Friday, November 9, 2018

Google Earth Maps Should Expose An Author’s Book Marketing Activities



You ever look up your neighborhood on Google’s Earth Maps, you know, just to see what your house looks like from above – and to casually spy on your neighbors?

We all do it.  

At some point our curiosity takes over and we go online to see what images have been captured by Google that represent us well – and those we know leave us in a compromising position. What if we could click on to an Earth Maps that showed us snapshots of what each author is doing to market his or her book?

Okay, so such an app doesn’t yet exist but don’t put it beyond our tech giants to come up with such a thing. Still, imagine, if you could see what authors are doing to brand themselves and promote their books? Would seeing someone hustling their wares inspire you – or would viewing a slothful author help you justify your positon of being inactive when it comes to book marketing?

To succeed as an author, you need to succeed at book marketing.  To succeed at book marketing you need to have a sense of all the things that you could be doing – and to be aware that you have many competing authors seeking to do the very same things.

Consider these strategies to employ for yourself:

1.      Do what you are capable of doing.  
      If speaking before groups is your strongest skill, pursue speaking engagements.  If tweeting is your game, play it every day.  If writing byline articles is your strength, contact publications or websites immediately.

2.      Hire professionals to fill in the blanks.  
      You may lack skills, desires, or time to execute certain aspects of a solid book marketing campaign.  That’s okay – subcontract it out.

3.      Experiment and see what works.  
      A few press releases here, a couple of YouTube videos there, and a sprinkling of Facebook ads over here – try a little of everything to see what gets traction.

4.      Mirror what successful authors do.  
      So whether you have the skills, knowledge time, money, or desire to do something, do whatever other authors are doing if it works for them.

5.      Do nothing and hope to get discovered.  
      Good luck with that strategy of praying for a miracle.

I suspect if we had Earth Maps covering every author we would see many that do little or nothing to promote their books.  They give up too soon, don’t give it their all, and choose to pursue the wrong things.  But then we’d see other authors who are seriously trying to break through the clutter, but they just need some direction, a little confidence, and a lucky break.  Whatever other authors do – or don’t do – is irrelevant.  You need to simply give it your all and not give a crap what other authors are doing.

                               ************************************
“Reading is among the most private, the most solitary things that we can do.  A book is a kind of refuge to which we can go for the assurance that, as long as we are reading we can leave the worries and care of our everyday lives behind us and enter, however briefly another reality populated by other lives, a world distant in time and place from our own, or else reflective of the present moment in ways that may help us see that moment more clearly.  Anyone who reads can choose to enter (or not enter) the portal that admits us to the invented or observed world that the author has created.”
--What To Read and Why by Francine Prose


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Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America and participated in a PR panel at the Sarah Lawrence College Writers Institute Conference.

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