What Could A Trump Win Mean To The Book Industry?

No matter who you vote for — or if you don’t vote for a presidential candidate — the nation will have a new president in January. Will it be Democrat Kamala Harris, who may be a continuation of President Joe Biden, or Republican Donald Trump, who may resemble how he governed four years ago?  

Let’s explore what a Trump presidency might mean for the book publishing industry. Of course, it also depends on whether his party wins any or both chambers of Congress. If it is a clean Republican sweep, big changes could be in play.  

1, Book Publishing Mergers -- Republicans generally are pro-business, meaning fewer regulations, taxes, or impediments to businesses seeking to maximize profits. The Department of Justice, under a President Trump, would not stand in the way of mergers and consolidations in the book industry. 

2. Book Stores -- As a business, book stores could benefit under lower tax rates that a Trump presidency is likely to bring. 

3. Book Subjects -- The election results, if Trump wins, will spawn a cottage industry of books. Same with Harris. 2025 will feature many books on policy, how each candidate won or lost, and people questioning the future of America. I would expect an increase in fiction book sales, for people burned out over the national political discussion, wanting an escape from whatever reality offers. Trump has published numerous best-selling books. I would expect him to release a huge book while in office. 

4. Book Bans -- Individual states and community school boards and town libraries determine standards for books that get carried in a local library, and in many Red states over the past few years, we have seen soaring numbers of book bans. Could it get worse under Trump? Well, if he threatens the federal allocations to various states based on a litmus test, who knows. Just like states get federal highway money if they enforce certain recommended standards, what is to stop him from doing that with libraries? He already wants to abolish the Board of Education. On his 2.0 tour he seems more vengeful and emboldened, and has a solid Supreme Court majority that bends over for him.

5. Library of Congress/The Arts -- Republicans often hold budgets hostage, threatening to cut them. Cultural arts programs don’t fare well under Republicans. In 2020, Publishers Weekly reported: “For a fourth straight year, the Trump administration has once again proposed the permanent elimination of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and with it virtually all federal funding for libraries.“ in early 2021, The New York Times reported: “When Donald Trump became the first president to make a formal proposal to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, the future looked grim to the many artists and cultural organizations that have long worried about conservative efforts to close the federal arts-funding agency.“ In the end, Congress stepped in to save the arts and libraries but funding did not rise by as much under Democrat President Obama or President Joe Biden. 

6. Defamation/Libel Laws -- Trump, who loves to sue to silence and bully people, wants to see it easier to sue writers and the media, in hopes the threat of successful litigation — or costly litigation — will force voices to be quiet and less critical of him. Look for him to mess with free speech when it comes to authors and traditional media but to go the opposite way with big tech, in seeking to force companies like Facebook to stop censoring and blocking posts it may not like politically. 

7. Lawsuits -- All lawsuits brought against Trump will go away or lay dormant for another four years. Further, he believes SCOTUS granted him across-the-board immunity to do whatever he wants. Whatever he will do to or for the book world, he will act with a feeling of impunity. 

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.

 

The Power Of Language Is Bigger Than You Might Think

The Power of Language, by Viorica Marian, is a fascinating exploration of how languages play an enormous role in the life that we each lead. 

Words can limit our understanding and experiencing of the world – or they can expand it. Words matter and the greater word choice a language offers its users, the better we are at communicating and understanding. In fact, the more languages one speaks, the better. 

Even teaching a second language to native English speakers can, according to this book, benefit speakers with cognitive, neurological, economic, and cultural advantages. The author brings into play a field that focuses on the relationship between mind and language – psycholinguistics – and offers some very interesting insights. 

Below are excerpted portions of a transformative book:

 

1. It may be a surprise to learn that the majority of the world's population is bilingual or multilingual. More than seven thousand languages are spoken in the world today. The most common languages spoken are English and Mandarin, with over a billion speakers each, and Hindi and Spanish, with over half a billion each, followed by French, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, and Portuguese. Speaking more than one language is the norm rather than the exception for the human species.

