Roger
Federer has won 80 percent of his matches in a long and illustrious tennis
career that has seen him nearly win the most Grand Slam championships of any
tennis player ever. But he only won 54 percent of all points played. This
supports my belief that most champs are just a little better than most others.
And the same holds true for best-selling authors.
What I mean is this: writers who experience
critical acclaim, awards recognition, and best-seller lists may be very good if
not great writers, but they seem like runaway successes, in part, because they
are consistently just a little better than everyone else – at marketing!
Often, the margin of difference between many
authors is negligible. In fact, the real difference in their level of success is
in their marketing, not necessarily their writing. That is right: the best
writer is really the better marketer.
I tell this to authors all of the time:
* People do judge a book by its cover. If it is
ugly or particularly alluring, this will dictate whether one even decides to
read your book, and it will seed their expectations going onto its reading.
* The title is very important. If it makes no
sense or has no meaning other than to the author, it will not get read. If it
is hard to say or spell. It will not get talked about. If it is hard to
remember it will not get bought.
* If your book is awesome and wildly entertains a
reader or offers a cure to cancer, it won’t be discovered on its own. It will
get bought when you market to enough people that hundreds and thousands of
people read it, like it, and spread good word of mouth.
Remember, greatness does not usually come from
dominance; it comes from doing more or being better in most situations, even if
by a margin of 51% to 49%. Like Federer, who barely won more points than his
opponents, he did it often enough to be considered one of the all-time greats.
Get a little better than your fellow writers at
marketing and you can reap great rewards.
Need PR Help?
Brian
Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page
views, can be reached at [email protected] He is available to help authors promote their story,
sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in
successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your
advocate, teacher, and motivator!
About Brian
Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be
followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now
resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue
dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a “best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses,
Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres,
right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark
Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay,
Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan
RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence
College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, &
Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured
in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
