Is Marketing Books As Easy As Riding A Bike?

 

On a recent bike tour though the Loire Valley, across France’s ripening vineyards, sprouting farmlands, and scenic fields of sunflowers, my wife and I marveled not just at the good food, beautiful views, and our interesting fellow road warriors, but at how well run our tour group was. The company’s level of service is emblematic of how authors should approach their book marketing.

We arranged for our trip with Backroads Tours, not fully knowing what to expect. We had never taken any vacations with strangers — nor had we undergone an active trip like this. Usually we explore on our own, walk ourselves into the ground, and find off-the-beaten-path nooks and crannies to explore. We were so glad to have done this tour.  

Backroads Tours did what authors should do: 

* Treat their customers well

* Communicate what is — or will be — happening

* Have a plan, map it out, and anticipate or allow for changes

* Pay attention to small details

* Be consistent and focused

* Show concern for others

* Follow-up with you

* Anticipate one’s needs and service them

* Invite feedback and input

* Under-promise and over-deliver 

We sandwiched this tour in between some free days in Paris, where we walked along the Seine and accumulated plenty of cappuccinos and baguettes at outdoor cafes. We visited places we had not seen since visiting the city of love on our honeymoon 21 years ago. At that time, we did the hardcore tourist stuff — Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Rodin Museum. This time we hit The Picasso Museum, L’Orangerie, The Jewish Museum, and a walking tour of Mont Martre.  

As we made our way through the winding,500-year-old, stone-building-lined streets, we made some quick comparisons with our hometown New York City area. People in Paris were thinner, drank more alcohol, and smoked more cigarettes than Americans. But there were virtually no streetside pot smokers and fewer vaping souls in Paris. They dressed with a little more style, sounded polite, and were seemingly more sophisticated than Americans. 

The bike tour consisted of five and a half days of biking an average of 30 miles a day (50 KM). It was rigorous and challenging, but fun. Some of us used e-bikes, which meant we got a workout without blowing out our knees going uphill. Ok, it is a little cheating, but hey, I still had to pedal. My butt still hurt just like everyone else, spending an average of three hours on a bike seat each day. 

The other people on the tour were chatty, personable, and welcoming. It was nice to find stimulating conversations at breakfast, lunch, and dinner with people who started as random strangers and turned into friends at the trip’s conclusion. There were people participating from as far as Oregon, as well as Chicago, Atlanta, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New York.  

There was a visible camaraderie amongst our biker gang. We were like kids, just biking, eating, talking, and decompressing from all responsibilities. We were tuned into our new surroundings, and keeping screen time to a minimum.

Every day we saw either a castle, chateau, or fields of wheat, barley, and corn — and acres of wheel-shaped bales of hay. Most of our roadcapades were on relatively flat terrain under open skies. Every turn of the road unfolded new views and perspectives, with natural beauty consuming your 360-degree experience.

The path provided by the tour company was transmitted to each of us through a GPS-fueled device called a Wahoo. Perfectly curated, timed, and mapped, our traverses never took us to see the underbelly of humanity. We only saw the sanitized and scenic, a world that felt, free from pain, loss, poverty, isms, war, or crime. It was a welcome reprieve from work, daily life, and the ugly news headlines. 

Authors can model some of their marketing efforts from Backroads Tours. I certainly will recalibrate how I sell my book marketing services moving forward — and then I may just take a nap and dream of being back on the bike and leisurely making my way through the beautiful and peaceful French countryside.

 

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!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. 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.