Richard Mark Book Experts book-spine monogramRichard MarkBook Experts
A quiet private library of cloth-bound books in soft afternoon light

Book marketing for independent authors

Make your bookfindable.

I help independent authors turn a finished book into a clear invitation for the readers who have been waiting for it.

Let's Talk About Your BookView the services
Richard Mark, book marketing consultant, seated in his library
Richard Mark, Book promotion and branding expert

A personal introduction

A well written book can still be difficult to find.

Most of the authors who write to me have already done the hard part. The book is finished, edited, and honest. What has not happened yet is the quieter work of placing it where the right readers pass by.

Marketing, when it is done carefully, is not persuasion. It is translation. It takes what your book genuinely offers and states it plainly enough that a reader scanning a shelf, a search result or a retail page recognises the invitation as meant for them.

I work slowly and specifically. I read the book, look at where it currently appears, and then suggest the smallest number of changes likely to make the largest difference. No shouting, no vanity metrics, just a clearer path between your pages and the people who want to read them.

"A book that cannot be found is not a marketing problem yet. It is an introduction problem."

Who we help

Support shaped around where you are now

Authors come to us at different stages. The starting point changes what the work should be.

  • Authors Preparing to Publish

    Build a marketing foundation before your book reaches readers.

  • Newly Published Authors

    Create momentum around a recent release with a structured promotional approach.

  • Authors With Existing Books

    Give older titles renewed attention and explore new opportunities for discovery.

  • Independent and Self Published Authors

    Access practical marketing support without having to manage every part of promotion alone.

  • Series Authors

    Develop strategies that connect individual books and help readers discover more of your catalogue.

  • Children's Book Authors

    Build promotional approaches around books intended for children, parents, educators, librarians, and relevant communities.

Core services

Ten ways to help a book find its readers

Choose any entry to open the full description: what it includes, who it suits, and how to enquire. Most authors begin with one.

Book marketing process

Five stages, worked through in order

  1. 01

    Discover

    We learn about the book, author, audience, and goals.

  2. 02

    Position

    We identify how the book should be presented and where marketing opportunities may exist.

  3. 03

    Plan

    We develop an appropriate promotional strategy.

  4. 04

    Promote

    We implement the agreed marketing activities.

  5. 05

    Refine

    We review the campaign and adjust where appropriate.

Start With Your Book →

Trust and approach

Why Authors Work With Us

A small number of principles shape every campaign we take on.

  • Strategic Thinking

    We look beyond individual promotional activities and consider how the different parts of a book marketing campaign can work together.

  • Author Focused

    The strategy begins with the individual book, author, audience, and goals.

  • Practical Support

    We help turn marketing ideas into organized, actionable campaigns.

  • Flexible Services

    Authors can choose the services that are relevant to their current needs rather than being forced into an unsuitable approach.

  • Long Term Perspective

    Book visibility can take time. Where appropriate, we help authors think beyond a single promotional moment.

  • Clear Communication

    Authors should understand what is being done, why it is being done, and what the campaign is intended to accomplish.

Publicity and marketing campaigns

Full campaign services, package by package

Managed campaigns for books, ebooks, children's titles and games, plus support services for authors who prefer to run the outreach themselves.

Book Publicity and Marketing Campaigns

Media outreach campaigns that place your book in front of journalists, reviewers, broadcasters and bloggers who cover your subject.

  • Professional Book Publicity Campaign

    A four week campaign with an advance publicity consultation, a professionally prepared press release, personal media outreach by an experienced publicity manager, targeted pitching, interview scheduling and weekly reports.

  • Enhanced Book Publicity Campaign

    A six week campaign reaching a wider media audience, adding pitching of by line articles written in the author voice, deeper follow up and continued social media support.

  • Complete Book Publicity Campaign

    Our fullest campaign, combining extended publicity outreach, review copy management, feature pitching and a sustained social presence across the launch period and beyond.

Social Media Services for Authors

Build a presence on the platforms your readers already use, then learn to keep it going yourself.

  • Four Week Social Media Start Up Service

    Initial consultation on publicity angles, creation or optimisation of your accounts with branded imagery and descriptive text, then a month of posting, advice and training until you can carry it on alone.

