Can Authors Fool People Into Buying A Book?

There are so many people out there making a living by hacking into accounts and manipulating data, conducting corporate espionage, selling data, blackmailing and extorting with ransomware, and stealing identities.

I got fooled by the hackeratti, too.

Thankfully, I never fell for:

*Nigerian lottery hoaxes
*Donating to a fake charity
*Giving away passwords to supposed hacked customer accounts
*Providing my social security number to a scammer

But I almost let a hacker take over my computer. I feel dumb for letting it go too far, but happy that I corrected course once I realized someone was looking to steal my identity and information.

The near-hack, however, left me shaken.

I was looking up something about amazon advertising and suddenly out of nowhere, alarms sounded and my computer froze. The screen was filled with rattling messages about a virus, not to shut down, and to call a Microsoft helpline number.

I am the first one to tell people not to fall for this crap. I even broke my rule of calling a number to resolve the problem that was provided by those causing the problem, instead of looking up the number for Microsoft and calling them directly.

I spent 20 or so minutes on the line, suspicious and afraid. I never gave any personal info but I did download software that would make it easier for them to see my computer files.

My wife convinced me during the call to hang up. She noticed the number I dialed comes up as SPAM. She dialed the number and hung up. They called her back twice. I hung up. My teen-age son quickly cleaned my computer of what I did. I believe — hope — I am in the clear.

Luckily, the process did not get completed and I removed the software from my computer.

The question is: Why, after all of these years, did I fall for this shit?

College educated. Brooklyn street savvy. A marketer. Short of being in law enforcement or IT, I was most qualified to recognize this fakery. But something broke down this time.

It just shows that any message can break through and be embraced. Everything is psychological. The world seems to be a physical place, but underpinning our actions is a psychology that leads us to even make decisions we regret or doubt at the time we make them.

I don’t mean to suggest that you should employ the tactics of hackers and hoaxers to market your book, but you should not underestimate how psychology over reason, and fear over facts, can sell people on anything. Tap into pushing the buttons of what motivates one to act and you will sell a ton of books!

Beware, my friends, of the criminals lurking in our mail, on a phone call, and on our computers. But, consider finding how to emotionally tap into selling people your book. Obviously, psychology sells.

 

Need Book PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has 30 years of experience in helping thousands of authors in all genres.

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2021. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  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. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.