Avoid Committing Book Marketing Malpractice

 

Many authors, book publishers, and professional publicists commit book marketing malpractice. They kill a book’s shelf life with sloppy, incompetent, dumb, or poorly executed maneuvers — and stunt an author’s brand and leave people wondering what happened. They miss deadlines, fail to fully take ownership of their marketing, ignore red lights, and dive headfirst into book publicity pitfalls.

Things that authors do wrong — or fail to do right —include the following:

1. Wasting money on magazine or newspaper print advertisements (paid book reviews and pay-per-click ads are better bets).

2. Bad timing (miss deadlines with a publisher, the news media, events, or awards).

3. They think that what they know about book marketing is enough (it usually is not even close).

4. They think they are working at their max (many work hard, but not to their peak efficiency).

5. They believe they tried it all (not likely).

6. Don’t know how things could be improved (therefore, they stumble sideways).

7. Fail to understand factors that can impact results (they don’t know what they don’t know).

8. Stop believing in their book or selves (never give up).

9. Let ego block them from doing things (they simply think their book is sooooooo great that they don’t put enough effort into promoting it).

10. Fail to put the necessary time into it (you need to free your schedule for book marketing just as you would for writing).

11. Don’t financially invest in marketing (it takes money to make money).

12. Do not hire the right pros (outsourcing some key tasks to qualified, smart, and reliable professionals who specialize in the task at hand is critical).

13. Think they can just outsource all of the marketing (they really need to collaborate, coordinate, and do some things, too).

14. Have a misunderstanding of the marketplace (many books have lots of competition, and books compete with free content or other forms of entertainment).

15. They undersell (modesty, shyness, or being reserved gets you nowhere).

16. Fail to revise their plan or update their approach (you need to make adjustments in your message, strategy, and game plan along the way).

17. Think that marketing tricks are secondary to the substance of a book (no one will discover your genius work unless you market it).

18. Lack of belief in yourself (you deserve to succeed and you can do this).

19. Procrastinate (don’t sabotage yourself).

20. Make excuses, blame others, act like a victim of society (stop the whining, complaining, or game-playing. This isn’t high school. We know life isn’t fair. Suck it up. Take ownership of your marketing and find a way to persevere in the face of obstacles).

 

Please Contact Me For 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 successfully 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.