16 Ways To Know If Your Book Marketing -- Or Your Book -- Sucks

 

Well, you may say you only need one way to judge if your book marketing stinks -- sales numbers -- right?  

Total sales in a period of time gives you a bottom-line barometer overall, but it may not indicate whether you could have sold more if the book were better -- or if you marketed better.  

Here are some factors to consider. To figure out if you have a good book, look at the following:

 

1. Ratings and customer reviews of strangers. 

2. What professional book reviewers are saying or even if they choose to review the book. 

3. Honest feedback from those closest to you.  

4. Seeing what fellow writers say about the book. 

5. If those who read it are spreading positive word of mouth via social media. 

6. If you are trusting your gut instinct and not your blind optimism. 

7. If you are winning awards that you apply to. 

To figure out if your marketing is a dud, look at the following: 

1. How many people have you contacted or approached-in total -- to see if they will buy the book or take an action step - review the book, have you speak, feature you in a newspaper article, allow you to guest post on their blog, etc? 

2. What is your conversion rate of success? 

3. Are you trying multiple areas, ie: speaking, news media, bulk sales, social media, advertising, etc.? 

4. Are you trying multiple approaches to each area. For instance, are you trying more than one social media platform? Ate you using multimedia -- video, audio, typed content? Are you trying several posting styles and frequencies?  

5. Have you tried using a professional to help do something or to consult with you, so that you can evaluate and improve your approach? 

6. Are you able to rally your friends and family -- or a group that you belong to -- to help you sell the book to people they know or the other members of the group that you belong to?  

7. Are you literally doing at least one thing to market your book every single day?  

8. Have you found work-arounds to rejections -- or at least learned from them so you have increased your chances of success the next time around? 

9. How does your book sell compared to industry averages and genre norms?  

The only way to uncover the truth is if it’s your book or your marketing that fails you, is to push hard and to really look at the feedback you are getting. In the end, whatever your sales are, you will have generated exactly what you deserve. But if you can make a change and find a way to enhance your sales, you won’t need to know whether the book or your marketing is great. Just enjoy the outcome. 

 

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.