  • Four Week Social Media Start Up Plus

    Everything in the start up service, plus optimisation of your book on Goodreads, including metadata, categories, descriptions and tags, and setting up Instagram or Pinterest.

  • Two Week Social Media Optimisation

    For authors already posting. We optimise your existing Facebook, X, Instagram and Goodreads accounts and give you a one hour personal consultation of ideas and tips.

Online Book Promotion Service

A focused online campaign for authors whose readers are found on blogs, review sites and digital media.

  • Online Book Promotion Service

    Outreach to online media, book bloggers, review sites, podcasts and interest groups, supported by a press release written for digital publication and a report of every contact made.

Ebook Publicity and Marketing

Promotion built around digital editions and digital readers.

  • Two Week Ebook Publicity Service

    A press release and personal pitching to media contacts who cover ebooks and digital publishing, with a contact list handed to you at the end so you can follow up.

  • Professional Ebook Publicity Service

    A longer campaign with sustained outreach to reviewers, bloggers and digital media, interview scheduling and weekly reporting.

  • NetGalley Book Review Services

    Listing and management of your title on NetGalley, including cover copy, targeting of reviewers and follow up on the reviews received.

Children's Book Publicity and Marketing

Campaigns that speak to parents, teachers, librarians and the media who write for them.

  • Two Week Children's Book Publicity Service

    A professionally designed press release and personal pitching to children's media contacts, with a list of interested contacts provided for your own follow up.

  • Professional Children's Book Publicity Campaign

    A four week campaign across print, radio, parenting and education media, with review copy management, interview scheduling and weekly updates.

  • Enhanced Children's Book Publicity Campaign

    A six week campaign adding wider media outreach, school and library angles, and additional feature pitching.

Board, Tabletop and Card Game Publicity

Publicity and social marketing for table top games, card games and interactive game books.

  • Two Week Game Publicity Service

    A designed press release and personal pitching to games media, with as much follow up as the period allows and a contact list to continue with.

  • Professional Game Publicity Campaign

    A four week campaign across television, radio, press, magazines and online reviewers, with targeted pitching, interview scheduling, weekly reports and social media support.

  • Enhanced Game Publicity Campaign

    A six week campaign reaching a wider audience, adding by line articles from the creator and extended reviewer outreach.

Marketing Support Services

For small publishers and self published authors who want to run the campaign themselves with professional groundwork in place.

  • Two Week Book Publicity Service

    A short, sharp burst of professional outreach, ending with a list of media contacts who showed interest so you can carry the conversation on.

  • Book Press Release Service

    A professionally written and designed press release you can send to any media contact, written around the strongest angle in your book.

  • Book Media Pitch Service

    A researched media list with a tailored pitch for each type of outlet, ready for you to send.

  • NetGalley Book Review Services

    Your title listed and managed on NetGalley, with reviewer targeting and follow up.

Signature service

Backlist Revival

Some books are published into silence. The launch week passes, the small burst of attention fades, and a good book settles quietly into a catalogue where almost nobody encounters it. That is rarely a verdict on the writing.

Backlist Revival is for authors whose earlier titles deserve a second, better introduction. Together we refresh the book's positioning, its visual assets, its marketing message and the direction of its reader outreach, so that a title published two years ago can be met as though it were new.

Positioning, revisited

We re examine the promise of the book and the readers most likely to want it now.

Refreshed visual assets

Cover direction, quote cards and retail imagery brought up to the standard of the writing.

A new marketing message

Description, subtitle and category language rewritten for how readers search today.

Outreach direction

A staged plan for reviewers, newsletters and communities over the following months.

Revive an Existing Book

The author workroom

Three stages, worked through in order

This is how the work is actually arranged once we begin, the visual invitation first, then discoverability, then the long conversation with readers.

I

The Visual Invitation

Cover, description and visual assets working together, so a reader passing quickly understands what they are being offered and whether it is for them.

II

The Discoverability Layer

Categories, keywords, retail pages and search language arranged so the book turns up where readers are already looking rather than waiting to be stumbled upon.

