“Books aren’t toothpaste. They don’t sell by advertising” said Manu Joseph after I showed him my book. “Books sell by word of mouth. The most you can expect from book marketing is trial – that people will sample your book.”

That may be disappointing for some of us, but it does ring true. How do you buy books? By looking at ads? Or by hearing someone you know and trust recommend one? I’d guess it is mostly the latter.

So we shouldn’t market our books, then?

That’s not what I am saying.  We should definitely market our books, because of the magic word – trial.

Another book marketing whiz – whose blog is a treasure trove of book marketing wisdom (if slightly dated) – is Karan Bajaj. He takes the trial idea further and says that you should send 1000 free copies of your book to people who are important in that sphere. What he is saying is the same thing : generate trial amongst the people who matter.

So please don’t cut corners and publish a book when it’s “good enough”. We know that writing a book is long and arduous, and can be taxing. Often people are just tired of their book projects, and towards the end they just want to “get it done with.”. That’s a mistake.

The first step to a successful book is to write the best book you can write. You can market the hell out of an average book, but it will do nothing except waste money.

If you are wondering about the Cost of publishing a book in India, we have the answers for you.

Marketing an average book will get you a sales chart which looks like this:

But if you walk into a bookstore, you’ll notice that in addition to new books, many old titles continue to take up shelf space. Books like “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “God of Small Things” just don’t seem to stop selling.

If your book is good enough to generate great word of mouth, your sales chart can look like this:

So let’s assume you have this fabulous book in your hands (finally). You now want to market it, and are looking to hire A book marketer in India – someone who can help you generate sales.

The book marketing companies in India are quite varied. In fact, few do book marketing only. Many are general services firms which do book marketing amongst other things.

The below list is not curated: we have spoken to a few agencies / authors but not all. Often, our understanding of what they do is an impression – an external one mostly based on third party information, websites etc.

As you can see, most of these businesses are founder-driven, single–person shows. Even if there are teams, the founder has a lead role in most.

This is a small, specialized field, and vanity publishing has given it a big push. There are few set formulas. You’ll notice that most companies don’t look alike, and often their approach and marketing packages vary a lot. 

You may want to check out our post on Online Book Marketing – The Ultimate Guide for Authors in India

Book Marketing Companies in India (in alphabetical order):

1. Aurelius

Founder Ayush Pant has over a decade of experience in helping organisations scale their business through digital marketing.

Aurelius Media offers Strategy, Creatives & Marketing services for e-Commerce businesses, Authors, Wellness Brands & Influencers. The company is recommended by Bestselling Author Karan Bajaj & Ira Trivedi, Founder of @yoglove.

2. Authors Channel – Aruna Naidu

Based out of Bangalore, Authors Channel is headed by Aruna Naidu who has decades of experience in the publishing industry, including marketing experience with Oxford Bookstores. It is a one-stop destination for Authors as they provide services ranging from publishing to distribution, editing to book cover designing, and marketing. Under their Marketing wing they cover the following services:
– Display Marketing
– Social Media Marketing
– Media Mentions
– Literary Festival Coverage
– Corporate Events

3. Booknerds – Rohan and Neha Raj

Booknerds is a literary startup based out of Dehradun (Uttarakhand) founded by husband-wife duo Rohan and Neha Raj with the vision to connect book lovers and authors in India and beyond. They claim to have conducted over 150 meetups and literary events and hosted more than 300 authors. (Their WhatsApp Business Status).

4. Clueless Literary  Consultants – Sahil Sharma

A young and enterprising man, Sahil started his career as a book marketer seemingly by accident. His name turned up in our conversation with Stuti Changle during one of the weekly zoom sessions we run as part of our charitable initiative, the First Draft Club. Sahil’s core strength seems to be doing Amazon ads very well. His clients  include:

Book Deals

Penguin Random House – 9 books (Stuti Changle, Akshat Gupta, Nidhi Upadhyay, Geetanjali Pandit)

Jaico – 2 books (Indrazith Shantharaj, Sunil Gurjar chartmojo)

Manjul – 1 book (Indrazith)

Srishti – 1 book (Megha Ahuja)

Fingerprint – 2 books of Saranya Umakanthan

Audio Deals

Audible Original – 1 (Stuti Changle)

Kuku FM – 5 books (indrazith)

Sahil hopes to make Clueless into a full fledged literary agency soon.

Clueless doesn’t have a website yet, but Sahil’s personal Facebook page is a proxy. You can visit it here. Sahil can also be reached on message.sahil@gmail.com .

If you want to go the self-publishing route, check out our post on 48 Self Publishing Companies in India. And how to choose the right one.

5. Creative Circle – Chitra Padmana and Niladri Mitra

This agency seems to dabble in many things writing including:

·        Editing

·        Marketing

·        Cover and Trailer Design

·        Web Development

·        Audiobooks

·        Merchandising

·        Graphic Designing

·        Illustrations

Lee Nolan, a Canadian born Brit who lives in Mumbai has used their services for his recent book “A Crate of Rags and Bones”. He says “They are based somewhere near Kolkata. I’ve had no personal meetings yet, but many hours of zoom meetings.” He adds “I am pretty happy. It’s been very pleasant working with them.” 

Website: https://thecreativecircleofficial.com/ 

6. Half Baked Beans / better Books – Chetan Soni

Half Baked Beans (HBB) started out as a book publishing company and  has evolved over time. It now has a division that also does book marketing called “Better Books” (BB).

