How
do you become a best-seller? How do you
get on the Today Show? How do you get
more book reviews?
These
are the questions I am most often asked.
The answers to these questions, in some way, are very simple and clear. But the real question one should ask is: How
do you do something differently and in a way that will put a book on the map?
There
are many ways to make a book successful.
There are even more ways to fall short of even mere mediocrity. One needs a strategy – success rarely just
happens.
To
evolve in your book marketing, you will need to take a hybrid
approach. First, at a minimum, do what
is necessary and expected, so that you secure media attention and sales for
your book. Second, do the unusual,
atypical, not-so-ordinary thing that could propel your book forward in a way
that can’t fully be planned or anticipated.
For
the first part, there are no shortcuts.
You need to contact lots of media, in a targeted and timely manner, with
strong pitches – and then hope for a breakthrough.
For
the second part, you need more than money or a publicist – you need
creativity. We’re talking bigger picture
here. What can you do to get your book
in front of lots of people or lots of potential consumers that meet your reader
demographic?
Do
you employ a stunt, and if so, to what degree will you go? Will you break the law and risk arrest? Will you hurt someone or risk your
health? Are you looking to start a
controversy, fight, or lawsuit?
If
you start to think that nothing is off the table, your mind opens up to all
kinds of possibilities, even if they are crazy, risky, or costly. Maybe, for brainstorming purposes, you need
to allow yourself the freedom to think anything is possible, however improbable,
and then edit the list down.
How
far would you be willing, to go to get attention for your book? Sometimes the book is controversial enough to
merit attention, but often authors need a press conference or an event to
magnify an issue and draw media exposure.
It’s
been a while since a book made news for revealing something so strange,
horrible, amazing, or newsworthy. But
the marketing surrounding a book can be any of those things.
So
what will you do to light a fire? The
event doesn’t have to directly link to the content of your book. Let’s say your book is science fiction and
the plot centers around Mars and Russia.
Your stunt could be related to space-travel and powerful nations or it
can be about something totally different, such as protesting school budget cuts
for science. You can use the PR to make
a link – that without teaching science, great things such as what’s featured in
the book will never come true. Or worse,
without enough qualified scientists out there, a handful of renegade scientists
may control the world the way the fictional book depicts.
Book
marketing is not a static practice. It
changes. What worked today may not work
tomorrow. Keep experimenting and
thinking big. Take a risk and try to
create something where nothing exists.
Evolve, or perish. You can find a
way to be heard – just contemplate if the price is worth it. The bigger the potential reward, the bigger
the risk or cost. But if you don’t try
something, you’re left with nothing.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013
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