Why Most Authors Fail At Marketing And How To Layer Your Strategy

You’ve poured your heart and soul into your book. It’s finished, polished, and ready for the world. So, why isn’t anyone buying it? If you’re an author (or any business person, for that matter) feeling frustrated by low sales and ineffective promotions, you’re not alone. The reality is, with over 100,000 books published every month, simply having a great book isn’t enough—you have to be found.

Most authors skip straight to the selling part, jumping right to pitching their product before laying the essential groundwork. This approach almost always fails.

Today, we’re diving into the science of marketing and the five crucial phases of promotion that separate successful authors from those who struggle. We’ll reveal why skipping the initial unaware and problem aware stages is the biggest mistake you can make, costing you trust, conversions, and long-term resonance. Stop working harder and start communicating more strategically. Discover how to layer your marketing for sustainable success, turning strangers into advocates—starting long before your book hits the shelf.

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Why Most Authors Fail At Marketing And How To Layer Your Strategy

We have some cool stuff coming down the pipeline at the end of this February and early March. I wanted to tell you folks a little bit about it and talk about why we went this route and what we need to do. Before we go there, I want to invite you over. We have the first three modules of our new coursework that’s going to be coming up in March. We’re giving it away for free so you can get a taste of what it is and how it will help you not only write your book, but be able to market it effectively as well. If you have a coaching business or a business saying, “You wrote your book because of a business.” This will be helpful for your business as well.

You can go to that at FindYourIdealAvatar.com. I love for you folks to give us feedback on it since we’re getting ready to launch. The topic I’m going to talk about is the science of marketing and why so many people are failing at it. I look at the coaching world, book sales and things that people are doing. It’s not just your funnel that makes a difference. It’s the layering of your marketing that can make a difference and why I encourage people to start early on this adventure like when you start writing your books so you can get some great feedback.

There is a science to marketing and there are five phases of promotion. I don’t know that you’d even call it promotion, but it’s gathering the people, your tribe, or your audience that you’re going to sell this book to. The reality is there are over 100,000 books that are published a month now, and nobody’s just going to find you. I hear that over and over for authors who don’t do this work in advance. When I tell them this, they start saying, “You’re so negative. Everybody will love my book.”

Unaware Stage – The Foundational Layer

The reality is, they have to find your book before they love your book. It’s not something that you can just assume is going to happen. That’s where I want to talk about is this layering that needs to take place. The first stage of this layering is what we call the unaware stage. I take that a step further. I call it the stage where nobody knows you’re alive. I don’t mean that to be negative. It’s just that this is the foundational layer of your content. This is where your audience-building journey begins.

Everything that comes after that is trust, engagement, conversion and advocacy. All of that depends on the groundwork that you lay here. Most authors and business people jump into the fourth category, which is product aware. They skip the first three, which is this unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, and then going for that close. That’s why most of this fails. No one knows who you are. They don’t trust you. They don’t know they have a problem. They don’t know you have a solution. You can see when you come out with a new program, product, or services, and believe me a book is a product. That’s why it fails.

You haven’t built the trust in an audience and you don’t have a big audience at this point. Let’s have a little understanding about this awareness stage. At this stage, your reader’s, your clients are not thinking about you, your book or your solution. They might not even realize they have a problem at this point that needs solving. They believe their challenges are simply part of a normal environment. “I’m too busy to mark it effectively.” “I’m unable to scale my influence.” “I’m unaware that I need this publishing or platform.”

That’s just giving that to you from my potential. That is not even talking about the problem that you solve and them not being aware that you are there. This is why you have to start here. The unaware reader is typically an accomplished professional who believes success comes from working harder and not communicating more strategically. That’s the biggest problem here. You all work way too hard without doing this foundational piece. Here’s why it’s essentially you start here. Every journey begins with awareness.

If you have a problem you can’t solve, first you have to be aware of that problem. That’s why you have to start at this stage. Assume at this stage, you may be a great expert. You may know exactly what you’re doing. You may be the best person out there to have products, programs, and services, but if nobody knows who you are, nobody’s going to buy from you. A lot of that doesn’t happen with PR. PR is an extra layer in the process after the book comes out. It’s not the introduction to the world point that you jump in at.

By building this also, this gives you the broadest possible reach. You’re taking the time and effort by going through these stages, especially those unaware and starting to build, layer and get those products sold. In this, you’re providing education. You’re not selling anything at this point. I know for most people, that’s super disappointing because you’re in business to make money but that’s why you start early, especially with a book. Believe me, a book is a business. What this does for you is it allows you to position yourself as an educator. Not a seller.

You are a trusted person out there who solves a particular problem. They don’t know what the problem is. The audience doesn’t know what the problem is yet, but you’re acting as a server and not a seller. Those are the people who do best in that coaching world. It’s people who are of service to their audience. It also creates long-term resonance and reduces a lot of downstream resistance as well. That downstream resistance is most often because they don’t know you and trust you. It’s like going out on a date and somebody asked you to marry him on the first day. You’re like, “I don’t even know you yet. I think I’m going to leave now.”

