Why do writers make the decisions that they do
in regards to marketing their books?
Some of it is likely for obvious reasons, but too often I wonder
what drives authors to finally decide to market their books, why they do it
poorly, and why they just call it quits.
I believe these are the key factors that drive an
author to market their book — or not — and to what degree of success they have:
1. Belief in
their book. The writer is driven by their impression of
their own book. If they don’t believe they wrote a good book or that it has
potential commercial success or that it can influence others, they would have
little reason or drive to market it.
2. The author has to have some kind of goal in mind for his or
her book. Further, the writer is seeking to fulfill a
need or desire with their book, and presumably there is a recognition that to
serve those needs or desires, a marketing campaign is most needed. Know your
why — Why did you write this book? Now show me what you are willing to do to
serve that goal, need, or desire.
3. For authors to market their books well, they
must budget some amount of money, time, and mindshare to it. So, without some dedicated resources to market with, an
author’s decision is made for them. What the author has to decide is whether he
or she will set the marketing priority high enough in order to make a sacrifice
and borrow money and time from other areas of the writer’s life.
4. Authors, in order to consider marketing their
book, must have a true awareness of what is even possible, and then of what is
probable. One’s actions are based on what they are
cognizant of, so the more an author is educated on what could be done to market
their book, the more likely they will start to envision what can be done
successfully for it. If an author can handicap their odds of success and
understand how a specific type of marketing campaign potentially can yield
results and have a decent ROI, they will gravitate towards something.
6. There could be some ethical initiative or a
calling that drives an author to promote their book. Do you have a calling or moral imperative to write and market
your book?
7. An author’s level of confidence in his or
herself can be a factor, too, as to what kind of marketing effort is made.
Authors need a commitment to resilience. They will
hear no way more often than yes, but marketing is a numbers game and the number
of rejections or times you are ghosted mean nothing. Only keep score of the
wins and the yesses. No is just a delayed Yes.
8. Entering into any decision could be factors
such as timing, the level of risk, and news events. Some authors take advantage of an opportunity; others can
create their opportunities.
9. Decisions regarding marketing could be impacted
by things such as one’s past record of success, his or her marketing skill set,
and one’s network size.
Authors must market their books and target their
efforts. But the factors influencing specific book marketing choices and
decisions are many, so it is up to the author to take ownership and
responsibility for the marketing of their book.
What will you decide?
Do You Need Book Marketing Help?
Brian
Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors like you to promote
your story, sell your book, and grow your 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
This award-winning blog has generated over
6,750,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 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 2026, 2021
and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” Copyright 2026.
For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity 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.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers
Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five
times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and
Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.
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.
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.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
