How You Can Successfully Market a Debut Novel - BM531

Ever wonder how a debut novel can open doors far beyond book sales?

This week’s guest is Kailey Holbrook, award-winning filmmaker, author, and film student at USC. Kailey published her first 500+ page novel while still in high school. Since then, she's built an engaged online following, navigated the worlds of publishing and filmmaking, and learned firsthand what it takes to connect with readers in a crowded marketplace.

In this conversation, Kailey shares how she found her audience, built a creative community, and leveraged storytelling skills across multiple platforms. Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, you'll discover practical lessons on visibility, audience growth, and creating opportunities that extend well beyond your book.

Key Takeaways

Why a Book Can Become Your Biggest Differentiator
Discover how publishing a book can create unexpected opportunities, boost credibility, and help you stand out in ways most people never consider.

The Audience Mistake Many Authors Make
Learn why trying to reach everyone often leads to reaching no one, and how identifying the right readers can transform your marketing results.

What Social Platforms Are Really Telling You
Find out how Kailey uses TikTok, Instagram, and Goodreads to learn what readers care about and build genuine engagement without feeling promotional.

The Hidden Power of Creative Community
Explore how surrounding yourself with fellow creators can spark new ideas, fuel motivation, and help your work reach a wider audience.

What It Takes to Turn a Book into a Screenplay
Get an inside look at the biggest differences between writing a novel and writing for the screen, plus the skills every aspiring screenwriter should develop.

Why Successful Authors Stay Flexible
Learn how adapting your writing, marketing, and creative process can help you stay relevant as your audience and goals evolve.

Tune in now!

Here's how to connect with Kailey:
Tik Tok: @kaileyholbrookauthor
Youtube: @KaileyHolbrookAuthor
Instagram: @kaileyholbrook
LinkedIn: Kailey Holbrook

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Transcript

Susan Friedmann [00:00:00 - 00:01:04]

Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas and tips from the Masters. Every week I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Today, my special guest is proving that age doesn't define expertise and that storytelling can take many forms. Kailey Holbrook is an award winning filmmaker and author currently studying film and television production at the University of Southern California. She's produced 20 short films, earned 13 awards across national film festivals, and written her debut novel, Return of the Keepers. She's a college sophomore and is already building a body of work for most creators spend decades chasing. Kailey, it is such a pleasure to welcome you to the show and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.

Kailey Holbrook [00:01:05 - 00:01:06]

Thank you so much for having me.

Susan Friedmann [00:01:07 - 00:01:37]

Kailey, you and I met about two years ago when you asked if Aviva Publishing would publish your debut novel, which you wanted to submit with your college application. And even though we don't normally publish fiction, I was so impressed with your project, especially as the novel was over 500 pages. That just blew my mind. How did publishing your novel affect your college applications?

Kailey Holbrook [00:01:38 - 00:02:31]

I think it defined my college applications. I was applying to the film and television production program at eight different universities. I think six of them were the top six film universities in total. So I had to become the best storyteller I could on paper. And at the time I was working on my manuscript that I had fallen in love with, but I didn't really know if I had the potential to really take it forward. And for the college applications, I decided if I could call myself an author and if I could present this piece of work as my ultimate current storytelling project, it would just redefine everything about me so I could give myself not only the title of author, but the title of the storyteller who's committed to her work. So I could go in with that just immediate punchline. It really is.

Kailey Holbrook [00:02:31 - 00:03:01]

I mean, calling yourself an author at a young age is definitely a lot, but for college applications it was, I think, the best thing I could have done. I also think it's the reason I got into a lot of the universities I applied to. USC is one of the top film universities of all time. I consider it the best university, but that's a little biased on my end. But I almost want to say I think if I didn't publish the novel or didn't lead with it as much, I don't know where I would be standing today.

Susan Friedmann [00:03:01 - 00:03:25]

And I feel so proud of you. I Sort of feel like the mother hen. I know you've already got one, but you know you've got one on the other side of the world here. So I love that. Yes, it got you in where you wanted and I'm sure it sort of impressed the heck out of the committees who interviewed you. Did anybody actually read it? Just as a matter of interest, I

Kailey Holbrook [00:03:25 - 00:03:44]

have some wonderfully supportive teachers at usc. My film teacher just bought my novel. Actually, we're meeting up for me to sign it later. But honestly, I think the most that's come from the book as well. Cause it's very long to ask someone to read it. Or even people who buy it are like, wow. And it's a very long novel. And I do understand that.

Kailey Holbrook [00:03:44 - 00:04:06]

But having people who can see how much work it took to get there and be supportive and buying it and congratulating me. And that's really where the support comes from. The readers are the people who come for the story. But I think people who come and try to support me are more there for to acknowledge the effort that it took to put that book where it is today.