 

2. Though it may seem extreme, a multilingual can quite literally feel differently about people, events, or things when using one language versus another. The likelihood of being rattled by curse words or taboo words changes across native and second languages. Speakers of multiple languages not only report feeling different, but their bodies have different physiological reactions (like galvanic skin responses that measure arousal, or event-related potentials and fMRI that measure brain activity) and their minds make different emotionally driven decisions across languages. The exact relationship between positive and negative emotions and language varies across people.

 

3. Linguistic determinism proposes that language determines thought, and linguistic relativity proposes that thought is relative to language and that speakers of different languages think differently. Hotly debated ever since it was introduced in 1929, at its extreme, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that the absence of certain words precludes thinking about the things those words refer to, with much of the debate centering on how one defines and measures thought and language.

 

4. One of the most striking recent discoveries in the neuroscience of multilingualism is that knowing more than one language delays Alzheimer's and other types of dementia by four to six years on average. The benefits of knowing more than one language for brain health as we age are especially astounding when you consider that, other than exercise and diet, we know of nothing else that can provide benefits of this magnitude. A delay of several years in developing dementia means more time enjoying life and living independently, and may mean the difference between playing with your grandchildren and seeing them grow, or never recognizing them.

 

5. Fascinating research has also been done on how babies learn language. When we are born, we're able to hear and learn to produce the sounds of all languages-but as we learn the sounds of the language around us, our brain and articulatory system become tuned to the sounds of our native language and we lose the ability to recognize many of the sounds of other languages, usually by the time we enter our second year of life. In a process known as perceptual narrowing, neural pathways corresponding to native phonemes are strengthened, while those corresponding to foreign sounds are pruned. We go from being "citizens of the world" who can differentiate between the sounds of all languages to being "citizens of one country" who only differentiate between the sounds of our native language. For multilinguals, this window of "universal" sound processing stays open longer.

 

6.  It can be argued that multilinguals, as a result of having a larger repertoire of words for labeling emotions across their languages, are able to experience more emotions. Whether having a word to accurately label and capture a feeling influences how you actually feel remains a contested topic (the Sapir-Whorf conundrum raising its head yet again) in areas as diverse as child development, interpersonal relationships, and psychotherapy. Research on affect labeling finds that labeling your feelings disrupts amygdala activity in response to emotional stimuli. Participants who were asked to verbally describe how they felt before giving a public presentation showed greater reduction in physiological activation than control participants. This suggests that labeling our emotions can indeed influence how we feel. At the same time, emotions can transcend linguistic boundaries. 

 

7. The founding fathers, however, did not favor having one official language for the United States. Thomas Jefferson argued strongly against the idea. Founded as a nation of immigrants, in addition to the languages spoken by the many nations of people native to North Amer-ica, the American colonies spoke not only English but also Dutch, French, and German. Indeed, the majority of U.S. presidents have been bilingual or multilingual. Presidents John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Garfield, and Chester Arthur knew several modern and classical languages. For President Martin Van Buren and for First Lady Melania Trump, English was not even the native language —Martin Van Buren's was Dutch and Melania Trump's Slovenian. First Lady Grace Coolidge knew American Sign Language and had worked as a teacher of deaf students.

 

8. In all, over 350 languages and dialects are spoken in the United States. Other than English and the languages spoken by the Indigenous peoples of North America, the most frequently spoken languages are Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien). Other widely spoken languages in the United States include French and French Creole, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, German, Arabic, and Russian. All of them are opportunities to examine how language shapes our identities and modifies our capacities while broadening our social perspectives.

 

9. Approximately 26 percent of school-age children in the United States speak a language other than English at home. In many states — Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Florida-the numbers are even higher. Places where immigrants settle, where Indigenous populations reside, or where multiple official languages are supported have higher proportions of speakers of multiple languages. In California, nearly half of school-age children are bilingual.