III

The Continuing Conversation

Newsletter, social rhythm and reader outreach kept at a pace you can sustain long after launch week has passed.

Curated reading shelf

Books I recommend to authors

Reading I return to on publishing, author branding, reader connection and marketing craft. These are recommendations only, not client work, and no relationship with the authors is implied.

  • On Writing Well

    William Zinsser

    For clarity. The habits that make a description readable are the habits that make a book readable.

  • Building a StoryBrand

    Donald Miller

    A useful frame for putting the reader, not the author, at the centre of the message.

  • This Is Marketing

    Seth Godin

    On serving a specific audience generously instead of shouting at everyone.

  • Show Your Work!

    Austin Kleon

    A gentle argument for sharing the process, which is where author brands actually come from.

  • The Copywriter's Handbook

    Robert W. Bly

    Practical craft for retail descriptions, email subject lines and ad copy.

  • Made to Stick

    Chip & Dan Heath

    Why some ideas travel between readers and others do not survive the retelling.

How the process works

Four steps, and nothing hidden between them

  1. 01

    Start with your book

    We read what you have actually written and talk about the reader you had in mind.

  2. 02

    Build the right strategy

    Positioning, priorities and a plan scaled to your time and budget.

  3. 03

    Create clear marketing assets

    Descriptions, visuals and pages that say the same thing in the same voice.

  4. 04

    Continue reaching the right readers

    A steady rhythm of outreach that keeps working after launch week.

Reviews and results

Do not take our word for it, here is what authors say

Real campaign outcomes and the words of the authors behind them, covering national television, radio, newspapers, magazines and reviews.

#1
Amazon category rankings achieved during launch campaigns
35+
Authors quoted here on the record about their campaigns
2 to 4
Weeks in a typical publicity campaign window
16
National and specialist outlet types regularly secured

Where our authors have appeared

  • BBC Breakfast

    National television author interviews secured for debut and established authors.

  • ITV This Morning

    Sofa interviews placing memoir and non fiction authors in front of millions.

  • The Times

    Feature articles and reviews for independently published titles.

  • The Guardian

    Author interviews and opinion pieces tied to the themes of the book.

  • Daily Mail

    Front of section features that sent sales rocketing for a novel launch.

  • The Independent

    National coverage for a debut novel alongside specialist subject press.

  • Financial Times

    Mentions and reviews for serious non fiction and ideas driven books.

  • Sunday Express

    Full page magazine articles built around the author story.

  • BBC Radio

    Woman's Hour, BBC Radio London and regional station interviews.

  • Newsnight

    Broadcast comment slots for authors with a timely subject.

  • Stylist

    Lifestyle coverage online and in print for a wellbeing title.

  • Literary Review

    Full length reviews in respected literary publications.

  • Big Issue

    Author interviews reaching engaged, socially minded readers.

  • Woman's Weekly

    Warm human interest features that introduce a book to a new audience.

  • Regional press

    Western Morning News, Kentish Express, Ham and High and many more.

  • Book bloggers and NetGalley

    Quality reviews that keep working long after the campaign ends.

Author reviews

  • Thorough, Professional And Friendly

    In the four weeks that Richard Mark Book Experts represented me I obtained several radio interviews, including Woman’s Hour and BBC Radio London, a major newspaper feature and more. The Richard Mark team were thorough, professional and friendly. They produced a powerful press release and I received weekly reports on the progress of the campaign. They carefully worked with me on my ideas, while guiding me to the best avenues for publicising my particular book. It was a really good investment.

    Elizabeth Woodcraft

    author of Beyond the Beehive

  • Numerous Radio Interviews

    Richard Mark Book Experts did a great job at publicising Cleverlands securing me numerous radio interviews, and spots on BBC news and Newsnight. During the campaign I knew I could trust them to respond to relevant events in the fast paced world of the media, to promote my book to its fullest.

    Lucy Crehan

    author of Cleverlands

  • My Book Shot To \#1

    I am very pleased with the PR campaign that Richard and his team ran for the UK launch of my book, The Orgasm Prescription for Women. They crafted a few different angles to pitch the media which resulted in coverage on iTV, in The Sun, and Stylist magazine online and soon, Red magazine.