Susan Friedmann [00:04:07 - 00:04:11]

It certainly took a lot of effort. In fact, how long did it take you to write?

Kailey Holbrook [00:04:12 - 00:04:38]

Took me two years to write. I started writing when I was in sophomore year of high school, which is, wow, that must be four years ago now. I started writing it during my summer break. I was a pretty hyperactive kid. And over summer I just had all these writing projects and I had this one story in mind, which was the novel. And. And I just decided to start writing. And I said, I'm just going to go as far as I can.

Kailey Holbrook [00:04:38 - 00:05:10]

I have an outline, I have characters and a plot and everything I need to start, so I'll just do it. And I had hours and hours of the day. And sophomore year of high school isn't very too intimidating of a task. So I was like, okay, I'll just keep going. And then I got to the end and I finished the final chapter. And it was only when I wrote the last word I realized I just finished my first manuscript in its entirety. It took me, I think, two months to do that. I was incredibly fast.

Kailey Holbrook [00:05:10 - 00:05:42]

And then it took me about a year to fix everything because I was a little too fast with everything I was writing. Going back and editing and refining and re looking at characters. And the thing about being a young author as well is you sort of grow with your project. And so in two years, I changed personally a lot. My style of writing changed, my identity changed because of that. Every time I was editing the book. It was almost adding layers of everything I was learning from life. The characters felt a little bit more mature by the end.

Kailey Holbrook [00:05:42 - 00:05:56]

The plot had more enrichedness to it because I was exploring more and learning more about English and writing. Over the two years, it really got refined to the point. And then with Aviva and with your help, I was able to get it published.

Susan Friedmann [00:05:57 - 00:06:29]

Great. Just makes my heart go, oh. One of the things that you did and you continue to do is create content around your publishing journey and to the point that you publish on social media regularly, you've built a following, and you've become an influencer in your environment. What motivated you to start creating this content around your publishing journey?

Kailey Holbrook [00:06:29 - 00:07:23]

Well, I knew as soon as signing up with Aviva as well, the biggest challenge I had to overcome was marketing. And I sort of stepped back and I started thinking. The first thought I had was, okay, who is my audience? And I realized that my novel had always been written with the intention of being for young adults or people my age, maybe a little younger, around high school and college years. And, you know, although anyone can really read it, I knew that was the target market I wanted to hit. And I thought about where I could find people like that, because it's tricky. Marketing can take so many different forms, especially for books. The other day I saw a television commercial that was just about a new novel that came out and which I had actually never seen before, but there's so many innovative ways. But I knew my audience would be located on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube shorts and Reels.

Kailey Holbrook [00:07:24 - 00:08:11]

And I figured that I might as well start there. And if there's a way to build a following around me and my work, I could help find people and get my book on their to be read list. I was able, through this sort of, like, marketing process online to get a lot of people off of Goodreads as well. It's also my generation is very Goodreads focused. And I believe I have 160 people on Goodreads on a wish list of that's the book they want to read and many more on TikTok and YouTube. And I was really looking for people to fall in love with the story starting there, because that's exactly what I do. If I'm looking for a new book to read. I will start with people's opinions, with supporting authors.

Kailey Holbrook [00:08:12 - 00:08:59]

And my generation is also the very ethically driven, emotionally relevant generation. So we always start with, okay, is this author good? Is this a good story? Am I supporting the right person? And I also wanted to put my face out there and say, yes, you are. I'm here to tell diverse, emotionally relevant stories. And I wanted to put my face out there as well, because I knew as a young author there's many more stories to come. So there were many purposes around marketing there. And I think it's one of the main reasons I was able to get so much publicity around my novel as well and just share the journey that came with it for future projects. Now officially, I think it's about, yeah, two years now since the publication. I've really started focusing more on future projects as well.

Kailey Holbrook [00:08:59 - 00:09:06]

Still advertising my novel, still advertising myself, but focusing on what I can build now to support myself later as well.

Susan Friedmann [00:09:07 - 00:09:45]

So many lessons here. I mean, you know, things that I'm talking to my authors about all the time. First of all, where is your target market, who they are, where to find them? I mean, that's critical and that you're continuing the journey. Often authors think, oh, well, marketing. If I can only do it for a few weeks or months, then I can stop and then everything else will continue. But that's not the case, as you know. You've just got to keep marketing. Now, how has your community, the one that you've built, you've got thousands of followers.

Susan Friedmann [00:09:45 - 00:09:50]

How's that changed? Let's say how you write or even what you write about?

