Why I Promote Books When I Could Be Doing Anything Else

I discovered why I like being a book promoter and marketer the other day. It wasn’t quite an epiphany, because I have been aware of this truth for some time. But it seemed to jar me awake when I reflected more deeply upon who I am and what I’m doing with my life.

It happened when I was thinking about the half-century that has passed since President John F. Kennedy was gunned down and the course of history forever changed. He was 46 when he died -- the same age I am today.

Even though he likely has accomplished more than I ever will, even if I live twice as long as he did, his life was out too short. He missed many more years with his family, his lovers, and the ability to influence others and shape policy. It got me to think about whether I should be doing something else with my life.

But I realize that I’m right at home, surrounded by books, ideas, and passionate individuals who each want to stamp their legacy on our world. I feel a part of the lives of others and their lives come to life through the words in their books.

I find some of my clients to be really interesting, accomplished individuals. They live the life I can’t live, each of them experts in fields filled with life experiences that I can only share in through my interactions with them and the reading of their books.

I feel like an entertainer when I get to chat with my new client and friend, comedian George Wallace. His book, Laff it Off!, is one of my favorites this year.

I feel like I’m in Afghanistan with my client, the photographer Robert Cunningham, who snapped off 55,000 photos while he was embedded with American soldiers in Afghanistan. The best few hundred snapshots are contained in his new book, Afghanistan: On The Bounce.

I feel like Warren Adler, best known for writing War of the Roses, who worked with me last year to promote his lifetime of works and a new book, The Serpent’s Bite.

I feel like Ed Gordon, who has been warning America about a jobs meltdown for a long time. His latest book, Future Jobs, shows why millions of jobs go unfilled because we lack trained/educated workers. he  then puts forward a solution to increase the total of our pool of skilled workers. We need to listen!

I feel like Robert Hanlon, who has spent decades analyzing hundreds of murderers that he has worked with as a neuropsychologist. I have never read a book as detailed and insightful as his, Survived by One.

I feel like bits and pieces of all the authors I come into contact, as if talking to them my body chemistry is slightly altered. I can hear their passion, feel an emotional connection, and intellectually appreciate the road they have taken to get to where they are at.

I’m drawn to celebrities and best-selling authors. I’m drawn to first-time, self-published authors.

I’m drawn to fiction and non-fiction, adult and child, rated G to XXX. Life makes me curious and books and authors allow me to experience a thousand lives I’ll never get to live.

Writing is my passion and my strongest skill. Being involved in promoting authors and marketing books calls upon strong communication skills. I’m doing exactly what I should be doing, at least for now, and it’s been so for a long time.

If I gave advice to anyone about anything, it would be: Work at something you’d like to make a hobby -- and approach it with child-like enthusiasm and curiosity. That’s what my job allows me to do. Now excuse me, I have to return to reading an explosive memoir of a World War II veteran who no doubt has a book that will be huge when it publishes in May, called Out of the Depths. It’s about…

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Here is my 2014 Book Marketing & Publicity Toolkit: Based on 20+ years in publishing --

Master Publishing PR Toolkit

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