Ep 186: Marketing vs. Publicity: What's the Difference for Authors? (with Cassie Miller)

Cassie Miller is back!

She joined me last spring for her debut, Meet Me Under the Lights, and now she's here with book two, Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane, out October 6, 2026 from Penguin Teen. I somehow have three copies of it, including the finished edition with glitter on the cover. Cassie has not seen the glitter yet. I felt bad about this for almost a full minute.

This time I wanted to talk marketing, because the same two misconceptions keep coming up in my conversations. One is that traditional publishers do absolutely flat-out nothing to market your book. The other is that marketing, publicity, and sales are the same thing. While every author's experience is different, Cassie was kind enough to walk me through what her experience has looked like from the inside.

What's the Difference Between Marketing and Publicity?

Ask ten people this question, and you'll get ten definitions. Marketing, to Cassie, is what happens behind the scenes: how the book is packaged, whether it's grouped with similar titles, whether it goes out with swag, whether it's pitched to holiday magazines.

Publicity, on the other hand, is how she presents her work, through interviews, events, and being on camera with the book.

TL;DR: Publicity has a face and marketing mostly doesn't.

The definition I hear most often is that marketing is about selling the book and publicity is about generating awareness, but plenty of people flip those. In the indie world, where many of my listeners are, the labels matter less than figuring out how to get your book in front of readers. D

Do Traditional Publishers Market Your Book?

Sometimes, somewhat, which is a more nuanced answer than what you'll see online. Publishers have a financial stake in books selling, so saying they do nothing isn't particularly reasonable. The top one percent of titles almost certainly get more attention and budget, and what everyone else gets varies...a lot.

On the back of Cassie's ARC there's a box labeled "Marketing campaign." It includes major influencer outreach to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube creators, plus a custom digital asset pack for online promotion. That's the actual plan, with real people behind it. It's also not a guarantee of sales.

Here's where I land after twenty years: publishers don't sell books, authors do. A publisher can get your book to a big TikTok creator, but whether that turns into sales depends on whether their audience reads your genre and whether you're showing up consistently. If a creator's followers want dark thrillers at midnight, a sweet holiday romance probably won't move them to purchase, no matter how big the audience is.

What Changed Between Book One and Book Two

With Meet Me Under the Lights, Cassie saw her book in a summer reads box alongside other titles. She hasn't seen anything like that (yet) for Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane, possibly because the timeline was tighter.

On the other hand, she's had more chances to put her own face in front of the camera this time around. She also sees the bigger productions other Penguin Teen releases get, like an escape room promotion (yes, for real). She reminds herself those authors are more established and often write in genres with bigger promotional hooks, and she's happy with the publicity that fits the small town sweet romances she writes.

At a writers' retreat this summer, she complimented another traditionally published author on her consistent (and beautiful) social media presence. The author told her she'd hired her own publicist, separate from the one her publisher provided. That's not in Cassie's budget, and it isn't in most authors' budgets. Deciding where to spend your limited time and energy is part of the job.

How a Fall Book Became a Christmas Book

Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane started as a fall story about a farmer's market. During contract negotiations, Cassie's editor came out of a marketing meeting and asked whether she'd be willing to move it to Christmas, because the sales team was projecting a rise in demand for Christmas books. Cassie loves Christmas, so she said yes on the spot.

To catch that wave, the book had to release in October, and her first worry was being a needle in a haystack. Then she looked at the list and realized she was the only Christmas romance Penguin Teen was releasing this season.

Lesson: If you're weighing a holiday release, it helps to look at the competition inside your own publisher or niche, along with the market as a whole.

Ask Your Publicist Questions (and Thank Them!)

Cassie's publicist, Sierra, keeps her well informed about who she's pitching, who has requested copies, and which features she's going after. Cassie noticed that a lot of people her age are afraid to ask their publishing team questions because they don't want to be a bother. She doesn't share that fear.

She's confident that the team is working on her book because they're excited about it. She also thanks them in nearly every email. I see why that matters from the other side, since I receive a lot of books from publicists, and a personal note stands out every time.

People in traditional publishing are often overworked and mostly invisible to readers, and genuine gratitude goes a long way. When an extra box of ARCs showed up, Cassie asked Sierra whether Penguin was already sending copies to the bookstagrammers who had championed her first book. If not, she wanted to send them herself with a personal note. It's a small move that builds the kind of relationships a series depends on.

Why Authors Need to Be Willing to Be Silly

Cassie calls herself an introvert who can extrovert, with recovery time required (oh how I can relate!) Her approach to promotion is still delightfully unhinged.

When her ARCs arrived, she dug Christmas lights out of storage in the middle of summer, wrapped them around the box, and had her youngest son film her fingers dancing to the Sugar Plum Fairy. He shook his head the entire time.

With book one, she was more reserved. She brought an early copy to a game at the ballpark that inspired the story, and her friends made her stand and pose while strangers wondered who she was. Seven innings in, an older woman sitting behind them asked about the book and took a photo to show her two granddaughters.

Cassie's point: silliness works, especially if you write for kids and teens. Young readers are often insecure, and seeing a grown woman cut loose tells them she's someone they'd want to hang out with.

Why Romance Keeps Selling

The back cover of Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane promises the warmth and charm of your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie. There was a time I'd have rolled my eyes. These days I'm about to get a Hallmark subscription!

Cassie's take is, readers come to romance for joy and the happily ever after. You know how it ends, and the changing towns and names and outfits are part of the comfort, the same reason we rewatch the holiday movies we grew up with.

Her chapters open with holiday movie quotes, and she did zero research for them because she's seen those movies so many times the lines live in her head. (Yes, we debated the appeal of "It's a Wonderful Life". I stand by my position and will not be taking questions.

ABOUT CASSIE MILLER

Website: cassiemillerauthor.com

Instagram: @cassiemillerwrites