Do Authors Really Have A Marketing Budget Of Zero?

 

On more than one occasion, I have come across authors who tell me they have no budget for marketing. None. Zilch. Nada. Zero. It is complete nonsense. That’s right — I am calling out the cheap, the fearful, and the misinformed.   Others say they have a small, undefined budget to put towards marketing. For some, it might be two thousand bucks or so. Enough to do something, but not enough to really do a lot. They too, are being very cautious or conservative about what they will pay for. The author may be: * With a publisher and expect or hope the publisher “does everything.” * Self-published and already spent $5,000 or more on editing, cover designs, production, etc. * Confused. Regardless of how they published, they are not sure of what to do, whom to trust, or what is a reasonable price for such things. * Not fully aware of what needs to be done or of what is possible to achieve. In all cases, these authors misunderstand the financial commitment needed to deliver a true pay-off. They also miscalculate what they actually can invest. I want to help these people — and they most certainly would benefit from working with me — but they simply fail to realize that they don’t know what they don’t know. So let me educate all authors. *Few books have any chance of breaking 1000 or even 100 sales without an informed author actively and consistently initiating actions to prompt discovery of their book. Make no mistake, it takes an investment of time, money, and mindshare to turn writing into a profitable and worthwhile venture. *Be ready to dig up some funds to promote and market your book and author brand.  *Don’t do things that just sound good but really don’t move you closer to your goals. *Doing publicity or investing in marketing has a long-term pay-off for an author who plans to write more books or who has already published multiple books. *Don’t rely on luck, prayer, or statistical randomness to break through and get discovered. *Don’t rely on word of mouth to hype your book if you did nothing to get a few thousand people to read your book.   *Don’t think you can just advertise your way to find your potential readers.   *Don’t rely on your publisher, if you are even fortunate enough to have one.

 

Bottom line:  to succeed in the world of books, you not only have to work smart, hard, and long hours, you have to borrow, save, or steal funds for marketing your brand and book. There’s no way around it. Open up the purse strings, within reason, to give yourself the boost that you need. No one else will champion your work but you.

 

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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Ask Me Anything About Book Marketing

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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.