How to sell more books for years, not just on launch day.
95% of “book marketing” happens before you publish.
If you skip these steps, you might be able to hit #1 for a day and call yourself a bestselling author, but you’ll have trouble getting the free visibility and consistent, long-term sales you need to become a full-time writer.
Hey there, I’m Derek Murphy. I wrote a book called Guerrilla Publishing, and this page has everything from my free bootcamp in one place: the book, the companion workbook, the bonus guides and every video. Go through it at your own pace.
If you define book marketing as “telling strangers about your book,” then the best hack is not “reach more strangers” but “make more friends.”
Your free downloads
Here’s the free stuff. Grab the book first: it covers the general theory, and the four steps below walk you through putting it to work.
Guerrilla Publishing
How to publish books that sell: the unconventional book marketing strategies I use to keep my books selling on Amazon.
Download PDFThe companion workbook
A simplified summary of my most powerful book launch and marketing tips, with a step-by-step publishing roadmap and timeline.
Download PDF
How to Write and Publish a Book on a Budget
One of my first books, full of practical advice and quotes from industry experts. Goes with step 1.
Download PDF
Cover Design Secrets that Sell More Books
My guide to book design: the rules that keep your cover from looking unprofessional. Goes with step 3.
Download PDF
Book Marketing Is Dead
Spam-free author promotion: how to promote your book without being obnoxious. Goes with step 4.
Download PDFJoin the Guerrilla Publishing Facebook group for support and feedback, and make friends with other authors.
Start here: the four steps in one video
4 simple steps to publish a book that sells
I talk too much and I over-explain, so my emails can be long and my videos are rambling. Stick with me for a few days, I might grow on you. You’ll get the most value out of this free series by going through each step in order, but don’t worry if you fall behind: you can catch up when you’ve got a few hours to focus on your book.
I want to make sure I’m sending you my best resources, and that I’m helping you overcome your problems. Which of these is your biggest challenge right now?
- I don’t know what to write about
- I have too many ideas but never seem to get anything finished
- I’ve finished a few manuscripts but am not sure how to publish them
- I’m about to publish, but am overwhelmed by marketing choices
- I have a few books out, but they don’t sell
It’s fine to pick more than one, or to tell me about any other challenge, fear or frustration. Just reply to any of my emails.
Five things you think you know that you’re totally doing wrong
These mistakes can cost you thousands of dollars without improving sales.
Writing
- Assuming your book is good because you enjoyed writing it
- Not researching the market, and not reading in your genre first
- Avoiding tropes and cliches
- Not knowing who your audience is or what they want
- Assuming readers want something new and different that doesn’t follow rules
- Not knowing your book’s features and benefits (who will want this and why)
Editing
- Failing on story
- Not engaging readers with suspense and intrigue
- Data dumps or too much backstory
- Not enough conflict, or slow story development
- Assuming readers will care about your characters or story
- Focusing on the words instead of the actual story or content
Publishing
- Paying too much for a package deal
- Spending years pitching to publishers or agents
- Getting your cover totally wrong
- Not controlling your own platform, so you can’t measure results
- Not focusing on your keywords and blurb
- Not designing your book to fit in with bestsellers and immediately communicate genre
- Focusing too much on small details that don’t matter
- Unprofessional design
Platform
- Ignoring your author website or blog
- Begging people to share your book without building your own value
- Not starting an email list and building a relationship with readers
- Not clearly stating your brand (what you write, for who)
- Getting tons of the wrong followers, and seeking visibility for the wrong reasons
Promotion
- Wasting money on worthless promotions or publicity when your core product does not convert
- Doing any marketing before you’ve got at least 10 reviews
- Trying to justify a high price point when nobody is buying
- Begging people to support you instead of improving conversion by making your offer more attractive
Write books readers actually want
And sell more books without marketing.
How to write books readers actually want Step 1 video
This step is about the crucial mistake most authors make: writing a book nobody wants to read. Your book sales will always be directly proportional to the amount of demand for your intended genre or subject.
