Never hire a murder defense
attorney for a case of house mold. Now there’s a bit of advice most authors
have not heard!
Nearly 20 years ago, I tried to save a little on
legal fees for the closing on the purchase of a house. A friend of mine had a
friend that he used to do the closing on his house. The guy was a defense
attorney for some headline-making defendants who were on trial for murder. The
lawyer was moonlighting with real estate closings.
On our final walk-through of the house, we
discovered some mold and needed our lawyer to renegotiate the deal and to
mitigate the problem. My lawyer was not up to the task and we had to fire him.
In the end, with lots of aggravation, a few thousand in extra legal fees, and
lots of back and forth with a new lawyer, we struck a compromise with the
seller. It all worked out, albeit at a mental and financial cost.
The lesson learned here: hire the qualified professional
to do the job right. There is a difference between a veterinarian and a
physician, even though both are doctors.
No two experts are alike.
Just as there is a difference between college
baseball players, the Minor Leagues, and the Major Leagues, authors need to be
mindful when hiring someone to help them promote their book.
My advice to authors is that they should hire
someone to help then to market their book. Probably a few someones. The person
who designs your website may not be the right one to solicit large
organizations to schedule speeches and book signings. The individual who might
promote you to the news media may not be as good as one who can be your social
media surrogate.
Authors need to find a balance between what they
will do versus what a paid professional can do for them. And when they utilize
outside help, they must drop the desire for one-stop shopping and recognize
that they likely will need the help of several different specialized experts.
Going back to the house analogy, think about how
many different, specialized workers you will end up using — a plumber,
electrician, roofer, fridge repairman, floor guy, window treatment lady, etc.
Your book publicity and marketing may very well need the touch of various
professionals.
Whatever you do, don’t bring a self-defense
lawyer to a mold dispute. It is overkill.
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.
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https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/great-book-marketing-podcast-interview.html
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.
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