 

10. What distinguishes the language of poets is not the country they originate from but the way in which they unshackle their writing from the conventions and norms of language, changing it as they write, giving it their own unique voice and way of seeing the world. Because languages have different rules, poets in each language must decide which rules to break, and part of what makes translating poetry difficult is that different sets of rules need to be broken across languages. In a way, poetry is its own language, or rather, it creates a language-and with it, a universe—of its own. Like learning another language, the language of poetry shapes one's mind, brain, senses, emotions, and memories.

 

11. Phonological neighborhood size refers to how many

other words in a language differ by only one sound, and orthographic neighborhood size refers to how many other words in a language differ by only one letter. Phonotactic probability refers to how likely sounds are to occur together based on the patterns of the learner's native language, while orthotactic probability refers to how likely the letters are to occur together in a language. Both across and within languages, some sounds are more prevalent than others. Knowing the likelihood of letters and sounds co-occurring makes a difference when playing Wordle and other word games that rely on letter and sound frequencies, and figuring out those probabilities is part of the fun in those games.

 

12. The exact number of consonants and vowels varies across languages. At one end of the spectrum, Hawaiian has 5 vowels and 8 consonants, and Pirah is believed to have 3 vowels and 7 or 8 consonants. At the other end of the spectrum are languages like Lithuanian with 12 vowels and 47 consonants and Danish with 32 vowels and 20 consonants. The Khmer Cambodian alphabet has 74 characters, whereas the Rotokas language on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea has only 12.

 

13. To make it possible to record and reproduce all sounds of all human languages, an alphabet was created called the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. The IPA is used by linguists, speech-language pathologists, language teachers, and other scientists, clinicians, and educators to transcribe the sounds of all languages.

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.

 

Observations From The World’s Largest Book Fair

 

 

There’s nothing like sitting down at a local outdoor café, sipping a cappuccino, and taking in the sights and sounds around you. This is true, for me, wherever I go, including my latest stop in life, Frankfurt, Germany. 

I came here to celebrate books, rekindle publishing connections, and seek out opportunities to secure more author-clients for my book marketing business. I had never been to the Frankfurt Book Fair, and thought it was time to visit the world’s largest book gathering, held every year in October.  

Germany is both the birthplace to the movable type printing press developed by Gutenberg in around 1450 and it is also the place where millions of books were destroyed, censored, and banned by the Nazis leading up to and during World War II. It is a literate nation and books today are embraced in the culture.  

It was 35 years ago that the Berlin Wall fell in Germany, marking the end of the Cold War and the reunification of today’s Germany. It was around that same time that I attended my first book industry event, Book Expo America, which back then was called the ABA. Held in Las Vegas, a funhouse city that seemed to be anything but intellectual, it was a wild introduction to the book convention world.  

Back then, Amazon was just born (1990), but basically it had no market share or relevance. There were more big publishers and fewer conglomerates, though the mergers were already beginning. The superstore sprint was underway – Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Borders, and Books-A-Million were building up an arms race that would eventually knock the indie bookstore almost off the map. E-books did not exist and the Internet was in its infancy. Audiobooks were only available on cassette tapes and some CDs, but not yet downloadable. Now, fast-forward to today.  

Audiobooks have been on a sharp rise. E-books have changed pricing, reading habits, buying habits, and promotional approaches. Amazon owns the industry. Chain bookstores have shrunk greatly and indie bookstores have been slowly but steadily coming back the past 15 years. The indie author now represents more than 85% of all titles published, but the major traditional book publishers account for 80% of the major best-sellers on the NYT list. People still read books, but the number of book readers has been declining.  

Book publishing is operating well under its new eco-system of the past decade. It has absorbed technology like POD, desktop publishing, e-books, audiobooks, social media promotions, and online selling. Next up: AI.  

The book fair showed that the industry still has life, though my understanding is the show is not even half of its peak size from some years ago. But it is still alive, unlike Book Expo America, which died leading up to Covid and got resurrected as a weak thing called US Book Show afterwards, with a shorter, smaller, partially online version.  

I was pleasantly surprised to see that indie authors enjoyed a presence at the London Book Fair two years ago, but I did not see many of them here. Frankfurt is a big rights and foreign language/distribution sales bazaar. I did not see the authors being featured much. But, authors drive the book world.  