When I published my first book, I had tons of confidence. This was going to be huge. I was going to be famous. Instead, the book flopped. I was devastated. I actually gave up writing and spent a decade in a library getting a PhD in literature. But when I finally graduated and applied for a teaching job, they brought out that early self-published book and laughed me out of the room.
No matter what type of book you decide to write, its success will be mostly driven by the forces in the market, not your marketing. Satisfying an existing demand is much easier than convincing readers to read something they don’t want. I’m not talking about writing crap to catch trends: I’m talking about writing better books that readers actually care about. It takes more skill and courage to please readers than it does to please yourself.
In this step you’ll learn
- Why writing to market is NOT selling out: focus on giving readers a valuable or entertaining reading experience
- How to research the right keywords and categories for your book, and what your audience actually wants
- How to get immediate buy-in, hook readers from page one and write books they can’t put down
- How to know whether your book is any good, and have more confidence
How to Write and Publish a Book on a Budget
Save time and money with my budget publishing tips.
Download PDFResearch your genre or topic and figure out who your audience is and what they’re looking for. Browse Amazon for books similar to yours, look closely at their categories and reviews, and pick 10 books that seem similar to yours (if readers like X, they’ll like Y).
When someone asks “what’s your book about?” don’t freeze up, or be that author who blathers on for ten minutes about plot intricacies and symbolism. Share just enough to get their attention, and include the one powerful feature that makes your book stand out. Complete this sentence:
My book is a (genre word 1 + genre word 2), similar to (massive success #1 + massive success #2). It’s like X meets Y, but with Z.
Example: My book is YA fantasy about a girl who can see when people die when she touches them. It’s kind of like Harry Potter meets God of War, but with fallen angels and Greek mythology. Ultimately she’s recruited by Hades to help kill Zeus and save magic.
Tools and reading
- Publisher Rocket: research keywords and categories to see what’s popular. It’s the only keyword tool I use.
- K-lytics: detailed reports on what’s selling now in your genre or category.
- Nobody wants to read your sh*t (if you still need convincing)
- The really weird tricks I use to write and publish bestselling books
- How to rank your book higher on Amazon
- Writing under the influence: productivity and motivation tips to help you write faster
More videos for this step
Keep them reading
Plotting, outlining and revision checklists to boost reader enjoyment.
Book plotting and outlining strategies to improve story structure Step 2 video
Once you’ve gotten someone to take a chance on your book and start reading, that doesn’t mean you’ve won. Readers will not give you the benefit of the doubt. They are actively looking for reasons to put your book down. Don’t give them any.
Here’s the good news: you don’t need to fret about being a perfect, flawless writer. They don’t exist. If you’re asking “am I good enough”… stop. The writing matters much less than you think it does. Amateurs obsess about the words. Artists focus on the story.
Writing the book is only the beginning. Revision and editing can take just as long, and it’s often where the “good” writing actually happens. Whether you’re adding structure to a book you’ve written or plotting a new one from scratch, these are the same things I routinely flag when doing a developmental edit.
Is your book ready to publish?
- Story: a unifying narrative with a beginning and an end.
- Purpose: a goal worth pursuing, and achieved.
- Drama: conflict, suspense and intrigue on every page.
- Structure: a comfortable reading experience with clear signposts.
- Resolution: a concluding event or call to action, with positive emotion.
- Credibility: author’s bio, vulnerable share, professional design, no typos.
The Plot Dot
A simple step-by-step guide to plotting and outlining a book readers love.
Download PDFOr start with my book outline templates.Write yourself a glowing review of your book, from the point of view of an actual fan and ideal reader. Don’t make assumptions or toss around cliches or hyperbole. Share what you loved, why you bought it, how it helped you or made you feel, and what other books it reminded you of. Try to toss in some good genre or topic keywords.
(You can even print it out later and frame it.)
