Do Authors Need A Preacher Or A Plumber? Yes

 

Authors seeking to market themselves need all kinds of help to get their books discovered. Should they hire a plumber or consult a preacher? Probably both.

A plumber is one who has training in a skilled profession, and has experience in fixing all kinds of pipe and water problems. You hire this whiz and expect to see clearly defined results. In book industry parlance, that would be a book publicist. Also called a promoter.

A preacher uses the power of words to speak to you in a way that leads you to see things differently, to feel supported, motivated, and inspired. This person educates and enlightens, showing you a way to go about living your life. This can extend to someone beyond church, such as a therapist, coach, and teacher. In the book world, this is a book marketing consultant.

Which one do you need? Notice the question is not: Do you need either one? You clearly need, and would benefit from, help. To deny that is to lie to yourself, or it would be so indicative of how uninformed or out of touch you are.

It takes a village to get an author branded and a book sold. Too much competition is out there. Random discovery moments are rare and not a reliable foundation for an author to build success upon.

If you can be shown how to do things, you would be more successful. If you can be aware of what could possibly be done in the macro to market your book, and then shown what you should actually do in the micro, that is priceless. You will not only save time and money in the process of retaining a preacher, but you will feel empowered and better positioned to find your readers.

But information and ideas are not enough. You need skills, time, and mindshare to execute what you have been taught. Or, you may divide and conquer, and split up tasks into things you will do, and things that you will outsource.

Enter the plumber.

This guy has a tool belt, supplies, and a vision. He gets tasked with a mission and executes. In the book world, that is your book publicist. He can be tasked with seeking out book reviews, securing your media coverage, being your social media surrogate, set up speaking engagements, run an ad campaign, design your web site, and many other things.

All authors would benefit from utilizing at least one of them. Most authors would benefit from hiring both the preacher and the plumber. It is a matter of money, preference, needs, and time as to whom you hire, but you need help from someone.

 

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 3.9 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.