underdeveloped. When readers arrive on your website, for example, it's not clear what they need to do next. It's there, but it's underdeveloped. Or the opposite: you're doing too much. You're trying to be everywhere instead of somewhere, doing everything and not really making an impact anywhere.
I want to say: all of those things can make you feel like nobody can do this, it's too hard, it's horrible, I just want to write. We hear that a lot. And I just want to say to you that despite the content glut, despite everything happening in the outer world, despite where you find yourself right now — and I assume by virtue of the fact that you're here, that's where you are — it is very possible to sell more books and to improve your marketing from where you are. Indie author sales are growing, and growing really significantly.
Our latest income survey, which just completed in 2025, shows that authors across the board are earning an average of almost $50K. Obviously there are outliers at the top end doing millions and at the lower end doing nothing at all, but we surveyed those who put 50% of their time or earn 50% of their income from their writing, and we saw a significant climb since our last survey in 2023. It can be done. And tonight you're taking a step towards that.
Evergreen Principles of Book Marketing
A quick run through the evergreen principles that always apply. Number one: the book is the most important thing. You will hear people say ‘the book is all the marketing you need' or ‘your writing is your marketing.' These are truisms — partly true but not fully true. It is really important that you write the very best book you can and go through a professional publishing experience with high production values and high delivery values. And a good book is very genre-dependent — what signifies excellence in a romance novel is not the same as what signifies excellence in a military history book. Understanding your genre is absolutely key to marketing well.
The other core evergreen principle — and I am deaf on this, and I'm sure you've heard me talk about it before — is that the values embedded in your book need to be transferred into your marketing. They are what your reader values in the book. They are the point of connection. You connect around values. Understanding your values as a writer and as a publisher is very important.
The third evergreen thing is understanding the reader journey — how you deliver your books, how you distribute them, how a reader finds you, how they then move closer to buying your books, signing up to your mailing list, becoming a fan, spreading the word. Not all readers will go all the way to fandom — it's concentric circles that get smaller as they love your books more. But what is their journey to you and your book?
And the connector of everything you do at a marketing level is your own author story — the story that makes you write these books. That brings me to the three kinds of publishers I'll mention now. Craft publishers, who are all about production values and how they are translated into marketing. Engagement publishers, who are much more social and focused on direct connection with readers. And volume publishers, who prioritize productivity — getting the next book out, writing faster, and so on. We've had a lot of volume-publisher noise in the indie author community in the past, and that model was very influential. But now that we have AI and that model is less distinctive, I definitely see authors thinking about other aspects of marketing.
And the final evergreen principle: marketing is not promotion. Marketing is about setting up your book, setting up the reader promise. Promotion is about selling more books. Promotion is time-based — it has a beginning and an end. Marketing is ongoing, always. You're always marketing your books, always positioning yourself as an author.
Marketing vs. Promotion: Understanding the Difference
Marketing is the infrastructure you're building — your website, your transactional setup, how the reader buys the books, your funnels, your signups, how you segment. It's often referred to as the author platform. It's essentially your overall presence, positioning, and promise.
Promotion is a burst of attention for a particular book, with a defined beginning and end. Marketing is about how you show up and guide readers toward your books. Promotion centers on activities that sell a specific title at a specific time — a launch, or a deliberate promo push on a particular book.
Marketing is a long game — it deepens over time, never really ends, and is very hard to measure. It does sell books, but it's mostly about setting you up so you can promote. Promotion is a short-term game with a clear goal and clearly measurable outcomes. I have heard it summed up as: marketing is passive selling and promotion is active selling.
Three Types of Publishers: Order Your Priorities
Looking at the three types of publisher and thinking about which is your priority. Order them one, two, and three — because we're all a bit of all of them.
Engagement publishers: you're all about community. You might personalize your books for your readers and you're likely to be on social media or running an active events program. Craft publishers: it's all about the craft — both the writing and the publishing craft. You are best approaching your marketing through literary influencers like librarians, booksellers, events, literary festivals, prestige reviews, and awards. Volume publishers: you're about ads, automation, and algorithms.
We all need some engagement with readers. We all care about craft. We all want to write more books and reach more readers. It's not that you pick one and they're mutually exclusive. But you do choose which is your number one, because depending on that, you'll approach things very differently. Take a moment and order them one, two, and three for yourself — even if you're not a hundred percent sure. Through the rest of what I'm going to cover, bring your number one with you.
Eight Must-Dos for Every Book Marketer
These are the must-dos for every book marketer. I'm going to list them and then go through each with examples of how you might use AI to assist and how you then double down on being more human — keeping in mind that depending on which type of publisher you are, you'll approach each of these differently.