I’ve turned a lot of this into a bundle of writing courses, Bookcraft Academy: what kind of book to write, commercial fiction from brainstorming to revision (including my plot outline), and commercial nonfiction. It’s worth a look even if just to check out the reviews it’s gotten from actual writers.
Tools and reading
- 25 signs of amateur writing: first chapter red flags to check before you publish
- How to self-edit your novel
- My YouTube playlist on improving your novel (plotting, revision checklist and writing mistakes)
- Need more help? I’ve trained a team of editors at Book Butchers. We’re brutal, but worth it. If you want to know whether the beginning of your book is working, start with a first chapter critique.
Judge a book by its cover
Book design and publishing strategies, so you earn more than you spend.
Self-published book design strategies Step 3 video
You’ve got a clean manuscript readers are going to love. Now how do you actually publish it and put it up for sale? Publishing is really just three things, which affect the fourth:
- Cover design: ebook and print covers that communicate your genre and attract your ideal readers.
- Formatting: ebook and print formatting to make your book beautiful.
- Blurb: a book description that hits relevant keywords and categories while hooking readers’ imaginations.
- + Conversion: which affects your ability to scale profitably, and depends on book reviews.
So many authors spend $50 on a cover and then $500 on book marketing. Don’t make this mistake. Getting your cover right is critical, and almost all first-time authors get it wrong. (I can’t tell you how many times authors have hired a cheap designer, then asked me for feedback so I can train their designer on how to actually do their job.)
Make more than you spend
More marketing is almost never the real problem: you don’t need visibility. Not yet. You need “product-market fit”, a clear audience who recognizes the value of your book and is ready to pay for it.
Spend 10 cents per click and get 100 clicks for $10.
Sell 5 books and make $20. Yay.
Sell 1 book for $4. Boo.
If your basic offer doesn’t convert readers at a rate that makes marketing affordable, you’ll burn through your budget.
There are basically only two forms of marketing. The speargun is advertising: very focused, and you can train 100 people to spear fish for you, as long as you pay them less than you earn per fish. The net is content marketing: you build it, leave it overnight, and collect your fish in the morning. You can absolutely do both.
It may seem overwhelming, which is why most authors look for a small self-publishing company that will just do everything for them. This is a very bad idea for a lot of reasons, which I cover in self-publishing companies that aren’t scams. But it’s also very difficult to get all of this done on your own. So while I have tons of resources to help authors DIY their covers, formatting and blurb, I recommend spending on a professional at this stage, rather than paying for ads later.
Cover Design Secrets that Sell More Books
Your cover has about 2 seconds to either work or fail. Here are the hard and fast design rules.
Download PDFMost people focus on the wrong things: bookstores, book signings, TV appearances, blurbs by famous writers. Think about who will actually want this book, and why. Then focus on your book’s unique benefits and create an immediate, obvious offer.
- Find 10 books similar to yours and study their covers and sales descriptions. You can be inspired, but you should never copy.
- Get feedback on your cover, book description or Amazon page.
- Practice your elevator pitch out loud: it should take about ten seconds. Then write 10 different variations of hooks.
- Face your fear. Single out the ONE thing that makes you feel afraid and overwhelmed. Name it, draw it as a terrible monster, then draw yourself facing off with it, with whatever armor or magical weapons you’ll need.
Tools and reading
- DIY Book Covers: my premium book cover design templates
- DIY Book Formats: my interior formatting templates, and my Vellum review (the easiest way to format a book)
- Creativindie Covers: custom cover design
- My free YouTube series on book cover design
- Sneak peek from the course: publishing and book design basics
- 134 publishing questions answered
- The hidden costs of publishing (read this before you pay anyone to publish your book)
- How to get more book reviews (and keep Amazon from deleting them)
- How much do authors really earn?
More videos for this step
Book marketing is dead. Here’s what to do instead.
Build a supportive audience and get free visibility for your book.
