What Will Help You Market Your Book?

Many people ask me the following: What it will take to market a brand, promote a story, and sell a book. These items quickly come to mind:

 

• Skill-- what you are capable of doing will dictate your success 
• Knowledge -- what you know that needs to be done and how to do it counts for a lot 
• Time -- this precious commodity is a must in order to market well 
• Money -- helps you pay for professional help, advertisements, resources 
• Great Book -- interesting topic or story that’s well written is vital 
• Excellent Credentials -- who you are helps sell your story 
• Timing -- you can benefit from trends and what’s in the news 
• Competition – it helps when there’s less competition and your offer is unique 
• Packaging -- your title, cover, and interior layout need to be appealing 
• Price -- being competitive in this area is a must

History is full of people who have been wildly successful despite overcoming challenges at home, financial shortcomings, or other barriers. Just look at how many college dropouts made it big -- Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, and Bob Dylan to name a few. Richard Branson didn’t even finish high school. So, you, dear author, should know you may have many things already going for you that could position you for success, but if not, be comforted to know that others with less have made it big.   

The following 19 traits or attributes can certainly help you succeed in marketing your book:

  

1. Work Ethic -- Work hard, smart, and ethically. Put in the necessary time and effort to achieve your goals.

 

2. Ignore Rejection -- Failure is the stepping stone to success. Any rejection, loss, or shortfall that you experience means nothing but inspiration to try harder and provides a chance to learn and grow. Defeats are momentary, not permanent. 

 

3. Opportunistic Mindset -- Be a go-getter. Initiate things. Don’t wait for an opportunity to come to you, but when it does, be ready to seize it. Additionally, keep your eyes open to discover opportunities. You make your own opportunity. 

 

4. Childlike Imagination -- Be curious and explore things. Let your imagination wander. Reality will always await you, but there’s no reason to not envision how things could be different or better. 

 

5. Ask Questions -- Take a what-if approach to things. Ask everyone questions -- Who do they know? What do they know? What do they think? What stories can they share?

 

6. Find Value In Everyone & Everything -- Everyone has a purpose, a history, an opinion, an idea, and means to help you. Be willing to see what opportunities await you delivering into who and what are within your grasp. 

 

7. Be Fearless -- Easy to say, harder to do, but you need to be willing to take risks, try new things, and experiment. It’s okay to make a mistake. Gamble without regret. 

 

8. Be Passionate -- Energy, enthusiasm and an obsession are needed to arm your every move. 

 

9. Goal-Oriented -- Have a vision and a goal. Break it all down into achievable stops. Set new goals as you achieve old ones. Never settle or think the game has an ending. 

 

10. Organized -- Prioritize, plan, and manage your time and resources well. Never be the bottleneck and always keep things moving forward.

 

11. Confidence & Conviction -- Act and speak with confidence. It will get others to believe in you. Speak with conviction. Your truth and vision is going to drive this bus. 

 

12. Flexibility -- Be ready to change plans, make adjustments, or even change your thinking. Core beliefs may guide you, but everything is always up for debate and subject to change. 

 

13. Resilience -- Your ability to weather a loss, complaints, missed opportunities, or broken relationships will play a role in your book marketing success. Have a thicker skin. Always see a setback like a puzzle. You know there’s a solution; you just need to unlock it. Stay determined. 

 

14. Contrarian -- Quite simply, look at the opposite of public convention and popular wisdom. There’s more opportunity and less competition when you don’t follow the trend. 

 

15. Ask For More --This always works. Simply ask for more of others -- better price, more help, extra ideas, or sharing of resources. Ask and you shall receive.

 

16. Strategic-- Life’s a chess game. Have a plan, think ahead, have a backup plan, and keep manipulating events or people in your favor. Plot things out and enlist allies to carry out your plan. 

 

17. Research -- Your ability to find resources, information, and connections will help you network, sell books, and find the things and people that can assist you.

 

18. Anticipatory -- Be ready to act or react to things that you should be able to anticipate. Some things will be a surprise to you, but have contingency plans for the things you can clearly see as possibly happening. 

 

19. Persuasive -- How well you communicate and convince others of your point of view will come in handy. Everything is a negotiation, whether selling a book, seeking a speaking gig, trying to secure media coverage, or inspiring an employee. 

 

Some of this may seem like it’s just not your personality or that you lack a skill or ability to be successful at marketing your book. That’s fine and is to be totally expected. Don’t use your perceived shortcomings as a crutch or excuse not to try more, do better, and reach further.

 

You are alive and kicking. Make some changes, take some risks, get some help, dream big, and get the heck out there and market your book!

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 ©2022. 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 blog, with over 4,000 posts over the past decade, 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 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.