There is an old joke circulating: What do you
call someone who finished last in their class at medical school?
Doctor.
Did you know that you don’t even have to own a law degree to be eligible to
serve on the Supreme Court?
Or that there are far more legal requirements to be a cab driver than to run
for president of our country?
I want to encourage people to strive far, work hard, learn more, and try their
best when it comes to book marketing. However, keep in mind that you don’t have
to be perfect or even the best. Technically, nothing is required of you to be
able to market your brand or sell a book. You just need to be good enough, often
enough.
This is not a mantra for the underachiever nor a call for mediocrity.
Certainly, in specific fields where life and death are on the line, more is
demanded and necessary. Our police, firefighters, ER docs, criminal defense
attorneys, and soldiers are trained rigorously and must perform at highly
optimal levels all of the time in order to avoid or mitigate high casualty
totals.
But in order to win often or succeed greatly at our jobs and endeavours, we
should feel comforted in knowing that we just need to be a little better than
any opposing forces.
Case in point. Whether you win a baseball game 10-9 or 10-0 means the same in
the standings: a win of equal value.
Elections are the same way.
One candidate, even after millions of votes are cast, just needs one more vote
than the next person to be the winner. Heck, the number of citizen votes
nationwide for president count for nothing; only that you have earned one more
than half of all eligible electoral college votes.
See a pattern? The margin of victory means little, other than to assuage the
ego.
To market your book well, half the battle is in showing up, mentally and
physically. Be present and vigilant in pursuing the many ways one can promote a
book.
The other half is execution. It is all a big game. You just need to be a hair
better than others to reap a lot of attention, book sales, awards, etc.
That is right: domination is not needed. No degrees or special training are
required. Just put yourself out there. No permission to succeed is necessary.
You are the boss in a company of one.
It always amazes me, to give you a sports analogy, how even some sports teams
can be pretty even with each other, yet only one gets to say they are champs
while the rest go home, defeated, even if by the thinnest of margins.
Look at many pro sports, such as baseball, basketball, or hockey. You will find
several teams who may have done enough to qualify for their league’s playoffs.
In some cases, they made it in with barely a winning record. Even that is not required
to get into the playoffs. Then they typically play elimination rounds, needing
to win three out of five or four of seven to keep advancing. So, you can have a
team that won only 51 percent of its games in the season get into the playoffs.
Then it goes 3-2 in round one; 4-3 in another; and 4-3 in another round. Every
step of the way, they are just one win ahead of someone else. Keep in mind,
some of these wins come just because you scored one more point or run than
another.
In a typical NBA game, over 200 points are scored. And you could conceivably
win 101-100. Then in the championship you could have razor thin victory
margins, in a series where both teams lose three times. What really makes one a
champion over the other?
Book marketing is like sports. Every day, you go out and compete. The only
standard that you need to achieve is this: Just be a little better than other
people. Start earlier, work later. Do what others won’t or can’t do.
Experiment. Be persistent. Put in a little more effort. Be a little smarter.
You can and will fail often when marketing your book. That is to be expected,
even embraced. Some teams, politicians, or even medical students have
figured out how to win championships, elections, or pass tests by doing just
enough — even if it means missing or losing 49% of the time.
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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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https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2021/07/how-do-authors-recharge-stalled-book.html
Will
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Should Authors Spend Their Book Marketing Dollars?
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Great Book Marketing Podcast Interview With Savvy Book PR Pro
Brian Feinblum
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/great-book-marketing-podcast-interview.html
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.
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