That is why you need to start this. This unaware phase is probably the piece that takes the longest as well. If you’ve ever done Google ads or Meta ads or anything like that and you’ve hired somebody. I know there’s a lot of frustration because when those people are being upfront with you, they’ll say, “The first phase of this is going to take 4 to 6 months.” That’s because they’re getting people used to seeing your name, your expertise, and those educational pieces. It doesn’t happen overnight. The internet is a very noisy place, if you haven’t noticed.

Let’s talk about that psychology of unawareness. That goes right back to what I said, the selective attention. Audiences filter out unfamiliar concepts. If they’re not getting the message at this time, they’re probably not filtering you into their daily schedules. There’s also that comfort bias. If they need to solve a problem or they are becoming aware that there’s something out there. A lot of times, they’ll show you away from it because it’s like, “Do I want to deal with it? Do I not want to deal with it?” What most people don’t understand and I know a lot of my clients don’t is most people have to hit rock bottom before they solve a problem. Before they realize this is a problem that I can’t have repeated over and over again.

They’re usually in some patterned behavior that they want to grow out of, and then cognitive dissonance. A lot of people don’t want to admit their ignorance. It threatens their self-esteem. You’ve got to get through that mess as well, and then information overload. Everyone knows the internet is so overloaded. In this stage, you’re going to spend a good 5 to 6 months revealing who you are, why you’re an expert, and why you love doing this. The passion of it. You’re educating people again and not selling. What you’re doing is you’re revealing the gaps in where those people are now to where they’re supposed to be.

You’re showing contrasts and showing what other consultants in the industry are doing in a kind way. You don’t want to badmouth anybody here. You’re also revealing some compelling evidence to why this is credible data and relatable stories that make people understand why this is important, and then inviting reflection. You’re asking provocative questions. Why is this happening? Why does this happen to me over and over? The core components at this stage are education, capital, and becoming the market’s teacher.

Also, the number two is earning, attention, and equity. Earning the mind space before you earn the loyalty, which will come in those other faces and brand positioning. This is something to think about in this phase and spending that time to do it. You can do that also by creating some themes and some message archetypes. Content formats as well are very important. Make sure by validating that you are on the right platform to disseminate this educational information. It doesn’t do any good to be on Facebook when you’re a leadership professional because those people are over on LinkedIn.

Understanding that and measuring the progress. This is something that people don’t do. They give up. They go, “It’s not working.” When you start looking at those metrics, the engagement quality, your list growth, your email growth and referral mentioned. You might be able to see which avenue is doing best and is repeatable, because that is what marketing is about. It’s patterned as well.

Problem Aware Stage – Validating The Problem

We move on to the second stage, which is the problem aware. This is bringing that unconscious friction to the conscious opportunity. The problem is essential here because you’re in a sense validating the problem. You may think there’s a problem, but that audience you’re trying to collect might not think that’s the problem. This is moving readers and clients from a very passive stance to an active stance. It also builds trust and empathy at this stage. It differentiates you as a true guide and not a salesperson. They’ve already become aware of you and see you’re not sales and sales all day.

Also, now they’re in that problem aware phase where they’re like, “That might be a problem for me.” You are articulating the problem. What you’re doing is a deep dive analysis into failure patterns and mistakes. Showing them is even better instead telling them about the evidence you have about this problem and the true cost of the analysis. You’re letting them know that this is the evidence that this exists and this is what it’s costing you to not solve this problem.

One of the defining factors in this is there’s usually four main ones that come to the surface. It’s money, opportunity, time, and emotional energy. Keep those in mind as you’re doing this phase because this will tell you a lot about what your copy is going to look like. Do you not have time for this? Do you not have the money for this? All of those things are going to be embraced in your copy. You need to start connecting with those people to find out what their motivation truly is.

This is also where you can use case studies, contrast scattered approaches with strategic systems out there. Experts in interviews and guides clarifying the complexity of the problem are very helpful as well. Also, detailed explanations of integrated approaches. Each connection is being built here. Whatever you’re listening to in this phase becomes the basis for your content. Remember, content is the trust builder.

In my world, that might look like I might be over on LinkedIn writing articles about why most business books fail to build platforms and the three critical elements that they missed. The true cost of DIY author, platform, development, time, money, and opportunity analysis. This is where you’re going to get those pieces in place and do that. Effective formats and retargeting campaigns, if you’re doing ads. Great email sequences, LinkedIn direct outreach, webinars, social media, and nurturing those mindset shifts from problem recognition to the next phase we’re going to move into that is the solution.

