You found the perfect book influencer. Their audience is exactly right. You sent what you thought was a great pitch…and then? Nothing.
Before you assume influencers hate pitches—or that your book just isn’t interesting enough—there’s something you need to know: your pitch probably had about five seconds to make the cut.
Influencer inboxes have become absolute war zones, packed with review requests, generic PR emails, mass pitches, and books that have nothing to do with their audience. And after seeing some surprisingly bad outreach—including pitches sent by professional publicists—we knew it was time to talk about what actually gets an influencer’s attention.
In this episode, Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell break down the book pitching mistakes that can kill your chances before an influencer ever gets to the second paragraph. We’re talking mismatched genres, copy-and-paste emails, BCC blasts, unrealistic deadlines, complicated asks, unsolicited books, and pitches that make it painfully obvious the sender has no idea who they’re contacting.
But this isn’t just a list of what not to do.
We’ll show you what makes a strong influencer pitch stand out: targeting fewer people more strategically, demonstrating that you actually know their content and audience, making your ask ridiculously easy to understand, tracking your outreach, following up professionally, and building familiarity before you need something.
We’re also tackling one of the fastest ways to destroy trust: trying to control reviews, dictate what someone says, or expect five stars because you sent a free book. Influencer marketing works because readers trust these creators. The minute your outreach threatens that trust, you’ve lost the very thing you were hoping to tap into.
If you’re tired of sending book pitches into a black hole, this episode will help you rethink your approach—and build an influencer outreach strategy you can use for this launch, your backlist, and every book that comes next.
Plus, grab our pre-pitch checklist in the show notes before you send another email.
Listen now, subscribe, and share this episode with an author who’s wondering why nobody is answering their pitches.
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