They offer services in many areas of book marketing including:

Influencer Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Bookstagrammer Associations

Video marketing

Beta reading and reviews

Email marketing

7. Hub Hawks – Kevin Missal

Kevin is a successful author with a series of books under his belt. Over the past two years he has forayed into the space of marketing and Literary services with his company Hubhawks. It aspires to offer a variety of services and also becoming a literary agency. They seem to have already done some work is Book Marketing. Their website mentions many different things, of which book marketing related services include  

• Social Media Advertising
• Amazon Marketing Services
• Public Relations

The client list they shared included authors Saba Karim Khan, Mainak Dhar, Krishna Udayasankar, Dinesh Veera, Rajat Pillai and Rakesh K Kaul.

Website: www.hubhawks.com

8. Bookbots India – Namrata

Bookbots India, a book marketing vertical of Keemiya Creatives, offers end-to-end online and offline book marketing services across South Asia. Its core strengths lie in digital marketing and author branding, supported by fully customized marketing plans tailored to each author’s budget, genre and goals.

What sets Bookbots India apart is its author first approach while combining strategy, transparency and education to help writers build visibility and long term careers, not just short term buzz.

You can write to them at writetous@bookbot.in to know more. Website – https://bookbot.in/

9. Marketmybook – Lipika Bhushan

Lipika Bhushan has built a good reputation over the years. The company has an impressive website and a list of author-clients which seems very convincing. The services they mention include:

Display Advertising

Content Management

Social Media Marketing

Video Marketing

Reputation Management

PR & Publicity

If you are curious about Book Editing Charges in India, we’ve got you covered & we also have a list of 56 Book Editors in India- Fiction & Non-fiction

10. Siyahi – Mita Kapur

Based in jaipur, Siyahi is a well respected Literary agency. In 2022 they announced a separate vertical of book marketing services. They are reputed to work closely with their authors and coach them on how to market their work.

Siyahi’s Digital Marketing vertical is called The Extra Edge. Their write-up goes:

“We know how demanding the process of writing a book can be – the hours you spend writing, rewriting and refining your work. We also understand that marketing a book is tough, what with the ever diminishing shelf space and stiff competition. The Extra Edge vertical aims to help authors in marketing their books and reaching out to more people through carefully crafted and meticulously implemented plans. It is your one-stop shop for digital marketing, branding and positioning. We’ve been industry leaders and trendsetters for over 15 years, and we’re now hoping to bring all this experience and expertise to help you.

We tailor-make plans to suit your books, and to help them reach the world. We have the expertise to work across all major digital platforms to create different kinds of media and content. Our approach to marketing isn’t just trends and gimmicks, but about creating socio-culturally sensitive and time appropriate communication, driven by audience research, and industry standards. We believe that every book and every author’s vision for their book is different and we’re happy to make a plan that works for you.”

11. The Bound India – Tara Khandelwal

Mainly an editorial services company, Bound was also once running courses and retreats. In fact they are mentioned in our blog on creative writing courses in India. They recently seem to have shifted focus to become a content creator. 

They also offer book marketing services. Information is limited. Details at:  https://www.boundindia.com/services/.

12. Writersmelon – Priyanka Purkayastha

Writers Melon started life as a place where one could get bloggers to write good reviews. It has now grown, and they have a book review program which resembles www.Booksirens.com from the US. 

They also do other things, and their services include: 

• Book Reviews
• Content Creation
• Social Media Campaigns

13. WindWord

Founder Rachna Kalra is communication and marketing professional with over 25 years of experience most of which have been in publishing.

We have a writing tip for you here – Using analogies: Metaphor and Similes in Indian writing

Some of the authors that has worked with as an independent consultant include Dinesh S. Thakur, Vinay Sitapati, Rujuta Diwekar, Tripurdaman Singh, Ajai Chowdhry, Anuradha Roy, Shobhaa Dé, Shaili Chopra, Anirudh Suri, Vivaan Shah, Bhairavi Jani, Sundeep Waslekar, Mridula Ramesh, Isher Judge Ahluwalia. 

Services that she offers include Strategy & Counsel, Press & Promotions, Event Management, Content Management, Social Media Marketing + more 

14. The Sunflower Seeds

The Sunflower Seeds is a brand and literary consulting company led by Preeti Chaturvedi, the Chief Executive Officer. She has mastered the art of brand integration in literature and conceptualizing digital content campaigns which have garnered immense reach of more than 100 million.

She has over 15 years of experience in brand and content related campaigns and has worked with leading traditional publishing houses such as Oxford University Press and Penguin Random House. She is a master at designing corporate and product marketing strategies. Another feather on her hat are her published books, Corporate Blogging in India (2009) and Brave New Bollywood with Sage publications.

To know more about their marketing services – https://www.thesunflowerseeds.com/#we%20leveerage

This list of professional book marketers should help you push your book. If you know of other professionals who do such work, please share their information in this form. 

We’re working on a series of other book marketing service providers for our future blog posts. These include:

1.  Bookstagrammers

2.  Book bloggers

3.  Booktubers

4.  Book PR agencies

The above blogs will be published shortly. If you know people who do any of these, please fill out this form.

If you have any personal experience with any of the book marketing companies from India listed above, please do add it in the comments below. Happy Marketing!!