Book publishing needs a bit of a re-brand. More author discovery is needed for authors to thrive and to generate more book sales. Online, a lot is taking place, which is fine. But, in-person events with authors are supreme. I want to see authors everywhere. Why can’t authors speak at churches, movie theatres, playhouses, parks, and arenas? They do, to an extent, but mostly if it is a big-name author in select venues. I think all authors need to speak and get out there. If local theatres show movies, why not have a 10 am author event, before the films get rolling? If church services start at 11 am on Sunday and end at noon, why not follow it with an author speak-and-sign? Most playhouses are used for three hours a day, if that. Couldn’t they also house author events?  

The answer is, yes, of course, they can. 

And, should a world-renowned book fair in Germany do more to push the author and get the word out? Most definitely. 

There were some educational events and some opportunities to network with people, and many publishers successfully bought and sold rights, so I can’t say the fair was a failure, but I guess I expected or hoped there would even be more for the author to do. 

The book industry is solvent and doing well, but more can be done to grow an industry that battles many other content providers, some of which are free, such as The Internet. As long as the book world promotes its authors, there will be continued growth.  

Hopefully, next year’s Frankfurt Book Fair realizes that. 

 

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.

 

Interview with Author Dr. Louis Perron

 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

I have been talking about writing this book for more than ten years. At some point during the pandemic, I told myself that there is now absolutely no more excuse not to be writing it.   

2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written for?

It’s a guide on how to win elections, in particular if you’re running as a challenger against an incumbent. I wrote it for politicians and candidates, their staff, team and supporters, and a broader public that is interested to learn more about how elections are ran and won.  

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?

A step by step guide on how to plan a winning campaign, from the decision on whether or not to run, to the right message and targeting strategy. How to prepare for debates, maximize social media, put together a campaign team and deal with attacks (that are sure to come).  

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?

Running for office is very personal and very emotional.  I wanted a design that visualizes the emotions of winning. The title was always clear to me because it summarizes exactly what the book is about.  

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!?

If I could go back in time, I would engage much earlier with my publisher and substantive editor. This would have saved me a lot of time. 

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? 

My impression is that more and more books are being printed, and less and less people buy books, let alone read books. This is both a challenge, but can also be an opportunity especially for authors like me that target a niche.  

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? 

Yes, plenty from my work as a political consultant during the past fifteen years. For me, the book is not just a book, but my professional legacy so far.  

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?

As I have an academic background, I try to be objective and systematic, while still be hands on and practical. Personally, I like the consulting books written by Alan Weiss a lot, especially the older ones. 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?

 The challenge was to finally start, and then to get it over the finish line. As I write in the book, I could not have done it without my wife. 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

In less than a month, Americans will head to the polls. Everybody has opinions about the campaign, but if you want to move beyond that, pull back the curtain and see what’s going on behind the scenes during an election campaign, get a copy of Beat the Incumbent.  

About The Author: Dr. Louis Perron is an expert political consultant & advisor, campaign strategist, scientist, and TEDx speaker based in Switzerland. His track record includes winning dozens of election campaigns worldwide, from big city mayors to presidents. He was featured on C-SPAN, Newsweek, Newsmax, USA Today, RealClearPolitics, The Hill and many others. He speaks fluent English, German, and French and has taught political marketing for more than a decade. For more information, please see: www.louisperron.com  

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.

 

How Bookstores & Libraries Inspire Reading

  

How do our nation’s booksellers and librarians impact what Americans read?  

A lovely book by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the magic of Reading, shares stories from those who help put books in the hands of others.  

Finding the right book for the right person is an art form.  

One person interviewed says: “Encouraging kids to read gives them tools to safely navigate the real world, and to protect themselves. Reading helps them think critically and it gives them the opportunity to learn about themselves and others, to create empathy and compassion. Students need to be able to see themselves in books but also be exposed to and experience somebody else’s life through books. Books are supposed to trigger conversations.”  

