Marketing Your Book Without a Big Budget

Big-budget marketing is loud. Small-budget marketing is patient. The good news: patient marketing builds something big marketing can't buy — trust.

Pick one channel you'll actually use. A newsletter, a blog, a focused social account — choose the one that fits your temperament, not the one that's trending. Consistency on a single channel beats spreading yourself thin across five.

Niche down hard. 'Readers' is not an audience; 'readers of quiet, character-driven literary fiction set in the north' is. Speak directly to that person and you'll be heard by everyone who recognises themselves in the description.

Give before you ask. Share your process, your research, your influences. Let people in. By the time your book is ready, you'll have a small audience that already cares — and they'll do the spreading for you.