I’m
convinced of three things regarding book publicity:
1.
Many publishers and
authors underachieve in promoting their books to the news media. They don’t
start early enough nor stay with it long enough. They miss contacting the right
people or their message is not presented well. The result: an under promoted
book with lower or mediocre sales.
2.
Too many authors and
publishers throw little support to promote their books, thus fail for not
having tried.
3. There are writers and publishers who
did all they can to get the word out and still failed to garner much media
attention.
I’m
concerned about the third one. If you reached a lot of targeted people about a
book, why didn’t you receive more media coverage, even if it was negative?
There are
many reasons why a message is rejected. Perhaps by considering such factors,
you can avoid these pitfalls that have doomed many:
1.
Your message was not
clear or too confusing.
2.
Your message sounded
like the opposite of that you intended.
3.
Your message was not
timely or didn’t tie into the news cycle or the needs of the person you
contacted.
4.
Your message didn’t
sound new, fresh, or unique.
5.
You failed to sound
convincing or believable.
6.
You emphasized
something as if it were a fact when it was just an opinion.
7.
You didn’t provoke
curiosity.
8.
You attempted to
tackle a topic the media had just covered to death.
9.
You offered a
topic/issue that only impacts a handful of people, if that.
10.
Your message seemed
offensive, divisive, or nasty.
11.
Your message
contradicts the editorial viewpoint of the media outlet.
12.
Your message was
filled with spelling and grammatical errors.
13.
You presented
inaccurate facts.
14.
You failed to share an
interesting story idea.
15. Your
message did not sound as good as competing ones.
The list
could go on. The main thing here is that you realize your message can be viewed
by many and rejected by nearly everyone. You need to analyze what is going
wrong and retool immediately. Always experiment with a pitch. Send it to a
handful of people before blasting it out to everyone. Always customize your
pitch for the reader.
But let’s
say you clear the gatekeepers and get to be interviewed or have your book
revived or be quoted in a feature or news story and still, your message is
rejected -- this time by consumers. What do you do then?
It’s hard
to determine why consumers don’t buy unless you pull them directly, but it’s
safe to say that consumers didn’t find your message compelling enough to go
from reading about you to wanting to pay money to read your work.
Why?
1.
Maybe you gave too
much information in your media appearance, and people felt little need to buy
the book.
2.
Maybe you undersold
the book and sounded timid, reserved, or lacking confidence.
3.
Perhaps you just bored
people and stumbled and bumbled in your interview.
4.
People could just have
been unexcited about your book, especially when compared to all of the other
forms of entertainment that they can consume.
5. You could’ve done a great job in your
media appearance but listeners- readers- viewers had trouble finding your book
or felt the cover price was too high.
Rejection
of all kind is expected throughout life and the publishing process. Seek to
learn from it and you’ll be prepared the next time around.
DON’T MISS THIS!!!
Here is my 2014 Book Marketing &
Publicity Toolkit: Based on 20+ years in publishing --
Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer, Media Connect, 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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