Another says: “I love doing this. I love reading a great book and recommending something that people haven’t heard of before, getting, to have interesting conversations with customers. And once they’ve read and loved it, they come back. They're so happy that you found something new for them.”  

And yet another in the book says: “I try to keep up with the trends, so I can make sure we have whatever the customer is looking for or so that I can offer great suggestions. ‘Let me feed you all these other books that you’re missing out on. Let me give you all these experiences, so that you can keep that newfound passion.’  

“A bookstore has many powers. If you want an escape from your life with a thrilling tale of adventure or romance or a good murder mystery, you’ll find it. If you want to learn something or locate information on a particular subject, you can find that too. Whatever you want or require, a bookstore will almost always have something to meet your needs. It can also be an incredibly healing place.”   

So many workers in the book ecosystem share the same sentiment -- their mission is to get *kids excited about reading books. But, as Patterson’s book notes. “33% of high school graduates never pick up another book and that 42% of college grads don’t either.” And yet, so many of us could not imagine a life without books.  

Though bookstores provide a central location for ideas, information, and curiosity to intersect, Patterson writes: “Books have deep connections. People are always looking for books on big life events - relationships, breakups, deaths, grief, getting married or what to expect when you’re pregnant- and there’s nothing better than recommending books that can have a meaningful and positive impact on someone’s life.”  

But bookselling, notes the author, is “a weird world where it’s kind of like rainbows and unicorns and magic.” Bookstores are places of business but they're also social institutions that provide for the greater good and benefit society.  

To help get kids to be reading-positive, you may want to connect with a nationwide program, Readers As Reading Partners (also called Pick A Reading Partner).  

“It doesn’t matter what you like to read as long as you love to read,” says Patterson.  

 

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.

 

Do Ads Make Sense – Or Dollars -- For Authors?

 

 

 

Many authors try their hand at advertising their book. Often, they blindly make choices, poor ones at that, and then lament they wasted hundreds or thousands of dollars. What is a sensible strategy for authors when advertising their book? 

As with any endeavor, you must first ask yourself why you are doing something. So, in the case of advertising your book, why would one advertise their book? 

Here are some common answers and my responses:

·         It will help generate sales. (Will it net sales but at a loss? Is that the goal?)

·         It will increase brand awareness (To what degree – and how does that translate into something like sales or something of value, like getting a movie deal?)

·         It will help me hit a best-seller list (Possibly, but in conjunction with what else, and at what cost?)

Then, once you are under the impression that advertising could help you achieve whatever goals you have in mind, or because it is a desperate stab in the dark after not much else has worked, you need to figure a few more things out. 

You will need to determine:

• What is my ad budget?
• Where should I advertise – and for how long?
• How will I measure results?
• What if it doesn’t work? 

There are lots of ways to advertise a book – and you probably get solicited for a lot of them. 

Your many options could include these - -but there are more:

• Printed ads, ie: newspapers, trade publications, newsletters
• Billboards ie: the highway
• Digital search ads ie: Amazon, Google, Facebook
• Infomercials
• TV or Radio spots
• Sponsorships
• Bookstore shelf placement positioning
• Fliers 

Advertising can be very expensive, offers no guarantees, and can be hard to track its direct results. However, for some it works. 

For instance, if you are already a known entity, such as Stephen King, you use ads just to make people aware the new book is out. No explaining of the book or author is needed. 

Others who may benefit from advertising are those who have a series, say of five books. Advertising one is a loss leader, meaning you may not sell enough of that book to break even but you will end up getting more sales for your other books as a result of them gaining exposure to, and liking, the first one. 

Another way ads may help is if you are seeking generate a higher sales ranking on amazon. Or, perhaps the ad is to create an awareness campaign, not just for your book, but for some other product, service, or business connected to the book. The ad may not sell a lot of books, but of those that sell, they may be lead generators for something much more profitable, such as a paid client consultation or speaking gig. 

Authors should really explore what means they have to properly market a book. Advertising may play a role, but likely it will not be high on the list of the things you can, could, and should first do. 

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.