Marketing is a critical skill for authors, whether they publish traditionally or via self-publishing and e-book platforms. Traditional publishers require authors to undertake marketing activities with some support, self-published authors have no outside support and need to do their own marketing. However, Australian authors’ marketing skills, knowledge, and promotional activities have not been researched or explored. Therefore, this research presents an exploratory study of the marketing knowledge and activities of Australian authors to begin to address these knowledge gaps. Sixteen authors from Southeast Queensland were recruited for this research via industry associations and connections and were interviewed. Five participants were male and eleven were female. Participants ranged in age from 26 to 81 with an average age of 50. All of the participants had published books and creative writing. Ten participants had published via a traditional publisher and ten had published via self or e-book; some participants had published via both methods. Their genre of focus ranged from romance, memoir, historical fiction, science-fiction, to young adult.
The interviews gathered background information on the authors, including the number of books they had published, before eliciting insights into their marketing knowledge, skills, and practices. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. A traditional human interpretative approach was combined with the software program, NVivo 12 plus, to allow for greater accuracy of meaning. The results found the authors had various amounts of marketing knowledge, but they generally agreed it was important for authors and creative writers to have and be competent at deploying marketing skills and activities. However, when they described what marketing involved, they often used terms that focused on selling and awareness. Six authors also felt that marketing was difficult and challenging. The authors used various social media platforms for their personal websites, but Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were the most popular. Twelve authors wanted to improve their marketing knowledge, but most lacked the time to upskill themselves. Eleven authors had never utilised market research, seven authors were not checking or making use of digital analytics, and five admitted that they did not think about their brand management. In general, the authors lacked sophisticated marketing knowledge and practices, felt marketing was important, but they lacked the time to develop their skills. To address these knowledge gaps, various resources and initiatives could be introduced including mentoring, networking, and online spaces for authors to share marketing tips, advice, and resources. Small, flexible marketing educational resources could be created including tip sheets, content plans, and expert guest speakers and panels.