Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Authors Must Be Bulldogs When It Comes To Publicity



Our animal kingdom can teach us many life lessons and serve as models when we talk about unconditional love.  My current dog, Daisy, who was adopted almost six years ago, is great at not only showing us what it means to be a fun, lovable, but sometimes crazy dog, but she inspires me as a book marketer and promoter.  She has taught or reminded me of the following:

1.      Be assertive
If she sees, no smells, a treat she’s on it.  She will hunt it down until it gets in her mouth.

2.      Beg aggressively
She loves to be by our dining room table.  If scraps don’t fall her way she will push onto your lap looking to shower love on you with her deep brown eyes in hopes you’ll cave and giver her food – which we all do!

3.      Never back away from a confrontation
She will stare down any dog – even those twice her size – at the dog run, but rarely does she have to actually fight or even bare teeth to get others out of her way.

4.      Be persistent
She’s tenacious and doesn’t forget about something.  She will look for a ball if she knows it was last seen in a certain spot.  She will nudge me to play with her and her favorite time if she’s got it on her mind to do so. She will also keep at whatever she’s doing if she has a goal in mind, such as her stick-to-it approach to tearing apart a rubber tire toy until the thing is unrecognizable.

5.      Win people over with belly rubs
She’s figured out that we enjoy rubbing her belly as much as she likes a good belly rub, so she will roll over submissively looking for us to pleasure her while we find the massage of her fulfilling to us.

6.      Being different and cute – and noisy gets attention
Her face is squished in, leading to snorty noises, snoring, and farts coming out of her chunky body.  She looks like she got hit head-on by a car.  She smiles with a snaggle tooth.  Her long, wide tongue gets people to laugh. If you can appear to be different or make noise, you’ll get attention.

7.      Be where the action’s at
She doesn’t wait for us to come pet her.  She greets us as soon as we come home.  She follows us around the house to get in on whatever we’re doing.  She’ll curl up on the couch to watch T.V., jump after a ball if my kids are playing with each other, or nestle into bed just as we go to sleep.  Authors who go where things are happening will find the media can discover them more easily.

8.      Do bad things if that’s how you need to get attention
My dog, unfortunately, is a chewer.  She has bitten up a number of shoes, slippers and sneakers, and she’s probably gnawed on at least a dozen stuffed animals, mostly, those of my young daughter.  But it does get your attention and forces us to focus on her.

9.      Protect your toy
One thing Daisy does well is take ownership of her toys. If there is a ball, bone or rubber tire laying around, she will beat you to it. Same goes for authors. If you see media or sales opportunities out there, don’t be passive or wait for them to come to you -- go after them. Hunt them down and take what you should see as yours!

I’ve owned many pets over the years, from Crackers the parakeet and an unnamed diamond back turtle that I found on a beach, to Tornado the fish and some cat I had for six weeks.  The list of non-human life by my side is long.  Add in Popcorn the hamster and Daisy the bulldog and it’s not close to being a complete list. 

I never had snakes, lizards, or mice – yuch – but I realize millions of people love their pet rats and freaks of nature. But of all these animals, the dog has appeared superior, and no dog has made a bigger impression on me than Daisy.  Actually, all of my dogs have left me with strong impressions – Brandy was my first (Bassett Hound), Lulu (pug) was the first to die in an accident, Buzzy (pug) lived to be 15 but had to be put down, and Daisy is a bulldog who just turned 7 (July 5).

Daisy may not be able to learn any new tricks, but she can certainly teach authors, publishing, and promoters a number of things when it comes to successfully marketing a book.  If you want to be good at hawking books, get a bulldog!

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. 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 © 2016

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