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Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. In this episode, we are joined by Cynthia Shannon ‒ Food and Lifestyle Marketing Manager at Chronicle Books.

Today’s episode is all about authors and partnerships. According to Cynthia, partnerships provide a more organic placement for a book, which creates an authentic feeling for customers. There are a wide range of partnerships in book marketing, and Cynthia guides us through the most important ones, setting authors up for a natural and successful marketing strategy.

Key Points From This Episode:

[00:43] For those who may not have heard of promotional partnerships, Cynthia provides a definition.

[00:43] Discover why authors should pursue partnership strategies to promote their books. 

[00:43] Cynthia elaborates on what the goals of a partnership might look like.

[05:21] How many different types of partnerships are there? Cynthia shares some of the most common examples. 

[05:21] Find out what Cynthia looks for in a great partnership. 

[09:41] Cynthia reveals where her creative inspiration comes from when trying to put partnerships together.

[09:41] Learn what steps an author can take to create a successful partnership.

[09:41] Cynthia explains what authors need to be careful about when they are pursuing partnerships.

Action Steps:

1. Be very clear about your goals for the partnership. Determine how it will benefit both partners.
2. Think differently and creatively about what a partnership could look like. There are endless ways to make your partnership unique and exciting.
3. Find partners who are a natural fit for your book. You want the partnership to feel authentic. 

Resources:

• Learn more about Cynthia and explore her website here.

• Connect with Cynthia on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

• Get in touch with Cynthia by filling out this contact form.

• Explore the Chronicle Books website and their wide selection of content.

• Follow Chronicle Books on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Tweetables and quotes:

Promotional partners can be people, places, or brands that help you expand your platform beyond the people you already know and help drive serendipitous discovery of your book. – Cynthia Shannon

Partnerships allow you to build awareness without spending a lot on advertising, or dealing with the uncertainty of publicity. They can provide a natural placement for your book, which will feel much more authentic for the customer. – Cynthia Shannon

The hallmarks of a great partnership are audience affinity and reciprocity. – Cynthia Shannon

Each partnership is very unique. And you can play with all of the different assets in terms of what you’re able to do together. – Cynthia Shannon

Great agreements make great partnerships, and great agreements are in writing. – Cynthia Shannon

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

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Becky Robinson

I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.