Publishing Isn't Marketing Companion Workbook (Paperback or Softback)

Publishing Isn’t Marketing — Companion Workbook is the hands-on companion to Publishing Isn’t Marketing (ISBN: 978-1-970587-03-6 paperback 978-1-970587-13-5 ebook), designed to help self-publishing and independently published authors build a real marketing system before their book releases. This workbook transforms theory into action, breaking down the essential steps that make a book discoverable, credible, and retail-ready across Amazon, IngramSpark, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Books, libraries, and bookstore ordering systems.

Where most guides talk about marketing, this workbook shows you "how" to do it—with checklists, templates, structured worksheets, and writing space for planning each part of your author business. Authors will learn how to set up a website that signals professionalism, centralize reviews, prepare an SEO and AI-SEO presence, create reader pathways, establish ARC and review pipelines, and structure a launch that avoids the sales-killing mistakes most first-time authors make.

Authors will learn how to set up a website that signals professionalism, centralize reviews, prepare an SEO and AI-SEO presence, create reader pathways, establish ARC and review pipelines, and structure a launch that avoids the sales-killing mistakes most first-time authors make.

This is not a journal. It is a tool.
It exists to prevent authors from publishing into silence.

Inside, writers will build the marketing foundation that supports long-term visibility:

• A professional author website that acts as your headquarters
• A direct-sales pathway so online retail platforms are not your only options
• ISBN identity control (even for ebooks) to protect discoverability
• Metadata structure that connects your book across search engines and AI tools
• Three BISAC categories that accurately match reader expectations
• SEO and AI-SEO planning to influence search results and recommendation engines
• Backlink planning so search systems recognize your authority
• Pre-order structure and ARC deployment to generate early proof of life
• Review pathways that prioritize your website, then external platforms
• Bookstore and library readiness (with Ingram wholesale standards)
• A 90-day launch framework authors can repeat for every new release

This workbook teaches you to market the book you already wrote, rather than hoping someone finds it.

Who This Workbook Is For:
• Self-publishing authors building their first marketing plan
• Indie authors who want a system they can maintain without burnout
• Writers re-launching a book that never gained traction
• Authors planning to build a career, not just “release a book”
• Anyone confused by ISBNs, BISAC metadata, discoverability, or library adoption

Key Terminology You Will Build Into Action
• Self-publishing marketing strategy
• Author platform setup
• ISBN identity and metadata alignment
• BISAC categories for retail placement
• SEO for authors / AI-SEO for modern discoverability
• Backlink mapping and search authority signals
• ARC program structure and review channeling
• IngramSpark wholesale terms and bookstore readiness
• Library qualification through LCCN and catalog listings

A book without marketing is not a launch.
A book without metadata is not findable.

Mark Wilder has worked in marketing for more than 30 years, beginning in the early days of digital and social media with platforms such as Yahoo, Craigslist, and MySpace. Long before online marketing became standardized, his focus was on how people actually discover information, evaluate credibility, and decide what to trust.He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing with a concentration in Social Media Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University and has coordinated high-value marketing campaigns in major U.S. markets, including San Francisco and San Jose, California.He is the author of four books and brings a practitioner's perspective to the realities of visibility, discoverability, and audience-building in modern publishing. After repeatedly encountering new authors who were unaware of critical structural pitfalls in self-publishing - from metadata errors to platform dependency and loss of control - he founded an author-centric publishing house designed to provide professional publishing infrastructure at roughly the same cost authors often pay to navigate the process alone.This book was written to make those hidden pitfalls visible. It is not a promotional guide, but a practical framework to help authors understand how publishing systems actually work, how marketing decisions compound over time, and how to build a sustainable career rather than chase short-term exposure.He has lived and worked across the United States, Europe, Australia, and the Caribbean, experiences that inform both his writing and his approach to publishing in a global marketplace.