Is Wizardry Needed To Be A Successful Author?

 

 

Today’s world has become a sophisticated playground of people using the newest tools to defraud us, not just of money but our souls. Even authors feel they have to participate in a landscape littered with manipulation and compromise.

Our world today: Criminals launder money to be a cryptonaire and pays fake influencer to hawk bullshit NFTS using Twitter bots from hacked computers. We have Google-manipulated search results. There are paid product mentions that go unmentioned. People are talking things up on robinhood and reddit, and the day traders follow it as gospel.

In every aspect of institutions there is cronyism, nepotism, and favoritism.

We have hoax books and best-seller shams.

Listen to any conversation and wait for the lies, distortions, obfuscations — and diversion from or silence on — inconvenient facts that stray from our biased narratives. It seems like everything is compromised. Where is integrity in anything or anyone?

Authors are asked to compete in a rigged, manipulated, lie-filled marketplace.

How do you get published? Promise a publisher that you will buy books in large quantities, fund a marketing campaign, and accept peanut royalties.

How do you get media coverage? Know somebody or hire someone who knows somebody.

How do you get your book reviewed? Pay for a review, know someone, pay one who knows someone.

Every aspect of the book ecosystem hinges on who you know, what you can afford to pay to gain access or results, or what biases you can appeal to. Merit, honor, and quality of writing seem to be secondary in this equation.

On the other hand, money, connections, and luck aside, one can still make opportunities for themselves. Sure, you need to work harder and smarter, maybe more than ever, but authors can still control their destiny.

Is that a contradictory statement?

Well, we live in two worlds. The rigged, manipulated, and paid for approach is winning and we may all have to play the game a little, but we also should still believe that we have the capacity to steer our fate.

Authors have seemingly had to buck the odds in every generation. There were always cultural obstacles, legal hurdles, and financial challenges to getting a book published, marketed, and sold. There was a time when Blacks couldn’t get published. Women, too. There was a time where certain genres could not exist, such as erotica or LGBTQ. We are beyond all of that now, but new gatekeepers, stumbling blocks, technological challenges, and economic factors serve as real or psychological barriers for many.

Does today’s author need some wizardry and to pay SEO companies, book review companies, and best-seller list outfits? Most certainly. But can authors, with gumption, creativity, savvy, and persistence still be successful? Absolutely.

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.