Starting a Book Marketing Business with
Someone I Have Never Met
When most people start a company with another person, they typically have a longstanding relationship with them, whether they were a previous colleague or friend. Our story at Expound Publicity is a little more unconventional.
In 2018, Aly and I briefly connected via Facebook, as we shared the same children’s book publisher at the time, We got to know each other a bit better when she accepted my books for feature on her KidLit TV segment. When the pandemic hit, Aly and I had similar feelings about how we could maintain relevancy as authors in a virtual world.
On a whim, out of both boredom and a desire to provide children with some semblance of normalcy, we decided to create a podcast – Ask an Author – where we brought author visits to kids who were remote learning. We interviewed all kids of children’s book authors about their inspiration to write, how to publish a book, and even talked to illustrators about their process. Teachers loved taking a little break and showing these videos to kids.
As the popularity of Ask an Author grew, Aly and I found ourselves fielding questions from other authors about how they could market themselves during the pandemic. When talking about these strategies with Aly, we realized we have complementary skill sets that could really help others succeed. When I was approached with a side gig to help launch an author’s book, I looped in Aly, and by that night in August, 2020, we had a list of names, a logo, and a website for our book marketing service. Our goal was to provide author marketing support to help authors boost their credibility, exposure and spark book sales.
Over the next year, we were in full growth mode, moving from one client to more than 100. I quit my job as Marketing Director at PBS, Aly continued her retirement as an attorney, and we branched out from only children’s authors to representing authors of all genres and methods of publishing. During this time, Aly and I were not only colleagues, but friends – who never met! Even our kids were Facetime friends!
We took the first annual Expound Publicity family trip to New Orleans in the summer of 2021, and the rest is history! We often look back on our story and laugh about how all the pieces fell into place for us.
I think it worked out because both of us truly love what we do and have a passion for helping other authors succeed.
Interested in learning more about Expound Publicity and how we can help you achieve your goals? Book a consult here.
We would love to hear from you!
info@expoundpublicity.com