Do Authors Really Need to Spend Their Own Money to Make a Book Successful? ‹ Literary Hub

Last week The Guardian ran an article about how some authors are seeking help outside of their in-house publishing teams to promote their books. This is nothing new. There are lots of independent publicists who've been working with authors to supplement the work of their in-house teams for years. But this piece seemed to strike a particular chord with literary Twitter, probably because of one particular line: "Book tours can cost $15,000, publicity campaigns up to $16,000, and marketing work up to $100 an hour - figures that can be considerable when compared to authors' advances and distant promises of royalties."

That's a lot of money, I think we can all agree. So yes, (some) commercial authors are spending significant amounts of money on outside help, and the authors featured in the Guardian piece are happy with their investments. But I think a lot of readers came away from that piece feeling like they could not be successful without spending extra money. Not true! Here are some other things to keep in mind.