Indie Author Beware: The Bait-and-Switch of Book Marketing Courses
When your “fellow author” seems more focused on selling you a course than selling their books…
The Bait-and-Switch Vibe
As an indie author, I get bombarded with ads from other writers selling courses that promise instant bestseller success—usually for hundreds of dollars.
The catch? The person making the promise isn’t selling books to readers. They’re selling courses to me.
And sure, there’s nothing wrong with sharing wisdom. Some people really do want to teach and uplift. But when they’re apparently a best-selling novelist yet have no actual evidence of it? Or sure, maybe they hit #1 in the free list. Or even scraped into the top 100 paid list. But when their “system” makes far more money selling courses than their writing does? That’s when I start to squint.
Good Tools vs. Money Sucks
Let’s be fair: not all offers are bad. Some are genuinely useful. Here’s how I break it down:
Good Value = long-term usefulness, clear ROI, fair pricing.
Example: Publisher Rocket. One-off cost. Regularly updated. Does what it says on the tin: helps you find better keywords, categories, and visibility.
You pay once, and the tool keeps working for you. That’s sustainable.
Money Suck = endless upsells, recycled info, shiny clickbait promises.
Example vibe: “Thousands of readers guaranteed!” Reality? You’re lucky to get 1,000. Then comes the next course, and the next clickbait headline.
And most of it? You can find on YouTube for free. And with the rise of ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI models, you can get this help even easier—without draining your already minimal budget.
How to Spot the Difference (Quick “Ahh” Checks)
Where do they make their money?
Selling books → Worth considering
Selling courses → Worth doing more research on
What’s the promise?
“Guaranteed bestseller” → unrealistic. Also, watch out for the carefully curated success stories. There will always be a few—but it needs to balance. Hunt for reviews in places like Reddit, where people are more likely to be bluntly honest. See if it really worked for most, and whether it was worth the time and cost. Remember: effort = time, and that takes away from writing.
“Here’s what worked for me” → more grounded. Check their actual sales. Do they have novels doing well, or non-fiction in a space you care about?
(Don’t buy a novel-selling course if you’re writing non-fiction 😉)
What’s the payment model?
One-off investment that grows with you → Value!
Constant upsells and new launches → beware the money drain. It’s so easy to see your cash vanish through “small” subscriptions, add-on costs, and extras that weren’t clear at the start.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to throw money at every shiny new system. Tools that save time or sharpen your visibility are worth it. Courses that dangle crowns like bait? Optional at best, exploitative at worst.
You’d like to think we’re all the same—indies rooting for indies. But there are plenty of big smiling faces, with promises of wonder, that are very happy to part you from your cash.
At the end of the day, your best marketing isn’t found in someone else’s funnel—it’s in staying curious, experimenting small, and actually connecting with readers. And of course, writing!
Because here’s the kicker: chances are the only bestseller trick they’ve mastered is selling courses to writers, not books to readers.
Invest where the value grows with you—not where the meter resets every time they send another email promising you gold and glory.
Let’s be pragmatic: if they really knew that trick, they wouldn’t need to sell it to YOU.
