Writing nonfiction books can be an effective way for company executives to become thought leaders and build their personal brands. Thanks to AI, marketing those books is now easier than ever before. With the publication today of my fifth book, “The Crisis Casebook: Lessons in Crisis Management from the World’s Leading Brands,” I thought it was a good time to see how business leaders and others can use AI to promote their books.

Given the number of books that are published every year—more that two million, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—it’s a challenge for authors to get their books noticed. That river of new books is becoming a flood, because AI enables authors to research, write, edit, and publish their books faster and easier. About 45% of recently surveyed authors use some form of generative AI to assist with their work, according to Bookbub.

Book Publishing Reality Checks

There can be challenges and issues in using generative AI to write books. Some publishers may restrict or prohibit authors from using the rapidly evolving technology, or place conditions on its use.

For example, Amazon says on its website that it requires authors to disclose the use “of AI-generated content (text, images, or translations) when you publish a new book or make edits to and republish an existing book through KDP. AI-generated images include cover and interior images and artwork.” The author is still responsible for verifying that all AI-generated and/or AI-assisted content adheres to all content guidelines, which, the Amazon policy clarifies, includes “complying with all applicable intellectual property rights.”

Whether or not AI is used while writing the book, both authors who self-publish their books and authors who are published by major commercial publishers are usually on their own when it comes to marketing the books. Very few authors with traditional publishers receive support with marketing. As such, the best time to begin marketing efforts, depending on when a book will be launched, is usually several months before the book is published. The longer lead time is necessary in order to help build interest in the book, encourage sales and preorders, and create buzz among likely readers. This can place additional burdens and pressures on writers who think their work is done when they finish their manuscripts. To the contrary, the author’s journey continues long after writing and editing.

AI-Generated Book Marketing Strategies

I wanted to see how AI’s book marketing guidance measured up against my own experiences and best practices for promoting books. So I began by asking ChatGPT what the best ways are to market my new crisis management book. It listed several suggested strategies, including developing an online presence, marketing the content on various social media platforms, leveraging email marketing, participating in events and workshops, investing in advertising, distributing a news release, and collecting reviews and testimonials.

That lined up well with my experience, except for its recommendation to advertise, which has not been effective for me in generating book sales in the past. Advertising is an expensive way to reach target audiences. Depending on the resources the new authors have, an advertising campaign could also be beyond their budgets. Generating publicity about my books, by comparison, has achieved better results and helped to reinforce my brand as a crisis management expert. In short, ChatGPT’s advice was generic and didn’t add anything beyond what I already knew. I had to dig deeper.

Target Audiences And Tactics

For a second opinion, I asked Canva Pro to design a book marketing campaign. It provided detailed guidance better tailored for my latest writing project. Among other things, it identified five target audiences, suggested four key marketing messages, provided timeframes for rolling out the campaign, and listed four hashtags.

Much of this advice was in sync with how I’ve marketed my past books. But a recommendation to distribute advance copies to reviewers and the media four weeks prior to publication missed the mark. Depending on when books are published, it’s a best practice to send those copies at least three months ahead of time in order to secure testimonials, reviews, and early press coverage. So far the AI tools were helpful compared to nothing at all, but fell short of what human experts would recommend.

Another AI-generated suggestion that people should pre-order the books several weeks out also did not ring true. When books are listed on Amazon, for example, pre-orders can begin at least four months earlier, based on my own experience. Canva Pro failed to recommend that I include the book on Goodreads.com and NetGalley.com, two popular websites where readers rate and post book reviews, which in turn can help drive interest and sales. All of this suggested the value of working with an experienced author or publisher, for advice, if the new author can afford it.

So I reached out to other authors for examples of how they’ve used AI to assist in implementing their book marketing tactics. When entrepreneur Randy Charach published his business strategy book “Client Centric,” he told me that he turned to AI to help market the book more efficiently.

“I used ChatGPT to draft personalized outreach emails, SurferSEO to guide blog posts that tied into the book’s themes, and Jasper.ai, along with AdCreative.ai, to test different ad copy on LinkedIn and Facebook,” Charach told me via email. “For social media, Ocoya made it easy to create variations of posts, so the promotion didn’t feel repetitive. These tools saved me time, but I always added my own stories and personality so the book’s message came through authentically.”

How To Use AI To Become A Best-Selling Author

Zarna Garg, a stay-at- home mom turned standup comedian, wrote a book, “This American Woman: A One-in-a Billion Memoir,” about her experience growing up in India and life in the United States. She asked her daughter Zoya, who was then a senior at Stanford University, to be in charge of a six-month marketing campaign that led up to the publication of the book last April. The ambitious goal was to generate 10,000 advance orders and get the book on the New York Times’ best sellers list.

She used different AI-powered tools to design and help implement various aspects of the marketing campaign. The tools included ChatGPT (to organize the campaign and identify marketing leads), Claude (for data tracking and analysis), ManyChat (to create direct messaging links) and Grok (to make diagrams that would help motivate members of her marketing team). But it did not end there.

“I used ChatGPT Voice to practice my sales proposal to small businesses who might be interested in placing a bulk order of 100 books,” Zoya Garg told me in an email interview. “I’d speak into the model and ask: ‘Is it clear what value the business will receive in exchange for money? Is there anything else I can offer that might make this deal compelling?’ I did not use ChatGPT during sales call[s]. I spoke freely with [the] hope that my practice rounds would make our value proposition clear. But practicing with an AI model saved time and energy of family members or friends I would’ve forced to listen to me until I made sense.”

AI helped reduce some of the burdensome work and the marketing campaign paid off, reaching 14,000 preorders and landing the book on the New York Times best sellers list. Zarna Garg credits her daughter for making the marketing of her memoir “efficient and impactful so I didn’t have to run from pillar to post doing traditional book tours,” she said in a statement, adding that Zoya uses “every AI tool available (and creates new ones if needed with her brother) to assist in sales, marketing, organizing and more—basically everything except the creative— which I handcraft the old fashioned way. The Garg family is not intimidated by AI, we are empowered by it.”

7 AI Best Practices

There are several best practices authors should keep in mind to get the most out of AI book marketing tools.

• Know what you want to achieve with the technology.
• Ask AI to prepare optimal strategies for achieving your goals.
• Be as specific as possible when asking AI for help or guidance, and include how and when the book will be published.
• Ask AI to recommend deadlines and priorities for completing its suggested marketing tactics in time for the publication of the book.
• When using generative AI, edit the marketing and press materials it creates to ensure accuracy and that they reflect your voice and style. Check with publishers about any conditions or restrictions they place on the use of the technology.
• Refine your queries as necessary to ensure the recommendations are appropriate for your book project.
• Don’t wait until the book is published to begin working with AI. Experiment with different models and platforms to see which ones are the best fit for your purposes; ask for second opinions.

Business executives who cannot afford or do not want to hire others to market their books can use AI as an affordable safety net for recommendations about effective strategies, tactics, and techniques, and to assist in running their marketing campaigns. Having access to some advice is better than having no advice at all—as long as authors know the quality of the advice that they are receiving.