The Literary Marketing Newsletter helps authors, booksellers, lit mags, literary non-profits, and other literary-minded organizers improve their marketing efforts with strategies, tips, and stories from my marketing experience in the literary community.

Greetings!

Last year, I brain dumped a lot of what I know about marketing into the Literary Marketing Playbook, an 80-page guide I had up for sale on my website. I included an introduction to marketing for literary folks, how to create a content marketing strategy, how to create a content calendar, how to create content, how to measure your efforts, all supported with lots of literary industry examples. It was everything you need to know to DIY a content marketing plan — and a DIY version of what I offer to clients. I thought, "This will be an amazing resource! And a great option for people who want a lower-priced alternative to working directly with me."

No one bought it. (Granted, I didn't market it as much as I could have. That's a newsletter for another day!)

Why did no one buy it? Probably because I put it behind a paywall ($27), which is the number one thing NOT to do in content marketing. I was expecting folks would buy (jump to the conversion stage of the marketing funnel) without me focusing on creating awareness and interest first.

The whole point of content marketing is to share what you do and what you know with the world — and share a good portion of it for free to build authority, credibility, and trust. I'm sure you, like me, have found someone whose content resonates with you, you watch all their YouTube videos or read all their blog posts, and then pay for something they offer. ("Man, if that's what they offer for free, imagine what it'll be like working with them!") The opposite is often true: If you can't figure out what someone does or what they have to say or offer about a topic, it's hard to want to spend money with them until you learn more. (Again, it's the traditional marketing funnel.)

So I moved a lot of content out of that playbook onto my website — for free. Head here to check it out! This will give you an idea of what I know and what working with me would be like.

Speaking of working with me on your marketing endeavors, I just narrowed down my offerings. Head hear to learn more.

That's all for today. Happy marketing!

- Jessica

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If you'd like to learn how to do this 👆, come work with me! I have several done-with-you marketing packages available, including social media and newsletter.

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