Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) have developed rapidly in the last few years, and now represent one of the most controversial topics in the publishing world. We regularly survey our partners to understand how they’re using different platforms and technology and to share those insights with our audience, and we recently did the same for AI. We heard from over 1,200 authors who told us how they’re currently thinking about AI in relation to their work.

A large, engaged email list is a valuable asset for any author. It’s an audience of readers that you control — unlike audiences you might be able to reach on social platforms or retailers. And it can be deployed any way you want: to grow reviews for a new release, to drive sales of your backlist books, to help out an author friend, and more. The beauty of your email list is that you decide.

Display advertising can be an incredibly effective way to reach new readers and sell more books. But you only have a couple of seconds once a reader sees your ad to capture their attention — which is why your ad needs a compelling hook that will catch their eye and get them to click.

We’ve gathered 14 ideas for hooks you can use in your ad images and examples from advertisers who used them well — which of these hooks can you use in your own ads?

Think about the last time you read a book you didn’t want to end. That longing for more is a significant part of the appeal of reading. A series allows readers to spend more time in a world they’ve grown to love, with characters they’ve become attached to. It’s like catching up with old friends. There’s comfort in returning to a familiar setting, and excitement in seeing how characters evolve over time.

Five years and lots of testing, learning, and pivoting later, direct sales is still my favorite business model. Thanks to being open to new sales strategies and adopting a long-term view of the book sales process, I make anywhere from 60-80% of my monthly revenue in a direct way — through my website, Kickstarter, in-person sales, and more. I’ve quadrupled my sales and my readers, and negotiated relationships with businesses like Tantor and Audible Studios.

You’ve written a book and now you needed a marketing plan. Launching books is like making first impressions: You only get one shot at it, so how would I make sure I got it right? Below are some of the paths I followed to get me to my final destination: a successful book launch.

Now that I’ve been using Canva for about a decade, I teach other authors how to use the tool on my Canva Tips for Authors YouTube channel. In this post, I’ll share my best tips on using Canva to create book marketing materials. The tool has a lot to offer, but I hope this gives you a good introduction to the kinds of content you can create.

There are many ways to beautifully display ebooks in your social media posts and digital marketing campaigns. In this post, we’ve compiled 38 stunning bookstagrams of ebooks on Instagram from authors, publishers, and book bloggers who’ve amassed demonstrably high levels of engagement for these posts. There’s a wide range of examples here of different ways ebooks can be positioned, from fancy arrangements to simpler (yet effective!) photos, so we hope this inspires you whether you want to stretch your creative chops or snap a quick pic.

Content marketing can be a wonderful way for authors to attract an audience to their books — but does this type of marketing make sense for you? You’re already creating content when you write your books, so why should you create even more content to promote them? And what content can you produce on a regular basis that your audience will actually care about?

EDITORIAL NOTES: For fiction authors, create illustrated editions of key moments in your books on YouTube — perhaps even in Shorts — and link them back in the description to your book marketing page for a chance at reeling in new readers from a wider pool of potential readers. For nonfiction authors, create illustrated instructional or educational YouTube videos covering key tips and tricks from your books, and remember again to link them back in the description to your book marketing page. Once your YouTube channel becomes eligible for monetization, get it monetized and have an e-commerce store ready to integrate with your YouTube channel — an e-commerce store filled to overflowing, of course, with your book listings.

Releasing a new book is a key moment to find and hook new readers while pulling existing fans back into your world. BookBub Ads is a great tool for supporting these efforts, and here we’re going to cover three distinct strategies you can use to advertise your new book based on your primary goal for the launch: driving exposure for a book, increasing engagement with a book, and earning profits from your book promotions.