Promote Your Book With Ketchup

 

Authors need to mix up the ingredients for a successful book marketing campaign. Sometimes you don’t have to follow the recipe — and you find a way to break through. But you will get pushback, criticism, and opposition for it. You will need to hold firm.  

Case in point: I used to (ok, still do) eat spaghetti with ketchup. This was blasphemy to my Italian friends. They vilified me for daring to alter one of their culture’s traditional, signature dishes.  

While growing up in 1970s Brooklyn, I lived in a neighborhood of Jews and Italian Catholics. My schools were fully integrated with blacks, Hispanics and Asians, providing a melting pot atmosphere. What I didn’t realize was how challenging it would be to to do something that contradicted the traditions and expectations of another culture, race, or religion without upsetting them.  

I was not seeking to offend anyone, nor did I want to be bullied for adopting my own approach to things. Traditions and standards in anything are there for a reason and usually serve their followers well, but there are plenty of situations where it pays to buck a trend, break a pattern, and color outside the lines.  

You can eat and enjoy a plate of spaghetti and ketchup if you want to. You can put peanut butter on turkey (another favorite of mine) and you can put orange juice in your cereal (ok, I never did that). 

Of course, before you break a rule, try living within the rules first. Look at your book marketing. Are you doing what is expected and considered the proper approach? Is it working for you? If so, stay the course. If not, get out the ketchup.  

Experiment. Try new ways. Take a risk. Be the contrarian. Turn things upside down and inside out. Don’t stop seeking, don’t listen to critics, and don’t accept things as they are if you are not served by them. 

I did get to convince one of my Italian friends to try spaghetti with ketchup. He spit it out and reaffirmed I was nuts to eat that. To me, it was the perfect dish. Want to try some? 

Please Contact Me For Book PR 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 over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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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 award-winning blog has generated over 3.2 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past decade, it 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 years 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.