Book Marketing as Storytelling
Nat 'Nose' Connors <nat@kindletrends.com>
Central Ohio Fiction Writers August 2025
Finding your neighborhood
Follow along!
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This talk is going to be a bit more nerdy than usual
although not in a data science/tech sense
But it's not going to be very sales-y
Me (v. briefly)
A technical writer
IT project management
Cancer research
...now, mostly, I just write about lurve
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Some free resources:
Listing all Kindle Store categories
Downloading the Top 100
Searching the Kindle Store
This talk
Some waffly conceptual stuff
Step-by-step procedures using free resources
Some waffly conceptual stuff
Why I keep saying 'market awareness'
Your author 'neighborhood'
Book marketing as storytelling
I want you to think of book marketing as storytelling
Book marketing as storytelling
Not this:
- One weird trick
- Marketing as selling
- Doing things you don't like, but feel compelled to do because of perceived reader expectations
But this:
- Flash fiction
- Multimedia theatre
- Story prompts
We're telling stories, ...we just have a very limited amount of space in which to do it
Why?
Why?
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Because it helps us focus on the communication aspect of what we're doing
-
It (probably!) makes it more enjoyable
We're telling stories, ...we just have a very limited amount of space in which to do it
I got the Top 400 books
and looked at the most common elements each month
The point
...at a macro level, markets aren't as 'trendy' as we tend to think
There are some caveats, but overall I think this is a pretty solid result
but if so...
why bother studying the market at all?
Because
Marketing as storytelling starts with market awareness
Market awareness
vs market research
An ongoing process...
that informs and is connected to your craft
and includes different activities,
but is part of a whole
Market awareness
in your neighborhood
Your 'neighborhood'
Your 'neighborhood'
isn't just your comps
or your (sub)genre
It's the place where you, your readers, and your work meet up, intellectually and emotionally
Your 'neighborhood'
Popular tropes/elements, yes, but also:
The visual language of covers
Words and actions used to describe books
Other media your readers enjoy
Marketing channels come and go,
...and there will always be a new one on the scene
Why is the concept of a neighborhood useful?
-
It helps reduce the sense of being overwhelmed by marketing
-
It reinforces the idea that it's made up of different parts with different natures
To tell effective (marketing) stories,
we need to learn the language of our neighborhood
Finding your neighborhood
Tool #1:
Kindle Power Search
(I'll include all the links in the show notes)
Tool #2:
Categories List
Identify some books
Read some reviews
Check out the authors
Exploring your neighborhood
Tool #3:
Also Boughts & Top 100s Downloader
Tool #4:
Infographics
Fantasy: https://kindletrends.com/fantasyMystery: https://kindletrends.com/mystery(We can do this for other areas too)
What language is used?
What common elements?
What makes your neighborhood special?
Use those things to tell your story, across any marketing channel
Some worked examples
Seeing marketing as storytelling
for two of the most common channels: covers and blurbs
In a storytelling sense
Covers make a promise to the reader
That promise is developed in the blurb
Then delivered in the story itself
"Will she marry him?"
"Reader, I married him."
Covers
or, what's on the front of a book
The story of a cover makes a specific set of promises to the reader
About content
About branding
We can see this clearly with a cover montage
Styles
Look at books in your neighborhood
e.g: Medium shot, no faces shown Long shot, couple with faces shown Object relevant to story
People: how many? Shot choice: face, full/half, medium, long (whole body) Objects: what and why?
Dominant colours and shades Typography Other recurring visual elements (branding)
Examples (1): Romance
Examples (2): Mystery
Examples (3): Fantasy
Summary: Covers
What story does each cover tell?
Ultimately this comes down to branding
but not just visual branding - atmosphere too
Blurbs
or, what's on the buying page of a book
Tropes, yes - but also plot beats and character voice
Examples (1): Romance
Tropes
Character voice
Plot beats
Examples (2): Mystery
Tropes
Plot beats
Examples (3): Fantasy
Tropes
Plot beats
Character voice
Eventually
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Freida McFadden
The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie is an utterly addictive, unputdownable, nail-biting, absolutely gripping psychological thriller novella with a shocking, breathtaking, heartstopping, spine-chilling twist that you won't see coming, will leave you stunned, and will literally have you picking your jaw up off the floor and bringing it to the nearest hospital for major facial reconstructive surgery.
Conclusions
Keys to marketing as storytelling
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Find your neighborhood and spend time there
-
Learn the local dialect and stay aware of the market
-
Find ways to tell stories that work for you
There will always be a new channel coming down the pike, and a new set of expectations coming with it.
Tools for your neighborhood
Kindle Power Search
https://kpowersearch.com/
Also Boughts and Top 100s Downloader
https://kindletrends.com/download-also-boughts-chrome-extension/
List of all Kindle Store categories
https://kindletrends.com/categories/
Infographics
https://kindletrends.com/infographics
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Blurb trends and details
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Acknowledgements
Lana Love
Becca Syme
AJ Lancaster
TK Eldridge
Lizzie Dunlap from Pixie Covers
Elizabeth Brady
Thank you to all the authors and artists who helped with this talk
Leah and Shari for giving me the chance to speak
All of you for your time and attention
Thank you for watching!
For more free resources, check out:
For the slides for this talk:
https://kindletrends.com/cofw2025