How AI is revolutionizing book publicity — and it’s not how you think

Book publicist Cathy Lewis discusses an important way AI is revolutionizing book publicity and promotion right now.

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Just when you think you’ve figured out how to get book publicity, the ground shifts — again.

Readers, producers, editors, and conference programmers increasingly begin their searches inside AI tools rather than search engines, and what those tools find depends on what exists about an author across the open web.

We asked Cathy Lewis, principal of C.S. Lewis & Co. Publicity, how that changes the work of a book publicity campaign — and what authors should be building now.

Meet book publicist Cathy Lewis

I first became aware of veteran book publicist Cathy Lewis close to two decades ago, when she began pitching sources for my freelance article assignments.  

Cathy’s emails stood out because she pitched the way I did when I was an award-winning publicist. That’s just one reason I asked her to write a guest post for us on how to pitch the press. Her advice in “Promoting your book: 8 ways to pitch media outlets” is evergreen. We might have more tools available now to help with the process, but the basics outlined in Cathy’s article haven’t changed.

That’s why I frequently refer authors to Cathy and her agency. She founded it in 1994 after seven years of in-house publishing experience.

AI’s impact on book publicity and promotion

Cathy’s thoughts in the following Q&A reflect how her job has changed since that first Build Book Buzz guest post.

We have far more book promotion opportunities, but the basics — priorities and clear messaging — remain the same, even while AI is revolutionizing book publicity and promotion.

You often say a book publicity campaign isn’t really about the book. What do you mean by that?

The book is the occasion. It’s the reason an editor takes the call and a producer has something concrete to point to. 

The asset an author walks away with is a brand and a position—a clear sense in the market of what they know and who they speak for.

A book has a publication season. A reputation doesn’t. When we design a campaign, we’re asking what an author wants to be known for three years from now, not just what will move copies in week one.

Those two goals overlap most of the time, but when they diverge, we tend to argue for the longer horizon.

Exhibits A and B

When we promoted Dr. Daniel Amen’s book Change Your Brain Every Day, the ultimate goal was boosting his overall brand. As the founder and CEO of Amen Clinics, he had already appeared across health-related podcasts, magazines, newspapers, and television programs. The book simply acted as the latest platform to scale that existing ecosystem. 

We are currently promoting a book by Dustin Dunbar called Make America Whole Again: A Blueprint for Leading the AI Age, Empowering Global Security, and Reuniting the Nation. The book is a device to build his political brand and boost his run for president as an independent candidate.

How have AI platforms changed that calculation?

They’ve raised the stakes on visibility.

When someone asks an AI assistant who the credible voices are on a subject, they get a short list — not 10 blue links. Being on that short list is a function of whether an author has left a substantial, consistent trail of material across sources these systems draw from.

Authors who have published articles, given interviews, been reviewed, and been quoted are far more likely to appear in that kind of answer than authors whose entire presence is a book listing and website.

What actually determines whether an author’s work ends up in what those systems draw on?

Volume and quality of published material about and by them, mostly.

AI systems pull from a wide array of sources. Every legitimate placement — a bylined piece, a podcast that posts transcripts, a review in a trade outlet, a Q&A like this one — becomes another piece of the record.

It’s cumulative. No single placement makes an author discoverable. But 20 of them, over 18 months, across outlets with different audiences, does.

Take a modern innovation expert like Stephen Wunker. His transition into the AI discourse — specifically through his book AI and the Octopus Organization — perfectly illustrates how an author’s footprint becomes high-value retrieval data for large language AI models.

AI systems do not scrape the entire internet indiscriminately; they prioritize high-authority, vetted domains. Stephen Wunker didn’t just publish on a personal blog. His content is disseminated through elite tier-one publications such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Financial Times.

Where does traditional SEO thinking fit now?

It still matters, and the discipline behind it matters even more.

Good SEO has always involved thinking about the language readers actually use when they’re looking for help with a problem — and making sure an author’s material uses that language rather than internal jargon.

