Most authors get marketing backward. They ask readers to buy before they have given readers anything. The biblical character, Queen Esther, on the other hand, built goodwill first and made her ask only after throwing two banquets for the king. Queen Esther did not walk into the king's throne room and ask for what she needed. She threw a banquet first, then another, and only on the second night did she make her request.

Here is what that principle can look like for a novelist.

What can novelists learn from Queen Esther's marketing?

Thomas: Esther was a woman in Persia whose king had fallen out with his previous wife and rounded up young women from across the country to join his harem. Esther was one of them, and she became queen, but after a while the king stopped calling for her. Under Persian law, approaching the king without being summoned could mean death. Yet her people were about to be destroyed, and she had to intercede.

What she does next is telling. She boldly approaches the king, he extends his scepter, and her life is spared. But she does not ask him to save her people. Instead, she invites him and his top advisor to a banquet. At that banquet, he asks what she wants, and she asks for a second banquet. Only at the second banquet does she finally ask him to save her people, and he says yes.

Jim: That is a good point. She did something incredibly bold. Marketing requires boldness. Even people who see me as an extrovert do not realize I am really an introvert trapped in an extrovert's personality. It is hard to get out there and be bold, but in today's world, it is not optional.

Thomas: What we see in Esther is a combination of boldness and selfless humility, and that combination is powerful. Plenty of people boldly ask everyone to buy their book, but that is not effective either, because people do not want to be sold to.

Many authors can relate to Esther's position. They are not in favor with readers yet, just as she was not in favor with the king. So instead of asking how to get people to buy your book, start asking what kind of banquet you can throw for your readers.

Does giving come before asking?

Jim: That is a completely different attitude. It is not about what you can get, it is about what you can give. There is an old adage that you can get anything you want as long as you give other people what they want. Readers want to be entertained, encouraged, excited, and educated. Go out with the attitude that you are going to help people and serve people, and the return comes back tenfold.

Thomas: To get heat out of a fire, you first have to put heat into the wood. To get grain out of a field, you first have to put grain into the field. If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly, and a lot of authors are standing at a cold log, complaining that there is no heat, or staring at their Amazon page, complaining that there are no sales. Instead of asking how you can get heat out of the log, ask how you can put heat into it.

How do you throw a literal banquet for your readers?

Thomas: Jim, you have actually thrown a banquet for your readers, right?

Jim: Yes. Something I do not hear many people talk about is that your best opportunity for sales is in your hometown. Novelists who start locally often build regional traction before going national, the same way a song like “Louie Louie” started regionally and grew from there.

Think about what you can do locally. Instead of a book party built around you, throw one built around your readers. Thank them, give them gifts, give away the book. Bring together a group of 30 or 40 people, give them the behind-the-scenes trivia about how the book came to be, and suddenly they leave feeling special.

It is about them, not you.

Thomas: Seth Godin once spoke to a room of industry leaders about his newest book and gave everyone six copies. Suddenly, they were all thinking about who to give those copies to and talk to about the book, and it kick-started his sales.

It does not have to be elaborate. It could be as simple as offering food or partnering with a local band you can help promote in exchange for live music at your event. It does not have to cost much, but it builds a lot of goodwill.

Should authors review other people's books?

Thomas: Another overlooked way to throw a banquet is to review similar books. Readers want more books than any single author can produce. I recently discovered a series called Star Force, about space marines fighting aliens. The author writes a new book every four months, but I read the whole series in a month, and now I am stuck waiting for the next one.

If he reviewed similar science fiction, it would build goodwill with readers like me, and even more goodwill with the other authors. Send your readers to another author and that author will feel obligated to return the favor. Reciprocity is powerful, and as an author, you likely have more refined taste than the average reader. You can articulate what works and what does not in a book. That is an ability you can put to use throwing banquets for readers.

How can you build a banquet before you even have readers?

Jim: Another example is Gina Holmes and what she did with Novel Rocket (originally called Novel Journey). Gina was an aspiring novelist who started interviewing authors, then more authors, then famous ones. Dean Koontz eventually appeared on her site, which built even more traction, and the blog became one of Writer's Digest's top sites for writers.

Gina then landed a contract, and her debut novel, Crossing Oceans, hit the bestseller list. She gave and gave to readers and authors first, hosting what amounted to dozens of banquets, and only then mentioned she had a book too.

Thomas: Another example is She Reads. Ariel Lawhon started by reviewing books for a certain kind of reader and built a big following one book at a time. She organized book club meetings so readers could discuss the book of the month together.

When it came time to write her own novel, publishers already knew and wanted to be featured on She Reads, and she landed a lucrative publishing deal. She built the banquet first and made the ask later.

What if you're not ready to throw a party?

Thomas: Another way to give readers a banquet is to write a short story and give it away for free, ideally featuring characters from your book. That is how I discovered the Star Force series. The author had a two-hour novella put on Audible for free, about a minor character in the same universe as the main books.

He warned me it contained minor spoilers since it was set around book four, and I ignored the warning anyway. But I would not have tried the series at all if it had not been for that short story, since I have always had a hard time getting into science fiction. The novella was low-risk and free, and within five minutes, he had me hooked.

Should you podcast your novel?

Thomas: Another way to throw a banquet is to podcast your story. Scott Sigler famously did this. After being rejected by nearly every publisher, he started podcasting his book one chapter at a time. People who subscribed got his book for free, and he built a massive following, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners, enough sales to land him on the bestseller list. Publishers who once rejected him have since come calling, but he threw the banquet first.

Jim: Use technology. We are overwhelmed with it, but it opens up so many avenues. You can start a blog, podcast, or if you have a background in theater or speaking and do not mind being on camera, YouTube is an incredibly powerful way to give a banquet to your potential and current readers.

How do you make sure your banquet doesn't look like everyone else's?

Thomas: Ultimately, you need to be creative. If you do what everyone else is doing, readers come to expect it. A sample chapter used to feel like a banquet in the days of paper books, but now every book on Amazon offers one, so it is not special anymore.

Think outside the box. The good news is that you are a novelist, you are already creative. Get a blank piece of paper, brainstorm some ideas, then measure what works and what does not. When your next book comes out, keep what worked and throw out what did not.

If you approach marketing by asking how you can put grain into the field, how you can bless people, how you can throw a banquet for others, the yeses will come when you finally make the big ask.

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