Sunday, February 2, 2020

Can Authors Actually Market Their Books Successfully?

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Authors are presumably very good at writing and sharing ideas, information, and stories.  Many do not fancy themselves book marketers. So how should an author go about selling himself or herself when they feel uncomfortable talking about themselves, uncertain how to sell their appeal, and unfamiliar with the art of persuasion?

Let’s look at what concerns many authors:

·         Fear of failure is high.
·         Shy about speaking.
·         Don’t feel special enough to demand attention.
·         Too lazy or busy to execute a marketing campaign.
·         Not familiar with how to market themselves.

Now let’s look at some solutions:

Preparation
One way to address a fear or feeling of being unprepared is to take the necessary steps to come prepared. Know ahead of time of what needs to be done by when – and do your homework!

Know What To Ask For
To get anything in life, you need to ask for it. But do you know what to ask for to get what you want? Is it a speaking engagement, media appearance, or social media testimonial that you seek? Ask the right people – not just once – but repeatedly – until you succeed.

Be Ok With Rejection, But Be Persistent
You won’t win every fight or game. Book marketing is a numbers game. Count your wins, not your losses.  Win or lose, move on to the next pursuit to conquer.

Be Driven By Your Passion
When you feel insecure, depressed, or angry that you have not achieved your goals, remind yourself of why you wrote your book, of what you seek to accomplish, and of how much you enjoy sharing your message with others.

Set Goals
You can’t get very far without a road map and in life. To achieve great things you need to set goals, dream far, and visualize how you will be successful.

Learn From Mistakes
It’s okay to fall short, as long as you tried and did your best. Now learn from your mistakes, go back out there, and try again. And again. And again.

Know Your Perceived Strengths
You should have a strong feel for what you do well, why people would be interested in hearing from you and what is most appealing about your book. Now take all of that and polish off a 20-30 second elevator speech that can be called upon anytime, anywhere.

Learn a New Skill
Public speaking, hounding the media, or asking others to post your video takes some skill, gumption, and research. Learn some new skills and no longer feel like you are not worthy or qualified. You can do this!

Authors succeed when they help themselves – and when they outsource and collaborate with pros on certain aspects of book marketing and publicity. You can actually be a marketable author. Start today.


DON”T MISS THESE!!!

Free 2020 Book Marketing Toolkit for Authors

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10 Rules For Authors Promoting Their Books Well

Look For These Book Marketing Lessons All Around You


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 ©2020. 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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