Kailey Holbrook [00:09:51 - 00:10:32]

My community is, I want to say, amazing. They're truly just incredible people. I get so many comments of people sharing their own stories, asking questions, really engaging, not only with me, but with one another. I'll post a video and if it goes viral, A lot of the comments are about people's personal experiences. And I always love that there's a place for people to come and just share their own stories. Because I may be a published author, but that doesn't mean that my stories are any less or any more deserving of publicity than other people. So being able to have this community of people sharing in each other's work, all loving stories, it's just. It's always incredible.

Kailey Holbrook [00:10:32 - 00:11:22]

And I almost feel more inspired than anything else to just keep writing and keep working. My favorite comment I can get online is always people saying that they're inspired by my ability as a young author to be published and to write and to put myself out there. And I just think it's incredible to have so much support around it. I think my writing's definitely improved in effectiveness because I feel like I'm writing more, I'm trying to share more of my work. I Think there's a bit of a bug you get when you publish once, you want to publish again and again and again, and you just. You know that you can do it. So you just want to do it as often as possible and try and just share as much as you can. And I think from the success of this book, maybe not always in numbers, but just in this community, I've just always wanted to share more.

Susan Friedmann [00:11:22 - 00:11:31]

Beautiful. You're not only an author, but you're also a filmmaker. Where do the two art forms intersect for you?

Kailey Holbrook [00:11:31 - 00:12:26]

That's actually a great question because over the semester I recently wrote a script called Poppies Grow in Gun Wounds. And this was originally a short story I wrote. I tend to think of my scripts first in prose, and then I translate it into screenplays. And I find that really helps flesh out symbolism and all my metaphors and really carry it into visual form and really take it through each of the stages. And this specific script actually got picked for one of the senior thesis projects, and I was able to pitch it and work with these incredible filmmakers. It sadly wasn't chosen for the final few, but it got that far. And I really think one of the main reasons it was taken so well and really admired by professors and students was because I began in prose. And I don't know if this would work with everyone, but that's just really how my mind works.

Kailey Holbrook [00:12:26 - 00:12:52]

And I have really found, as a storyteller, that intersecting is where my best work can be found. And I often find myself writing a short story and staying in that writer mindset and then taking that a few weeks later and moving into film and then moving into producer mode and trying to get it made. And I think that's what been probably my best work so far is just working in that strange, intersecting format.

Susan Friedmann [00:12:53 - 00:13:01]

Now, your love of storytelling, where did that come from? When did you know that this is something that you wanted to do?

Kailey Holbrook [00:13:02 - 00:13:35]

I don't think there was a time in my life I can remember where I did not want to be an author. I remember, strangely enough, one of my core memories in life is the first time I was able to spell a word properly. I was actually in the sort of special classes. I really could not write for the life of me. I was very behind. I couldn't read as well. And there was one day I got it, and I remember that feeling of like, oh, my goodness, I can do anything with these words, absolutely anything. I can make any story.

Kailey Holbrook [00:13:36 - 00:14:05]

I can take myself to any world. And that feeling was in. And I was reading these books and realizing I could do this too. And of course, it was Dr. Seuss at the time, but I really just fell in love with the idea of making these worlds. And ever since then, I've just had collections upon collections of notebooks. I remember a lot of the time my family moved a lot growing up. And there was one time we were moving.

Kailey Holbrook [00:14:05 - 00:14:30]

I just documented every single thing we did. I think I was maybe eight at the time. I pretended I was a runaway princess. I documented it all that way and just everything I did had to be a story. And then eventually I really fell in love with visuals. And that really took me into the film world. But I've never really stopped loving writing and stopped loving the idea of being an author. So it really just.

Kailey Holbrook [00:14:30 - 00:14:32]

It's always been a part of my life.

Susan Friedmann [00:14:32 - 00:14:41]

Well, this is all mesmerizing. It really is. I just love that. I love the idea of being this, you know, runaway princess. That's beautiful.

Kailey Holbrook [00:14:41 - 00:14:44]

I need to dig up those notebooks. Yes.

Susan Friedmann [00:14:45 - 00:15:12]

One thing that comes up very often with my authors, and that is they have this book, but they think that it's film worthy and they want to either write a screenplay or have somebody help them with that. Talk to us a bit about that process of taking a novel or some aspect, even a documentary, let's say. How would they even go about this?

Kailey Holbrook [00:15:13 - 00:15:48]

I think translating from prose to film or nonfiction to film, it is definitely a daunting task because the two different forms mean that you're saying two different forms of context. And for me, a lot of times I'm translating short stories. So my short stories have to take two completely different formats. Every time I translate it over, though, the story in prose may be a little bit more neutral. It may have less conflict in film. I know it has to have a strong hook at the beginning. It has to have this visual symbolism. It can't have as much emotional inner thoughts.