One: Creativity. Marketing is writing. It is another way for you to express yourself, to embed the ideas, principles, themes, and emotions you're trying to bring to readers. Marketing can be text, images, audio, video — ideally a mix. The most important thing is that anything you want to do, there's probably a way to do it. And the more wacky and out-there it sounds, probably the better right now — because getting reader attention requires standing out, and everyone is doing the same things. Allow yourself to have ideas and write them down. Being more human here means being more you, doing things that other people might think are crazy or too far out. Use AI to get variants on your titles, subtitles, and hooks for your book or for blog posts and social media. The more specific you are with the AI, the better the answer you'll get. Then mine your own experience — bring your emotion, your lived life, your hopes for your books.
Two: Connection. You must connect with your readers. Your values, your story, and your books are the bridge to the readers. If you don't know your author values, that is a job to do before other things. The values embedded in your author story and your books are your value to readers. Use AI by feeding your website pages or book pages and asking it to draft a brand story or an author bio. Then run a values check — understand the connection between your values and the value to the reader. You are not looking to hype your books. You're looking for the heart in the books and in your author story, and then editing it into your own voice. Tell the truth of something that happened to you, something that changed you, some point of connection between you and your readers.
Three: Positioning. This is all about the reader promise and genre clarity. Once you've discovered your comparable authors, feed their title descriptions and reviews into AI and ask it to analyze what reader expectations are being met. Then listen deeply for tone and feeling in your comparable authors' work, compare it to your own values and how you write, and understand what your USP is — your unique take on the familiar genre and tropes. What's your promise? Write it down. Once you understand that promise, deliver it everywhere you can.
Four: Book metadata and keyword optimization. This is where AI is really helpful. A lot of the keyword optimization tools from before are out of date now, but AI is doing an excellent job here. Feed in your book description and ask for high-performing keywords. Then take the human angle: imagine your reader's mood, need, or dream as they were typing search terms into a search box. Bring the human qualities of empathy and curiosity. You evaluate the suggestions and can come up with some really key keywords. It can also be an enjoyable exercise and a way of understanding the deeper aspects of your book.
Five: Author platform, building your presence. Social media is the obvious one, and it's what people relied on a lot in the previous decade. I don't think it's going to be as influential going forward unless you have a big budget to play with. For those who don't like social media: don't bother going there if you can find another way. Ask the AI for ideas — feed in your website details, your blog, your marketing mission, your book, and ask for marketing ideas for someone who doesn't want to do social media. Then return to the idea of true connection: who are your people and where are they? What do you want from them beyond buying your book? What do you want to give them? There are three categories — information, inspiration, or entertainment. Which are you? Understanding that helps you build your author platform.
Six: Discoverability — the reader journey. We've all heard about funnels, autoresponders, and segmentation. It always starts with awareness — first they don't know you exist, then for some reason they become aware of you. Next comes interest. Then they buy a book. Then their loyalty deepens — maybe they join your ARC team and start telling others about your books. AI can really assist with setting up and optimizing those funnels — many of our funnels are broken, and that's common. But when you get suggestions from AI, it's really important that you walk the path yourself. Put yourself in your reader's shoes, approach your own systems incognito as someone unfamiliar with them, and walk the journey. Where would you lose interest? Where does the system break down? What are you not telling them? Fix those friction points, always keeping one eye to delighting the reader, not just reading the data.
Seven: Partnership. Comparable authors, influencers who can take your books to new readers, and collaborators of all kinds. Ask AI to find cross-promotional opportunities with comparable authors — that's very doable. And then when it comes to being more human, it's about personal reach-out. Liking what someone is doing, coming up with an idea that would genuinely work for both of you. There are formal platforms like BookFunnel and StoryOrigin that help you swap newsletters or share in a launch with other writers. But what I'm particularly talking about here is partnership with authors in your genre, with influencers in your genre — partnering with people who can help you reach your kinds of readers. Building up a community of writers who have a community of readers, all stronger together than you would be alone.
Making Your Marketing Creative
The most important thing I've been saying throughout is: make your marketing creative. There's a recognized creative process that everything goes through, whether you're making breakfast or writing a book. We recognize these stages when we're writing because we're very familiar with them there, but we're not so familiar with them when it comes to marketing.
The seven stages of the creative process — and it doesn't happen in a linear way, but it can be helpful to isolate them when you're working on a challenging project, which I consider book marketing to be. First, there's your intention. Then you incubate the ideas. Then you investigate — that's research. Then you do a blueprint: in writing it's your first draft, but in marketing it might be testing out a particular funnel or trying an ad campaign. Then you deepen it from what you learn by putting it out there. Then you clarify — you get really clear, cutting away everything else, the equivalent of editing. And finally you complete it and let it run its course, and from what you've learned, you start a new idea.
The whole point is this: whether it's making money or making meaning, passion and pleasure are at the heart of your publishing as well as of your writing. Thanks so much for being here, and thank you so much for writing books. Happy writing and publishing. See you again soon. Bye-bye.
