Book Promotion for Authors
Patricia Leavy
When: May 14, 2025
19:00-21:00 (London Time)
Where: Online, via Zoom
Fees:
£135 (regular)
£110 (students—you will need to register via your student email)
15% Discount for LABRC Members
Writing a book is a wonderful accomplishment and every author should feel proud. It can be discouraging, however, when you’re not able to get your book into the hands of readers or when you invest piles of money in advertising and see little payoff. In this webinar you will learn how to understand, think about, and execute a promotion plan for your book. Coverage will include:
- Understanding and setting a priority for your book and your career (this key step is often ignored and is vital to long-term success). There are different priorities each author may have based on whether they are writing only one book, wishing to build a career as an author, or hoping to shed light on an important topic. Participants will be shown how different priorities align with different promotion strategies:
- Building and sustaining an author platform in ways directly related to your specific priority
- Understanding what various bestseller labels actually mean, what their value is (and what it isn’t), and why it’s beneficial to consider lifetime sales
- Differentiating between publicity and marketing and making good choices
- Identifying strategies for short-term exposure or sales, versus long-term strategies
- Creative and tried-and-true strategies (including those that cost nothing but time as well as paid options)
Patricia will go through a few of her books in detail, and the publicity and marketing campaigns that made them successful. Examples will be given in both nonfiction and fiction and will include a book that sold over 100,000 copies (with almost no author financial investment in promotion), as well as a book that has been a bestseller for her publisher for over 15 years and has been translated into many languages.
There is so much noise about book promotion and endless opportunities to dump money into it, much of which doesn’t bring authors happiness or fulfillment. In this webinar you will learn to think about book promotion differently and build a plan that is right for you. Much of the publishing world runs based on the short term (e.g., release weeks, bestseller lists which are based on sales during one-week, front list which only lasts a few months). Patricia is a believer in thinking long-term about your book and career and will give you the tools to do so. Patricia will also tell you why she still loves publishing despite the challenges, and she will encourage you to find joy in your author life too. The session will include time for Q&A.
Patricia Leavy, Ph.D., is a world-renowned researcher and bestselling author. She has published fifty books, earning commercial and critical success in both nonfiction and fiction, and her books have been translated into many languages. Her books have garnered more than 100 awards. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In addition to her experience as an author, Patricia has served as series creator and editor for 10 book series, partnering with 4 different publishers including Oxford University Press and Guilford Press. Through her fiction and nonfiction book series, she has vetted thousands of book proposals and helped hundreds of authors publish and market their work, including numerous bestselling and award-winning titles. A fierce author advocate, she successfully spearheaded game-changing negotiations with Brill, a global publishing house with a 300+ year history, securing better terms for all their authors. In 2022 an empowerment network gave her an award for “Leadership and Humanitarian Efforts in Literature and Publishing.” In 2024 the London Arts-Based Research Centre established “The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research.” Patricia has been an author for nearly 25 years, full-time since 2012.
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