Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Authors: Copy SB Hype To Sell Books



Hype drives this country. Talk up a movie and people will go see it. Create some controversy and people will tune in to a television show. Have a gimmick, like a 58-year-old boxing legend fight an influencer, and you break Netflix. Add in the Super Bowl.


Most often, the end product does not justify or live up to its hype. Doesn’t matter. Hype sells. And if you do it correctly, you can hype up your book sales. 

With a story line of a possible three-peat champion vs the best season ever for a discarded running back, commercials that go for $7 million every 30 seconds, and a half-time show by a Pulitzer Prize/Grammy-winning performer, the Super Bowl landed its biggest viewership ever. But it was a clunker.

A record 126 million people witnessed a disappointing event that suffered from a trifecta of trauma: a blowout Super Bowl; a horribly boring half-time show; and mostly unimpressive commercials.  

Authors, some of you have really good books. Most of you have mediocre books. You know that. We can’t all be great, right? But whether your book sucks or is worthy of the Nobel Prize for Literature, you can sell it on hype; not substance— just like the SB.

The halftime show was performed by a mumbler who needed sub-titles for anyone to understand him. He offered no dance moves and little music. Kendrick Lumar was boring and gets to be named the worst SB act ever. But people tuned in on the hope and promise of a great show.

The game was never close and featured three-time SB champion QB Patrick Mahomes play his worst game ever.  Stud RB Saquon Barkley, who carried his Eagles to the SB, had his worst game of the year, and did not factor into the win. But people tuned in expecting a real fight for the crown from two great teams in a championship wrematch from two years ago.

The commercials had few memorable ones and showed Madison Avenue can be creative in how it throws its clients’ money away. Too much buzz is given to the ads but it gets people who don’t even watch the game to watch the commercials. Ingenius!

Ok, enough of that dud. My point is: everyone got paid on SB Sunday — even if it was a losing performance by just about everyone. Learn from this, authors.

People won’t read your book because it is great. They don’t even know it exists. What will you do to get attention for it?

Sure, you need third-party validation: reviews, awards, testimonials. Yes, you need a great cover and memorable title. But what else? What can you do to hype your book?

What sells anything?

Need: offer what people actually need

Desire: give people what they fantasize about

Sex: beauty and erotica will always be stared at

Emotions: play on feelings of anger, fear, laughter, and love

Beliefs: from politics to religion to philosophy

Identity: the groups you belong to (gender, race, religion, hobby, nationality, sport)

Curiosity: the promise of something so unique, different, better, mysterious, colorful, odd

The typical attention-getters:

* Wild Declarations/Predictions
* Protests and Demands
* Lawsuit
* Arrest
* Fight
* Threats
* Celebrities
* Huge Donations
* Infidelity
* Loss and Devastation
* Revenge
* Redemption

How will you tap into one or more of these to promote your book? What are you willing to do to hype your book? Do you have the creativity, resources, tools, time, or opportunity to stir people in a lather about your book?

Hype sells. Even if the product is weak. Just look at the NFL, Madison Avenue, and a rapper.

Do You Need Book Marketing & PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four 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

This award-winning blog has generated over four 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.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity 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.

 

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).

 

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. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

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.

 

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.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum

 


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