Part 1: best book launch strategies for authors Part one of my two-part presentation on publishing, launching and marketing
It’s actually very easy to become a “#1 Amazon bestseller”, but it also doesn’t mean all that much. Free publicity is fun (done that, a lot), but it doesn’t sell books. That’s why I’ve stressed getting all the basics right before we get into the actual marketing stuff.
You don’t need to crank out new books to engage the algorithms; you can also write better books, as long as you define quality as “people enjoy it.” And you shouldn’t be constantly marketing or promoting your books. Most of that stuff doesn’t work anyway, and feels icky and awkward.
Cheap and easy book promotion
- Build a list with book giveaways
- Ad-stacking with book promo sites
- List-trades with other authors
- And a possible fourth: graphic teasers to prelaunch and create anticipation
What to do instead of “marketing”
- Build your own list of fans who will support future launches
- Get lots of Amazon followers
- Make friends with other authors in your genre
- Focus on boosting your also-boughts so your book stays visible
- Improve conversion with a better cover and blurb
- Include keywords and positioning statements in your blurb
- Build relevant content that attracts organic traffic, for long-term sales
- Drive traffic with Facebook and Amazon ads
- Choose less competitive categories so you can keep that #1 sticker long-term
When you’re starting out, you may need to do a bit of work to build your platform: run a few giveaways, write 5 evergreen articles that will attract your target audience, fix your core offer and positioning, improve your author website. Once that’s set up, the goal is to automate visibility and sales, so you only need an hour or so a week to keep things running.
Book Marketing Is Dead
Spam-free author promotion: how to promote your book without being obnoxious.
Download PDFOr get it on Kindle.Keep this short and simple. Think of:
- 3 objects you love that define your brand (mine are cats, castles and cabins)
- A touching personal anecdote or scene (how do you want people to think of you?)
- Some keywords (what you write; authors that inspire you)
Weave it together into a cool, short bio of 2 or 3 sentences. Later you can write the longer “epiphany” story: the moment everything turned around for you and made you dedicate yourself to your writing.
Part 2: advertising and content marketing for long-term sales
Part 2: the book launch roadmap to follow The second half of the presentation
Honestly, it’s not a magic bullet or a secret formula. You’ve probably heard some of this before, or even tested it yourself. I routinely hear from authors who have already “tried everything” and can’t get their books selling. Inevitably, it’s because of very simple, very basic things, like the right cover or having enough book reviews, that you need to get right before you can even begin marketing.
So rather than wasting time on worthless promotion or visibility, invest most of your time into perfecting your pitch (who should want it and why) and packaging (does this appeal to my audience and instantly communicate the benefits and value?). Then grab the companion workbook: it’s the book launch cheat-sheet that goes with this presentation.
Case studies and launch guides
- How to (quietly) launch a bestselling vampire book
- Shearwater: an epic fiction first book launch case study
- A simple 10-step book launch plan
- A step-by-step book launch checklist
- How to launch a bestselling book without earning any money
- The death of book promotion, and why Amazon cancelled 2,000 preorders
- Sneak peek: how to build a huge email list before you launch
- Sneak peek: how to get a hundred reviews in one week
- Tips and strategies for nonfiction writers
- Building targeted email lists with giveaways before you launch
- The quick and easy guide to Facebook and Amazon ads for authors
- Why you should never hire a book publicist
- 1,100 new places to market your books, 437 unskippable book marketing tips and 29 new ways to sell more books
Tools I use
- Email lists: MailerLite or Mailchimp
- Hosting for your author website: SiteGround
- My 3D book mockup maker, for ads and promotional graphics
More videos for this step
The companion workbook and the 2-hour launch roadmap
I made a more advanced workbook with insider tactics for selling more books. It’s a simplified summary of my most powerful book launch and marketing tips, with a step-by-step publishing roadmap and timeline. It’s very detailed and advanced, which is why I used to keep it until the end of the basic series.