Let’s talk about the cost of skipping that problem aware stage, mistrust. Audiences think, “They don’t understand what I’ve tried. They don’t know what I went through and nothing’s worked.” Low conversion rates. Readers and clients need proof that you understand their journey, and then the disconnect. The solution first marketing feels tongue deaf to that. This is where we get into phase and start moving into the next phase, which is solution aware.

Solution Aware Stage – From Diagnosis To Decision

We’re moving readers and clients from the diagnosis to the decision that this is a very critical stage as well because it moves the readers and clients from an active research mode into I’m interested mode. It’s making them curious about, “I’ve tried all these things. What is the solution this person has that’s maybe different?” It also converts frustration into hope. If someone is just trying and can’t solve their problem. This might be the point where they take a look at your solution and say, “I haven’t tried that. I’m motivated enough that now I want to try something new.”

It also makes your brand and platform tangible because you’ve listened to the problem. You’ve listened to how these people describe their problem. Now, you’re going into solution mode, and this is where the rubber hits the road with, “I’m super curious and she gets me. She understands that I want a solution here.” It’s what differentiates you from your competitors and commodities that one size fits all solutions that a lot of your competitors probably have.

Solution aware content means looking at the methodology, buyer’s guides, and selection criteria. What are you doing for webinars, educational workshops, behind the scenes content and then solution focus landing pages as well? You want to look at this as integration over isolation, proof over height, or transparency over secrecy. That’s where you’re going to dig in here and show people that you do have that solution they truly need.

There are a lot of risks of skipping this as well. I’ve told you a lot of people skip right to that next phase. Again, that lost trust factor. They don’t know who you are. They don’t know what problem you solve or you have a solution that may help them. Also, miss conversions because of that and competitive weakness. One of the things that stands out for a lot of my people that I work with is they have no idea who their competitors are. How can you compete if you don’t know who your competitors are?

Product Aware Stage – Guiding Into Commitment

We move to the product aware stage. This is where you’re guiding your readers and clients into a commitment. It’s the tipping point for the readers to say, “I like this.” It’s where authority meets trust and converts value, perception and devalue belief. The components of this part of the strategy are robust, clients stories, transformation case studies, video testimonials. behind the scenes methodology content, comprehensive FAQ and objection handling content and process explanation and guide.

I do want to caution you here about don’t get too into the weeds about the process. Your people want to know about the results. They don’t care how you get them there most of the time. They want results. That’s why that’s so important. The key messaging here is the proof gaff, transformation journey, that they have a support system that maybe they didn’t have any more. This is also for those people who are very risk adverse, if you have a clientele that is.

Most Aware Stage – Converting To Action & Advocacy

Putting out those guarantees and making it easier for them to commit. Money back guarantees and things like that. The risk of overlooking this stage is loss of conversion. Brandy erosion and competitive loss. Again, you need to do that deep dive into who your competitors are so you can set yourself apart. The last stage here is the most aware stage. Converting readiness into action and advocacy. Converting those people into clients. This is the moment of conversion.

It also reduces decision paralysis. What do I mean by that? It’s easy. All of us go through that decision paralysis because it’s like, “I’m going to spend a lot of money. Am I going to get my money’s worth? How do I ensure that I get my money’s worth? Am I going to have buyer’s remorse?” This is the point where you go back to all of that trust building that you’ve engaged in for a while here and go back to that and understand how you can overcome that decision paralysis.

It then sets the tone for the relationship. What does that on-boarding look like? Are you organized? Is what you’re doing a mess? This is the time where you’re making those offers. You have those guarantees. You have strong calls to action. You know how to handle an objection. A lot of people don’t follow up or know how to overcome objections. You have to look at those time, money, or whatever those audience things that you keep hearing over and over on.

Coming up with, “I get that this may not be ideal for you to buy now, but what is the cost of waiting the six months you just articulated? What is that going to cost you in business, time, relationships, or whatever that thing is?” Drilling down on that with them. Maybe that’s the time you offer them a payment plan. If it truly is money, maybe they just don’t have the cash to do all of it now. That might be a way that you can ease into this with the rejection and have them in their heads understand that it is going to cost them in some way if they don’t get this problem solved.

Having great investment opportunities for them, meaning the payment plans or a discount if they pay cash. Having all of that, you’re welcoming on-boarding communication in a solid place. I hope that’s helpful. I know it sounds like a little work. It is, but that is truly how people build businesses, successful, long-term and sustainable businesses. There are no quick fixes in this world. You just have to settle on that.

Again, I encourage you to go over to FindYourIdealAvatar.com and take our first three chapters, our modules of this course. This course goes over all of this. Not in those first three modules but you can get a flavor for how it’s delivered and how it’ll help you. Don’t forget, we have a new Breakthrough Author Magazine. We have gone from being a monthly magazine to a weekly magazine with a couple articles, book of the week and things like that. Go over to Breakthrough Author Magazine and start having the tips and tricks dropped into your inbox.

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