Kailey Holbrook [00:15:48 - 00:16:24]

And I think nonfiction in a similar way as well. Getting context out there in film. I always love documentaries that are a little bit more emotionally or personally driven. So using more of that symbolism in visual form and letting people sort of. Or your talking heads really rule what is said and what is spoken to the audience through the film. I would love to say more. I think I'm still learning and I think a lot of people are. But I do know that this translation from literature to film is one of the big trends of modern cinema these days.

Kailey Holbrook [00:16:24 - 00:17:07]

I think you'll find a lot in film right now are classic novels. They're biographies, They're Just stories that were written and so well beloved or so well made that they had to be turned into film. And I think there's a lot of people who say that not every piece of literature should be a film. I almost want to disagree. I know some works are a little bit, maybe too complex or could never be as beautifully translated to film, but I think it is one of the best media forms to translate to because it's so well appreciated. Putting anything into film is just so immediately taken well by the audience. Anyone can sit down and watch a film. It's much harder to get people to sit and read literature.

Kailey Holbrook [00:17:07 - 00:17:45]

So if you have a story or a message that needs to be told, I find that film is such a immediately and universally relevant tool to be used. I think as well. This semester I started working on documentaries and works of nonfiction research and articles and translating that into PSAs and strong messages for public. And I found that the words of nonfiction were sometimes harder for people to grasp and harder for people to take as it was in film. And I really do love when that translation can happen.

Susan Friedmann [00:17:46 - 00:18:35]

Well, what you just said accounts for why at the moment there's like Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, they're redoing all of these both for the screen and for television. I was like, wow, they're looking at these, what, 18, 19th century classics that. Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, I mean, there's a big Jane Austen movement out there and. Yes. So what you just said is really fascinating that there is a trend going on reviving those classics, which is a little concerning, that there aren't today's classics that are being filmed, that they're looking at previous ones. But hey, what are they going to be doing afterwards?

Kailey Holbrook [00:18:36 - 00:19:07]

No, exactly. I mean, we have Project Hail Mary just swept the box offices recently. So I think there is some good stuff in that too. I think for film in general, it's very much producers want a success in the box office and people surround literature so well and books. And I think readers are some of the strongest opinionated people and have the most emotional connection to their work. So seeing it and having the work be brought into film is always going to be a guaranteed seller.

Susan Friedmann [00:19:07 - 00:19:27]

Well, I hope so, because obviously there's talk that the movie theaters are having issues. They're not producing the films or enough of the good ones that are drawing people in. People prefer to stay at home and watch streaming. What are some of the trends? What do you see coming down the pike with this?

Kailey Holbrook [00:19:28 - 00:20:13]

I think it's so hard to see a lot of the trends. Because you never know when a story is just going to be so incredible that it just takes everyone out from whatever genre they thought were the leading ballots. I mean, we just had. I know this was last year, but Sinners was such a big wake up call for original screenplay. So while the translation of literature into films is a trend, you still have original stories being written, screenplay form that just immediately are just so masterfully made that they are just become a global hit. Sinners is a great example of that. But you also see films, I believe One Battle After Another was also based on a novel. Frankenstein was as well.

Kailey Holbrook [00:20:13 - 00:20:31]

There's less original works, but just everything that's happening right now in cinema, it's really just what is the best story that's told, what are the best messages being made. And then in the end, it's just the trends that follow that immediate big bang of this catalyst of an original piece.

Susan Friedmann [00:20:32 - 00:20:39]

If an author wanted to turn their book into a screenplay, what advice would you give them?

Kailey Holbrook [00:20:40 - 00:21:20]

I would actually start by saying the first thing you can do is definitely understand the format you're changing it into. So start by reading some of the amazing screenwriting books out there. I really have enjoyed reading Anatomy of Story, I think it's called. I forgot the Author. It's such a brilliant screenwriting 101. It takes you through story arcs and everything and why a lot of them don't read well in cinema. It's very interesting and you can really intersect between writing nonfiction or fiction and writing a screenplay. But I think number one would just be understanding the research of this and understanding the form.

Kailey Holbrook [00:21:21 - 00:21:48]

Definitely practicing with other works before if they're first time screenwriters, just seeing what their voice will be and what their best techniques would be. Because if they have this story they want to tell, it's going to be written with such emotional intensity. The only thing that can hold you back is misunderstanding the form. I would start there and then translating to screenplay. Of course. You have to be patient with yourself. Writing a screenplay is incredibly difficult. It takes a.

