The trick of marketing

Occasionally, I start to read a book and realize I’ve made a horrible mistake. But sometimes I’ll keep reading for research purposes. Why does this book seem so terrible to me? Other people must have liked it for it to be published.

Often I realize the problem is a conflict between the marketing and the story. It’s attracting the wrong audience, i.e. me. A book I just finished is an isekai light novel but it skips all the battles to focus on a romance and the trauma of the two main characters. Okay. Fine. But then the male love interest (not boyfriend) has this thing about kissing the female protagonist while she’s sleeping.

So the reader has to be interested in isekai light novels focused on romance, but they also have to be okay with creepy dudes kissing unconscious women who are actively suffering from emotional trauma.

And those readers do exist and they will give the book 5 stars. Meanwhile, most of the audience is rating it 3 stars or below.

• Some of the readers were expecting an isekai story, but it intentionally breaks the mold of the isekai story.
• Other readers were okay with the romance, but not the creep factor.
• Yet other readers note that the title focuses on the female protagonist, but the actual story is mostly told by the male love interest.
• And finally, other readers will be put off because it is an objectively badly written book. (Not everyone minds this.)

And that’s the trick of marketing, isn’t it? It’s okay to be authentic to your vision, but how do you reach the audience that will boost your book while avoiding the readers who will hate you for wasting their precious reading time?