Authors: Change Your Way Of Thinking

  

What will help authors grab hold of their books and market the crap out of them? How about a ¨thinking makeover?”  

After reading an amazing book, Think Again by Adam Grant, a NYT bestselling author, my own thinking changed. Though the book was not about books or book marketing, it was about how we can be more persuasive, which comes in handy when marketing an idea or selling a book.  

“Öur ways of thinking become habits that can weigh us down, and we don't bother to question them until it’s too late,” he writes. He’s correct. We are slaves to bad instincts. It’s time to approach your book marketing with a new frame of mind.   

If you can rethink the way you view or approach your book marketing, you will discover the best ways to promote yourself. So, keep an open mind, and purposely challenge others and yourself. Remove your calcified ideologies, beliefs, or habits that no longer serve you well.   

He encourages us to be anchored in flexibility rather than strict allegiance to consistency.  

¨A hallmark of wisdom is knowing when it’s time to abandon some of your most treasured tools and some of the most cherished parts of your identity.¨ 

Because science, technology, and life accelerate at a pace of change that is much faster than in generations past, we must question our assumptions, challenge what we know, and rethink what we do, and how we do them. This doesn't mean we throw out everything - but some parts of us need an update or even an outright replacement. Recognize it - and do something about it.  

Grant suggests that we get into the habit of forming our own second opinion and to stop ¨favor feeling right over being right.” We should be more like a scientist, who Grant points out is “paid to be constantly aware of the limits of your understanding. You're expected to doubt what you know, be curious about what you don’t know, and update your views based on new data.” Search for the truth, run experiments, test hypotheses, discover knowledge, and then confirm what works in the real world.  

Grant says we can’t always politic, prosecute and preach - we need to remain curious and neutral. Let the facts lead us to a truth. Inspect, investigate, interrogate, and interpret but do so without an obligation to defend a preconceived belief. So, too, must you be open with your marketing efforts.  

Don’t be quick to dismiss social media or to praise public speaking. Take a deep look at how these tools can work or won’t work for your situation. Then, whatever you conclude, be open to new ideas, especially when new times present themselves.  

Grant concludes: “Every time we encounter new information, we have a choice. We can attach our opinions to our identities and stand our ground in the stubbornness of preaching and prosecuting. Or we can operate more like scientists, defining ourselves as people committed to the pursuit of truth even if it means proving our own views wrong.” 

“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”  -George Bernard Shaw  

 

Do You Need Book Marketing & 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 like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your 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 (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 5,000+ 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.