That work pays off twice now. It helps the content rank, and it helps AI tools correctly identify what an author is an authority on.

Book publicist Cathy Lewis discusses an important (and often not discussed) way AI is revolutionizing book publicity and promotion right now.Click to tweet

You talk about a “digital footprint.” What does a strong one look like?

Consistent and multi-channel. Published articles, interviews, reviews, speaking appearances, active and a substantive social presence — all pointing in the same direction.

The mistake is treating those as separate campaigns. They’re one campaign expressed in different formats.

The footprint is also where credibility gets established. An author who shows up in five reputable outlets reads very differently than one who shows up in 50 low-quality ones.

Does that visibility translate into recommendations?

It can.

AI systems personalize based on what a user is asking for, and they respond to signals of authority. An author with a well-established presence in a subject area is simply more likely to be suggested when someone asks for an expert perspective or further reading in that area.

The same logic applies to chatbots handling specific queries. If the material is out there and clearly attributable, it can show up. If it isn’t, it can’t.

Let’s talk about branding. What does publicity contribute that an author can’t do alone?

Coherence, mainly.

Most authors have more than one thing they can talk about, and the temptation is to say all of it everywhere.

Our job as publicists is often subtraction — identifying just the two or three ideas an author should own and making sure those ideas show up consistently, whether the venue is a trade magazine, a podcast, or a conference stage.

That consistency is what makes an author recognizable. Readers who encounter the same clear voice in three different places start to remember the name.

How much does direct audience engagement matter?

A great deal, and it’s the part authors most often underestimate.

Commentary on developments in their field, thoughtful participation in conversations already happening, responding to readers — that’s what turns visibility into a following.

Media exposure gets you noticed. Engagement is what keeps people around after the launch cycle ends.

What separates a well-known author from a genuine thought leader?

A thought leader has a position, not just a presence.

They’ve said something specific enough that people can agree or disagree with it, and they’ve said it consistently enough that it’s associated with their name.

Getting there is a matter of doing three things repeatedly: producing substantive content in credible venues, accepting the interviews and panels where the real conversation in a field is happening, and adding something to that conversation rather than restating the consensus.

When should you start working on this?

Start earlier than feels necessary, and think in years.

The authors who are easiest for us to publicize are the ones with a track record already — which means the work you do around this book determines how easy the next one will be.

And be specific about what you want to be known for. In a market this crowded, and with tools that reward clear signals, vagueness is the most expensive mistake an author can make.

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What to know now

Cathy’s talking about GEO — generative engine optimization — a marketing term you might have heard already. It describes how brands are working to create quality content that helps them show up in AI searches.

That quality content includes blogs like this one as well as publicity, which is Cathy’s area of expertise. In today’s marketing lexicon, “publicity” is often referred to as “earned media,” meaning you earned it rather than bought it.

Cathy points out that it’s easier for her to publicize an author with an established reputation. But what about those of you who aren’t going to hire a book publicist, or who don’t have a high-profile author platform (yet)?

I also don’t want you to wring your hands because your book is already published and you aren’t a Forbes contributor, frequent podcast guest, or in-demand conference speaker.

Instead, I want you to know that it’s never too late to do the work that will give you and your book more visibility.

Do this

Here’s what I’d like you to do to begin to turn this around for you and your book. Today, pick one task that will raise your visibility, and do it.

Each day, give that task as much time as you can. For example, if you and your book’s topic are well-suited to podcast interviews, start researching appropriate podcasts. Listen to and study them. For the shows that make sense, track down their contact information. Then learn how to pitch a podcast — and do it.

That’s just one task option. As you know from this site, there are many more. (Be sure to use the search box here to get information on any of those book marketing tasks that will work for your audience.)

Focus on the one that seems easiest for you right now.

Like everything else in book publishing, generating the kind of awareness Cathy references takes time.

So, now’s the time to start.

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What would you like to ask Cathy Lewis about this topic? Drop your question in a comment and I’ll make sure she sees it.