Kailey Holbrook [00:21:48 - 00:22:17]

A long time to understand. And even when you feel you have it done, film is always so challenging with going into the 20, 30 or hundreds of roles that are making a film. You know, everyone has a say and everyone has a voice and a thought and that screenplay will be changed and turned and all for the better. Of course everyone comes in with their incredibly masterfully learned roles, but it always is changing. So you just have to be patient with the process as well.

Susan Friedmann [00:22:17 - 00:22:24]

Would you recommend that an author write their own Screenplay or find a professional to do it for them.

Kailey Holbrook [00:22:25 - 00:22:50]

I'm actually not quite sure. I think while an author of their story will have the most emotional connection to the work, a screenwriter may always be able to capture that in their work. And working together 101 may help with that as well. I'd say having a screenwriter with a lot of good talent and a lot of good understanding of the work will definitely help assist with translating it into a film.

Susan Friedmann [00:22:51 - 00:22:54]

Yeah. Because it is a very different art form, isn't it?

Kailey Holbrook [00:22:55 - 00:22:56]

Very much. Very much.

Susan Friedmann [00:22:57 - 00:22:58]

Where do you see your career going?

Kailey Holbrook [00:22:59 - 00:23:24]

I definitely see it in the future of film. I find that I'm a bit of a amnivert, so a lot of my work alone I will definitely reserve for writing and a lot of my more extroverted. My major is film and a lot of my social life is definitely wrapped around film. So I'll definitely pursue a career. Career in filmmaking and on my own time. And on my own sort of. I call it my minor. That's not really official, but my.

Kailey Holbrook [00:23:24 - 00:23:45]

My major and my minor. And then continuing with writing, hopefully more novels. I've definitely got ideas and I've definitely got more stories to tell and I try to write as many short stories as possible. Always practicing and learning and I really have seen myself develop and especially in film as well. So there's always just more growth to happen. So just fun stuff to come.

Susan Friedmann [00:23:46 - 00:24:04]

Beautiful Kailey. As you know, I always ask guests to share how our listeners can contact you if they'd like to learn more. I mean, you are so fascinating and such a role model for so many people. How can they do that?

Kailey Holbrook [00:24:05 - 00:24:28]

They can contact me by going on any of my social media platforms. All of them should have the ability to contact me. I think probably the best way would be through Instagram or TikTok and just DMing me. I'm always available by just googling my name. You should be able to find my contact information or my social platforms. Just reaching out and sharing whatever you need, I'm always here to listen.

Susan Friedmann [00:24:28 - 00:24:51]

Fabulous. And I've got your social contacts and definitely I'll put those in the show notes for you so it'll make it easier for people. And they've got all the information they need. And as you know too, I always like to have our guests leave our listeners with a golden nugget. Their words of wisdom. What are yours?

Kailey Holbrook [00:24:51 - 00:25:51]

I think my word of wisdom at the end of this would just be, I'm a young author, my process in writing has changed a lot. But if there's one thing I've learned from trying to learn as much as possible about writing and trying to practice as much as possible, it's that the writing process, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, is so incredibly personal and so incredibly flexible. As you change and as you grow, your writing process will change and your storytelling will grow. And I really found that a lot of my development hasn't really matched other writers. And I've found that techniques I've been told will revolutionize my work haven't in the same way that others have. And so it's always good to just lead with yourself and always remember that your writing process is not finite. It's always going to change with you, and it's always going to change with everything you learn. So be open, be flexible, and know that change is good and it'll assist your writing.

Susan Friedmann [00:25:51 - 00:26:21]

Oh, I love that. I think that flexibility. I mean, look how we've had to change over the last five, six years. And the people who've been most flexible, most nimble are the ones who continue to succeed. But sometimes it's hard for people to change. So those words are gold dust. Thank you. And thank you for sharing all this brilliance and your wisdom.

Susan Friedmann [00:26:21 - 00:27:06]

And it just blows me away. It really does. And as I said, it just warms my heart just listening to you and knowing that you I've just been a tiny seed in your whole plant and it's still growing and it's got a long way to go. I know. Thank you for sharing all of that. 

And listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you wanted or expected to, let's jump on a quick call together to brainstorm ways to ramp up those sales. Because you've invested a whole lot of time, money and energy, and it's time you got the return you were hoping for. So go to bookmarketingbrainstorm.com to schedule your free call.

And in the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. Until next week here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.

Here's how to connect with Kailey:
Tik Tok: @kaileyholbrookauthor
Youtube: @KaileyHolbrookAuthor
Instagram: @kaileyholbrook
LinkedIn: Kailey Holbrook