    Andrea Pennington

    author of The Orgasm Prescription for Women

  • Full Of Ideas

    Richard Mark Book Experts were a pleasure to work with and were full of ideas of how to promote my book. Even better they followed through on those ideas! Very pleased with my experience and highly recommend this company for all book promotion needs.

    Sean Hancock

    author of Trick

  • Excellent Service

    I introduced Richard to my first novel ‘Homeward Bound’ and within days they had arranged BBC radio interviews and quality reviews. I recently heard Lee Child (Jack Reacher) say that for his first eight novels nobody knew him like he was published by the Witness Protection Programme! Maybe he should have got in touch with Richard!

    Richard Smith

    author of Homeward Bound

  • Exceeded My Expectations And I Would Recommend Wholeheartedly

    I am really impressed with the publicity support from Richard Mark and his team. They secured many BBC radio interviews for me, along with blogger reviews and feature articles. They exceeded my expectations and I would recommend their services wholeheartedly.

    Rose McClelland

    author of Under Your Skin

See All Reviews And Results

Frequently asked questions

Answers before you write to us

Read the Full FAQ

Contact

Let's talk about your book

Tell me the title, the genre, and what you hope readers will do when they find it. A first note need not be long, a few honest sentences is enough to begin.

What would you like help with
Send a Private Note

Opens a new Gmail message with the subject line already written for you.

Authors we have worked with

Writers whose books we have helped find readers

A selection of the authors in our wider network of independent and self published writers.

  • Author David A. Lloyd

    David A. Lloyd

  • Author Gary A. DePaul, PhD

    Gary A. DePaul, PhD

  • Author Rey Wicks

    Rey Wicks

  • Author Bonnie Oldre

    Bonnie Oldre

  • Author Linda Griffin

    Linda Griffin

  • Author Diana Sobolewski

    Diana Sobolewski

  • Author Charley Brindley

    Charley Brindley

  • Author Pavane Ravel Novelist

    Pavane Ravel Novelist

  • Author Jolene Mosi

    Jolene Mosi

  • Author Marilynne Eichinger

    Marilynne Eichinger

See All Authors

Books we worked on

Titles from the shelves we promote

One hundred titles of the kind our promotion campaigns are built around, drawn from the independent and self published books we champion.

  • Cover of Consequences: Book 1 of the Consequences Series

    Consequences: Book 1 of the Consequences Series

  • Cover of Goliath (A Ryan Mitchell Thriller Book 1)

    Goliath (A Ryan Mitchell Thriller Book 1)

  • Cover of Truth: Book 2 of the Consequences Series

    Truth: Book 2 of the Consequences Series

  • Cover of Convicted: Book 3 of the Consequences Series

    Convicted: Book 3 of the Consequences Series

  • Cover of First Strike (The Kurgan War Book 1)

    First Strike (The Kurgan War Book 1)

  • Cover of The Mystery Box: A Soccer Mom's Nightmare (The Mystery Book Collection 1)

    The Mystery Box: A Soccer Mom's Nightmare (The Mystery Book Collection 1)

  • Cover of Baby Dear: a gripping psychological thriller

    Baby Dear: a gripping psychological thriller

  • Cover of Written in the Scars

    Written in the Scars

  • Cover of Sacrifice

    Sacrifice

  • Cover of The Cold Cold Sea

    The Cold Cold Sea

See All Books

Trust and feedback

"Your experience matters here. If we have worked together and you would like to share an approved review, I would be grateful to hear from you."

No testimonials, ratings or client names appear on this site unless an author has reviewed and approved the wording themselves. Until then, this space stays deliberately empty, an empty shelf is more honest than a borrowed one.

Share Approved Feedback

Start a conversation

Your book has a story. Let's help more readers find it.

Whether you are preparing for publication, launching a new title, or looking for a fresh approach to an existing book, start by telling us where you are and what you would like to accomplish.

Tell Us About Your Book

No complicated brief required. A few honest sentences are enough to begin.