Why Great Authors Are Lousy Book Marketers

 

What holds authors back from not marketing their books, aside from the obvious: lack of knowledge, skills, resources, connections, or time, or money? 

It is you, dear author, and your mental approach to your book marketing, maybe even your life, needs to be readjusted. 

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

• Believing you're just not good enough. You lack confidence. 

• Feeling you don't have the energy it takes. No pep on your step. You need better nutrition/sleep/exercise. 

• Mistaking rules — whether set by you or another — for absolute truths. You can find workarounds and make exceptions for new circumstances. 

• Not really wanting to do the work. Laziness won’t be rewarded. 

• Not pushing yourself to the highest level. You lack inspiration or motivation. 

• You set such ambitious goals that you don’t know where to begin. Don’t burden or overwhelm yourself, crippling and undermining your dream. 

• Holding out for optimal conditions to get going or to expand. You can’t wait for the perfect storm to strike. Acting now often beats all strategy.  

• Requiring specific tools or resources to get the job done. Stop stalling or making excuses — go to war with the soldiers you have available. 

• Abandoning things as soon as they get difficult. Show some resilience and nerve. Stick with it. 

• Feeling as if you need permission or someone’s authorization to move forward. You don’t.  

• You perceive problems or shortcomings that don’t exist or can be overcome and dealt with. Choose optimism. See possibilities not dead-ends.  

• Failing to stay informed and up-to-date about successful and strategic ways to sell your book. 

• Not acting on all of the good advice you were given. 

• Expecting or demanding results without sacrificing some of your time. 

• Believing that you can’t or won’t market your book, but failing to hire others who could help you. 

• Having too many ideas and not knowing where to start, feeling overburdened and unfocused. 

• Procrastinating, making excuses, and avoiding your reality. 

• Prioritizing other activities over your commitment to marketing your book. 

Stop being your own worst enemy. Don’t be the bottleneck to your book marketing success.

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, 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!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.7 million pageviews. With 4,900+ 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 director of publicity positions 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 hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, 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. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.