How to use it with the four steps
- Part one, with step 1. Read the section on preparation and explore your keywords and categories. Find what your readers are actually searching for, then position your book so its benefits are immediately obvious to them.
- Part two, with step 3. Learn the basics of book design and formatting, even if you hire it out or use a tool. You’ll need your cover and your sales description before you can hit publish.
- Part three, with step 4. Map out your own book launch roadmap. Work backwards from your publishing date. Focus on getting 10+ reviews and 100 sales in the first week; getting the timing right can be tricky.
- The 2-hour roadmap. Watch both halves of the presentation: part 1 and part 2 (also in step 4).
Bonus: scaling up
I called it Guerrilla Publishing because I think most “book marketing” should actually happen before the book launches. You can sell some books with a big launch and lots of advertising, but to make a living as an author you need to be committed to building a platform, so you can focus your energy on writing more books. Your author business should be about doing one of three things:
- Content marketing: free visibility
- Paid advertising: reach more people
- Write more books: more product
- A book readers love
- Packaging and design that attracts
- A keyword-rich blurb that converts
- An email list of supportive fans
- Increased visibility (a blog or website, plus advertising)
Set up or fix your author website. Then brainstorm 10 great blog post ideas with keywords that match what your audience is searching for, and write five evergreen posts your readers will love (a title generator helps). Make them long and detailed, link to other people and say nice things about them.
Then publish 3 guest posts linking back to your site. This is a great thing to do with other authors in your genre, so reach out to a few and ask if they’d like to swap guest posts or author interviews. More: 19 common author platform mistakes that are killing your book sales.
Inspiring stories
- How to get your self-published book featured in Oprah Magazine
- How to do a book signing at Barnes & Noble as an indie author
- What NOT to do (satire, but it hits close to home)
Bonus videos
Bookselling Bootcamp day 4: advanced content marketing strategies
How to stay motivated after a failed book launch
Book marketing tips from my cemetery
3 secrets to making a living with your writing
Guerrilla Publishing masterclass (recorded webinar) Older recording: any offers or deadlines mentioned in it have expired.Nothing I say will motivate you to do the work. You need a personal goal that resonates with you. So take a moment to think about your ideal writing lifestyle. What does life look like once you’ve “made it”? An extra $1,000 a month? A line-out-the-door book signing? Sold in airport bookstores?
For me, it’s a quiet day at home in a nice cabin, with a desk by the window, working on my creative projects without needing to check email, report in, or worry about finances, and knowing that my books are being enjoyed by thousands of readers. What’s yours?
The Guerrilla Publishing course
I’ve intentionally given you an abundance of content, with hours of tutorial videos and several free books, so you can get up to speed quickly and stop making the huge mistakes most authors make. But you may find that, even though it all makes sense and seems practical, it’s difficult to actually pull off on your own.
Guerrilla Publishing is my whole process for writing, packaging, launching and then keeping a book selling: almost 90 lessons, organized around four stages, plus six more of my courses included.
- Preparation. From idea to a manuscript readers want.
- Publishing. Cover, formatting, blurb, keywords, price.
- Launching. List, reviews, preorders, promo, ads.
- Long-term sales. Backlist, website, funnels, the next book.
Included: 21 Day Bestselling Author Platform, Bookcraft Academy, Cover Design Secrets that Sell, DIY Book Formatting for Print and Ebook, Reader Seduction, and Reach Your Readers (Original).
I can’t make your book a bestseller if nobody enjoys reading it, and anyone who promises you otherwise is full of crap. What I can do is show you where books lose readers, and what to change before you spend money on promotion. That’s why I don’t make big claims like “you’ll make six figures!” (I prefer the much less exciting, but more reasonable, $1,000 a month as a good starting goal for most authors.)
With this link it’s $397, one time (the full program lists at $997). That gets you the course plus personal help from me: an author platform audit where I look under the hood and tell you what’s broken, a critique of your first chapter, and a revision of your blurb and keywords. If a launch is coming up, now is when this helps most: the cheapest time to fix a book is before you pay to promote it.
