I came across a book, Inventions That
Didn’t Change The World, about invention ideas that never took off. I got
to thinking: Why didn’t they work then? Could they work now? Could some aspect
of a failed idea be applied in a way that could make a portion of it successful
today?
This is what authors should be asking about their book marketing campaigns:
Could the marketing of your book be improved?
Did you try something that didn’t work at the
time for you, such as social media? Perhaps if you tweaked what you did, do it
with better effort, and do it more frequently and for longer, change platforms,
alter the type of content posted, and solicit more people, you would end up
seeing the benefit you had hoped to see.
The same thing with your outreach to the news
media. Maybe you need a different pitch or story angle. Maybe you need to
change or expand the list of media outlets and people that you are soliciting.
Perhaps your means of outreach has to go beyond what you did. If you only
emailed people, try calling, faxing, snail mailing, or tracking the media down
one tweet at a time.
Whatever it is that you have been doing with
your marketing, change something — do more of it, less of it,
differently.
In book marketing,
whatever you have been doing that is not yielding results has to change. Look
at the obvious things: the tone and content of your message, the visuals,
method of delivery, timing, duration of effort, level of energy used, attitude,
shortcuts, using any technology or connections, being more creative, and doing
the things most people are too dumb, lazy, afraid, insecure, or poor to do.
Sometimes, nothing you do delivers the kind of results that you felt warranted
the effort. Not every book can be successfully marketed. Most are not. But you
need to try, or else your book just dies.
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, BookCAMP, 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.
