Earlier
this year I enjoyed reading a provocative self-help book by Gary John Bishop, Unf*ck
Yourself. It inspired me to write a
blog post called Unf*ck Your Book Marketing.
I just finished Stop Doing That Sh*t, a follow-up to Bishop’s
bestseller. This was a depressing, frustrating,
and boring exercise, sorry to say. But
there are some salvageable nuggets that can be applied to not only your life, but
promoting books.
“You
are the problem, and you are the solution!” says Bishop, on page 8. He’s right. Your book marketing campaign is
shaped by you and it’s up to you to execute it.
You have a problem, but you can be the solution and promote your brand
and sell more books.
“A
big part of living the life you want is taking ownership of your choices now
and in the future,” he writes.
This is also true with taking ownership of your brand.
This is also true with taking ownership of your brand.
He
stresses that we need to have a deliberate and intentional engagement with
our ideas, to challenge, explore, and support the best ones. But he says we live in a box, where we live
in our heads and hold ourselves back from risk, change, and reward. He says we want what’s new, but are addicted
to the familiar.
“In
your day-to-day life you are, for the most part, on autopilot,” says Bishop. “There’s nothing quite so
damaging as the human desire to be right. Telling yourself the truth is rarely easy, but it’s a surefire way to
free yourself from your own sub-conscious self-sabatage trap what makes
self-reflection challenging is that you’re both the con artist and the one being
conned.”
Bishop
believes we sabotage ourselves and blame everyone else for our shortcomings.
“Even
if you were thrown into the worst circumstances, it’s your choice now to turn
your life around, make it better, learn, and grow and break free of where you
came from,’ he writes. “You have choices from this moment on…You have to be
willing to own your life for how it is, no blame, no anger, no resentment. It went the way it did, you turned out the way
you did, and now it’s game on and into the future we go.”
He also wants us to confront our repeating of mistakes.
“Why
do you do what you do?” he asks. “Again,
go beyond the vocal answer you give yourself.
Think. If you keep living this
way, where is it all headed?”
To
promote a book you can’t make excuses, like these:
·
I
lack the time to do things.
·
I
don’t have money to hire help.
·
The
media wants celebrities and best-sellers only.
·
People
don’t appreciate or understand how good my message is.
·
I
need to learn more about how social media works.
·
The
media is biased against people like me.
·
I
don’t get the support from others that I deserve or need.
“It
takes as much effort to live a crappy life as it does a great one,” writes
Bishop. “And you’re the only one who can
choose which you want to live.”
So
how do you want to approach your book marketing – or life for that matter? Bishop concludes with this wise guidance:
“Fuck
the past, reveal a bold future, step out there and get into action. Deal with yourself.
“Own
your life, own where it’s been, own where it’s headed and what you need to do
to wake yourself up to what’s possible each and every day of it.
“The
future has arrived. Now, what the hell are you going to do about it?”
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Don't Forget To Check Out:
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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 ©2019. 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.
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