The world needs more good ideas — and even more people to
implement them. Books offer ideas, so one may argue that the more books we
have, the more ideas that will be circulating. But with more books that exist,
there will be fewer readers per title, and thus less of a chance that any of
these books will be discovered on a wide scale.
Books are starting to cannibalize each other.
Everyone has a right to free speech and can publish one or more books if they
choose to. But as more people write and publish more books, a bottleneck builds
up.
Today, over the next 24 hours, there will be over
7,500 new books published in America. How many of them does society want or
need? What percentage are worthy of making a best-seller list, winning a book
award, or earning some great reviews from influential book reviewers?
Honestly, should your book be published? Will it
add to the conversation out there, contribute something to society, or even
help one reader’s life? Is it truly better than most books competing in its
genre.
Ok, if you still feel your book should be
published, and you fully recognize the burden of discoverability is on you, are
you now prepared to commit to marketing your book?
Authors have always been great about writing
books. They often failed to get them published, that is until the
self-publishing industry exploded 20 or so years ago. Now they lag neither in
writing nor publishing, but in marketing. However, writers won’t go far
unless they market what they write.
All of the promotional avenues available to them
are crowded with competition, high costs, and a low probability of yielding
success or profits. Writers desperately search for readers in a country whose
growth has slowed and its population more illiterate than a generation ago.
Authors should market their books — wisely and
often — but they should also pledge to only publish what is truly worthwhile.
The world is too busy and consumed by distraction to pay proper attention to
all or even many of the books that are pumped out.
Market or perish. Heed these words, authors.
P.S. — This is ny 5,000th blog post!
Need PR Help?
Brian
Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 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
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