Fixing Your Broken Book Marketing

 I came across a book, Inventions That Didn’t Change The World, about invention ideas that never took off. I got to thinking: Why didn’t they work then? Could they work now? Could some aspect of a failed idea be applied in a way that could make a portion of it successful today?

This is what authors should be asking about their book marketing campaigns: Could the marketing of your book be improved? 

Did you try something that didn’t work at the time for you, such as social media? Perhaps if you tweaked what you did, do it with better effort, and do it more frequently and for longer, change platforms, alter the type of content posted, and solicit more people, you would end up seeing the benefit you had hoped to see. 

The same thing with your outreach to the news media. Maybe you need a different pitch or story angle. Maybe you need to change or expand the list of media outlets and people that you are soliciting. Perhaps your means of outreach has to go beyond what you did. If you only emailed people, try calling, faxing, snail mailing, or tracking the media down one tweet at a time.  

Whatever it is that you have been doing with your marketing, change something — do more of it, less of it, differently.  

In book marketing, whatever you have been doing that is not yielding results has to change. Look at the obvious things: the tone and content of your message, the visuals, method of delivery, timing, duration of effort, level of energy used, attitude, shortcuts, using any technology or connections, being more creative, and doing the things most people are too dumb, lazy, afraid, insecure, or poor to do.

Sometimes, nothing you do delivers the kind of results that you felt warranted the effort. Not every book can be successfully marketed. Most are not. But you need to try, or else your book just dies. 

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

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, BookCAMP, 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.