Self-paced · lifetime access · 30-day money-back guaranteeWhat authors say about Guerrilla Publishing
I've worked with thousands of authors to help them nail their story and market their books, and I always refer them to Derek Murphy's work. Derek has the most creative ideas for marketing books. He draws from his previous background as a cover designer, blogger, and internet marketer to bring fresh techniques and tactics to the book industry. More importantly, he tests everything he teaches with his books and gets serious results! What I love about Derek is that he believes first and foremost in giving value to the world. He has given so much of his resources and time to the communities he builds, and he really cares about helping each person make progress. Derek is the type of person who way overdelivers on everything he does. He works hard to help people find success and will do the same for you.
As consultant with 30 years in advertising and marketing I am appalled at the level of ignorance and shallow thinking that so many book marketing gurus exhibit. You, however, are a peacock among common fowl. There are so few voices worth listening to in self-publishing and yours is one of them.
I have never followed anyone that comes across as genuine as you are. I don't trust people easily as I am naturally skeptical, but you are different. You have proven yourself again and again. I used to follow some other well-known self-publishing gurus until I eventually learned that they didn't care if I succeeded or not. Any time I talk with anyone about writing, publishing, or creating, I mention you and your approach. You are THAT good.
As a new indie author with one unsuccessful book launch, I needed a way forward. Cue Derek Murphy, the Creativ-Indie. I could have spent hours poring the internet and refining my methods, but why would I when it is all in one place? And that's what the Guerrilla Publishing course is – EVERYTHING NEEDED to produce and release a book, all in one place. I'm hugely excited about moving forward and putting all this into action.
Oh my gosh, thank you Thank You THANK YOU! This is exactly what I needed. Step-by-step of exactly what to do. Fumbling around for the past year trying to figure out how to get reviews. This is direct, to the point, understandable! I've made a lot of mistakes on the 3 books I currently have out, and as you can guess, they're not selling. But the next one…now I'm armed with knowledge! I'm dedicating my next book to Derek!
Man, your courses have so much detail, and so many GREAT IDEAS! And the videos…I have to constantly pause and write stuff down, then I go back and rewatch several times. This course is the juiciest marketing/publishing course I've ever taken, and I've been through a few. Thanks for what you do!
Derek Murphy offers a refreshing, honest perspective in the indie author business. I consume everything he puts out as fast as it becomes available. It's comprehensive, timely, and real. I do a lot of coordinating with groups of authors, both online in the Romance author community and in my local area. People always ask me "WHERE DO I BEGIN?" and among the short list of things that make up my response to that question, Derek Murphy is one of them.
Both series popped within an hour of going live on Amazon and sold double what they had previously this month. Yesterday was the best sales day of the month so far in all my books. And that was just the first day. I did ZERO PROMOTIONS for any of this. Today is shaping up to be even better. You are a breath of fresh air in this business, and I'll keep up with the course and implement some of it. It has already given me value back.
Collected over the years, in their own words. A couple of these are big results, and they aren’t typical. Your results will depend on your book and the work you put in. Results will vary, and using these publishing and book marketing tactics will not guarantee any level of earnings or profit.
Hi, I’m Derek Murphy
I have a PhD in Literature, and after designing almost a thousand book covers, I’m beginning to think I know what I’m doing. CNN featured me for running writing retreats in castles. I still write and publish my own fiction and nonfiction, and when I launch a new book, like everyone else I struggle to get the first dozen reviews.
If you spend twenty minutes a day going through these resources, you’ll learn what took me two decades, a PhD in Literature and dozens of (failed) book launches to discover.
PS. People have called my videos “delightfully non-charismatic” and described them as “mumbles at a pace.” They’re rough and unedited, but you might need to take notes. More on Creativindie and my YouTube channel. A few of the tool links on this page are affiliate links.