There is a lot of competition for the inaugural edition of the Non-Seller Awards. With over 2.7 million books published in 2022, many sell fewer than 500 copies. Authors across the country seem highly committed to doing nothing, tackling the wrong things, or executing the right things poorly.
Below are the top 20 things our lowest performers do in order to qualify for an award:
1. Ignore sound advice from professional marketers. Folks, if you don’t listen to your doctor, you die prematurely. If you ignore your book marketing guru’s wisdom, your book dies an early death.
2. Don’t take advantage of a free consultation with a marketing pro. I am always surprised that a small percentage of people take me up on an offer to have a free marketing consultation. Good advice and no bill? Apparently, many authors are too lazy or fearful to hear the truth.
3. Fail to do an interview with someone promising free exposure. I interview a lot of authors for my blog but the majority of those that I offer such an opportunity to don’t even respond. They must be too busy whining that no one is buying their book to answer a few questions by email.
4. Let fear rule them. Rather than try something and see the possibility of succeeding, too many look at the probability of failure and never try anything. You have nothing to lose — you need to be in it to win it, so think about the potential rewards and not about failure.
5. Put too much stock into advertising. For 90 percent of all authors, advertising does not pay off, so don’t put all of your eggs in that basket. Print ads are dead. Digital ads are better, like the pay-per-click offerings from amazon, google, and facebook.
6. Dismiss social media’s value and don’t pursue it. If done correctly, social media yields book sales and builds a brand for authors. Ignore the negatives of bad social media behaviors — use it to your fullest advantage. It is huge, free, easy to use, and helpful to your cause.
7. Won’t invest in book marketing until they get book sales, but won’t get sales until they spend money to market their book. Folks, you need to spend before you turn a profit. It takes money to make money.
8. Does not put in the time or effort. Books don’t sell on their own. Do what it takes to get your book discovered — budget your time and stop being lazy.
9. Fails to pursue book reviews, including paid options. Authors need professional book reviews and can get them from magazines, newspapers, bloggers, GoodReads, etc. You can even pay certain media outlets to agree to post a review of your book — but it doesn’t guarantee it will be positive. Authors also need to cajole friends and family to post customer reviews on amazon and Barnes & Noble.
10. Lack a marketing plan. To fail to act without a plan is to plan for failure. Identify what needs to be done, assign tasks, outsource if needed, and budget time and resources accordingly. Meet your deadlines and take ownership of your book’s marketing fate.
11. Too shy or lazy to speak. Talking sells writing. Schedule appearances to talk about your book, read from the book, take questions, and discuss your approach to the craft of writing. Track down bookstores, libraries, schools, houses of worship, trade associations, non-profits, businesses, government agencies, and other appropriate venues to schedule speaking appearances.
12. Not techy enough to do social media. It is never too late to learn.
13. No motivation to blog. To sell a book, write a blog. The blog posts are useful to serving your social media needs. Some writers get overwhelmed or intimidated by the prospect of doing more writing — for free — to promote their book.
14. Lack a website. This is your business and home to your author brand, a tool of discoverability and to sell books. You need a web site.
15. Your elevator speech is too weak. If it is too short it may lack substance and too long will lose people’s focus. Work on a concise 30-40 second introduction of yourself that answers what is your book about, who is it for, how will they benefit, and why are you qualified or best positioned to write this book? A good elevator speech only reveals what is necessary to invite a dialogue and spark interest.
16. Miss or fail to set deadlines. There are real deadlines for things, such as when you can submit your book to a book review publication or when to apply for book awards. There is no reason to lose out over a failure to meet deadlines. Further, to get more accomplished, set deadlines for your planned action steps. Always proceed with a sense of urgency.
17. Fail to capitalize on opportunities or to see opportunities everywhere. Look for opportunities and you shall see them. Pounce on them. Further, create your own opportunity. Make the circumstances that are necessary for opportunity to arise.
18. Don’t build up your network or exploit your existing one. The way to book sales is through other people — they can help you and the people that they know can as well.
19. Don’t believe in themselves or their book. Confidence sells everything. Act with courage, take the initiative, act proudly and optimistically, move with energy and excitement and speak with conviction in your voice.
20. Fail to enter book awards or writing contests. The more places you submit your book to, the better chance you have if gaining some recognition and legit third-party validation.
If you believe you qualify for this award,
don’t brag. Repent. Change your ways. It is not too late. This is one award you
don’t want.
Need
Book Marketing 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!
Read This!
Raising Books To Be Successful
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/raising-books-to-be-successful.html
Book Marketer Brian Feinblum Interviewed
By Book Shepherd Cathy Fyock
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/book-marketer-brian-feinblum.html
8 Ways to Market Your Book
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/8-ways-to-market-your-book.html
Can You Sell Books Through Laughter?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/sell-books-through-laughter.html
12 Habits of Highly Successful Authors
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/12-habits-of-highly-successful-authors.html
Do You Have A Yes Attitude?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/do-you-have-yes-attitude.html
Author Website Do’s & Don’ts
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/author-website-dos-donts.html
How Writers Can Connect With Writers
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/how-writers-can-connect-with-writers.html
Help For Authors Becoming Speakers
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/help-for-authors-becoming-speakers.html
Should You Write Another 10 Books?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2023/05/should-you-write-another-10-books.html
About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, 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
www.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, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA,
Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction
Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland)
Writers Association, APEX, 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:
www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.