The author behind popular titles like, ‘Funny Story’, ‘Beach Read’ and ‘People We Meet On Vacation’ recently talked about how her romance books continue to maintain popularity all across the United States, despite her not needing to go on book tours and marketing through TikTok like many other recent authors.
Emily Henry on How Authors Can Write Books Without Tours And BookTok, Image Credit – FreePik
Emily Henry, the author behind novels like ‘Funny Story’, has been on a complete roll, churning out five consecutive No. 1 best-sellers without leaving her comfort zone. Emily Henry has never done a book tour for any of these, going for a bookstore reading.
Emily Henry’s Rise As A Writer/Mini-Celebrity
Although she has said that she wants to avoid the label, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Emily Henry’s books are dominating the blockbuster list, especially ‘Funny Story.’ In total, she has sold almost seven million copies of her books in the US since 2020. All three of her novels so far have already been wrapped up in deals to become movie adaptations, including her most recent novel, ‘Happy Place’ which announced its own Netflix series on Tuesday.
What’s fascinating about her outburst of popularity was that it came in the middle of 2020, with the release of ‘Beach Read’, a book meant to be read on the sands and against the soothing light of the sun on your skin. Not the best timing for a release during a global pandemic that kept everyone locked indoors.
Yet still, it worked. Henry was never able to tour or market the book, owing to the lockdown restrictions, but sales simply took off. Part of this was due to the nature of the book; daughters yearning for the outdoors were looking for a book that was focused on positivity and were afraid to touch darker, more sensitive topics.
Marketing Books on TikTok
Besides press tours, Henry also recently talked about her steadfast commitment to Instagram in a recent interview with the New York Times, saying, “When Instagram dies, I die with it.” She had started writing from a time before social media and never really even knew the faces of her favourite authors. This approach largely affects her own take on marketing her books.
What she talked about was the community of her followers promoting her books on social media. Her community makes friendships outside of the books and in doing so helps spread the word to more people. And for what it’s worth, it’s clearly an effective format, as the hardcover version of ‘Funny Story’ sold 850 per cent more copies in its first four weeks than Beach Read, despite costing nearly twice as much, showing that her popularity is bound to just keep soaring.
