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Start With the Message, Not the Sale
Posted in Marketing with Meaning
It’s Monday, and you know what that means! Time for a simple, meaningful tip to help you sell more books—without feeling overwhelmed.
This Week’s Tip: Start With the Message, Not the Sale
Another significant shift successful authors make is this:
They stop treating their book like a product…and start treating it like a message. When the book becomes the focus, marketing starts to sound like:
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“Here’s my book”
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“Here’s the link”
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“It’s on sale”
And even when your heart is pure, it can feel awkward, heavy, or forced.
But when the message leads? Marketing feels less like selling, and more like serving.
What to Do This Week (Simple & Doable)
We know we’ve talked about this before – in fact, we’ve come back to it in several different weekly tips.
That’s not by accident.
This is one of those foundations that’s easy to understand… and just as easy to drift away from. And when marketing starts to feel heavy or ineffective, this is often one of the pieces that’s skipped over.
So before you post, email, or share your book again, pause here:
Try this instead:
1. Write one sentence that answers this question: What do I want this book to do in someone’s life?
2. Use that sentence as your starting point in a post, email, or conversation.
Examples:
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“I wrote this for the woman who feels worn down in her faith and wonders if God still sees her.”
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“This book is for anyone walking through grief who needs permission to breathe again.”
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“I wrote this for the reader who loves God but feels stuck and unsure how to move forward.”
You can always add the link after the connection is made.
Why This Works
- Readers don’t connect with products—they connect with feeling seen and understood
- When someone feels seen, the book becomes a natural next step
- It makes sharing your book feel simpler and more natural
When authors stop trying to sell the book and start faithfully sharing the message, the book often sells even better—because it’s received, not pushed.
A Gentle Encouragement
If marketing has felt heavy lately, this might be why!
You weren’t called to sell a product. You were called to steward a message.
And when the message leads, the rest finds its place.
Cheering you on,
Shelly, Athena & Carol
P.S. If you’re reading these tips and thinking, “I know my message matters—but I need help knowing how to talk about it clearly and consistently,” that’s exactly what we do inside Book Marketing Pro Academy. It’s where authors move from scattered effort to confident, sustainable momentum—without losing heart along the way. You can learn more here: Book Marketing Pro Academy.
