How To Break Your Book Marketing Losing Streak

You are bound to find yourself amid a bad string of rejection when you promote or market your book. It can feel like an eternity, one “no” after another, until you get a “yes.” Your emails seem to go in a void. Your attempts to call people end up in unresponsive voice mail. You mail things that get returned or go unanswered. You feel stumped and stifled, defeated before your day begins. How do you crack this bad string of luck and get your mojo back?

My very first suggestion is to examine why you think you are falling short and change your approach.

My second suggestion is to keep at it, and hope to outlast the negative response. If you have a good pitch and something worthwhile to promote, eventually people will be responsive to you.

Third, take a break. Sometimes you just need to stop, step back, and take a timeout. Go to the movies or get lost in an activity you normally enjoy. Let your brain and body distract itself so that you can come back with a fresh perspective.

Fourth, seek the counsel of others – colleagues, fellow authors, family, friends – even a therapist. You can get out of your slump by changing your thoughts.

Fifth, just acknowledge you’ve been on a bad roll and recognize that for whatever reason, a new approach is needed. The question is: Do you just tinker around or overhaul what you’ve been doing?

Sixth, when it comes to trying to convince people to do something, whether you want someone to buy your book, hire you as a consultant, agree to have you as a speaker, or interview you for the news media, it helps if you role play and look at your offer from their perspective. Are you answering their questions, countering their assumptions, and showing your unique selling position? Evaluate your message.

Seventh, another area to look at is your contact list. Are you contacting a group of people you expect to have some success with – or did you reach too far? Is the list accurate and updated? Are they the right kind of people at that organization?

Eighth, have you figured out where the “no” is coming from? Is it about money, timing, subject matter, your credentials, or something else. Find out why people aren’t buying from you.

Professional athletes do all kinds of things to break slumps or losing streaks, including some of the things I suggested above – take a day off, change what you’re doing, and go do something fun to take your mind off of things. Book marketing and book publicity are similar to sports – you constantly are trying to win and overcome the odds of failure. The good news is, like sports, you can get on a hot streak, and with luck and hard work, run off a few wins.

Hang in there – you’re never as great as your best day, and never as bad as your worst day. Success awaits you, even if today you come up short. 


For more information, please consult: www.joanigeltman.blogspot.com and www.joanigeltman.com.
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 © 2014