Authors, You’ve Got This

 

While venturing to Grenada for a recent family vacation, we seemingly made the mistake of renting a car. I want to share a book marketing lesson here, so bare with me.

In Grenada, the roads are as poor as the people.

We rented a car that could have been at least 20 years old — and that was the norm here. The windows lacked the ability to go up and down. The doors unlocked manually and one of them required someone to push from the inside while a passenger pulled from the outside to get the door open. The car made creaky and grinding metal sounds when you opened a door. It made other sounds while being driven, causing me to ask at least once a day, “What was that?” It struggled to get up the many steep hillst here and the braking needed longer response time. It is the kind of car one finds at a police auction in the Bronx.

Driving there challenges your instincts. The wheel is on the right, they drive on left side, two way streets fit into a lane and a half, constant winding roads up and down mountains, potholes galore, random parked cars on the road side, unlit roads at night, pedestrians — and goats, chickens, and dogs —cross onto the road at any time or place.

Around every turn lurked danger. A drive that takes 20 minutes by savvy locals takes me fifty percent longer and feels twice as long. All I really needed to do was sit on the beach but sometimes we ventured out.

At least there were no bike lanes to contend with. Instead, the edge of the road takes a precipitous two-foot drop for rain gutters, meaning if you veer too close to the edge, you end up hitting something and crashing. That provided the incentive to be on high alert, watch my speed, and assume danger was everywhere.

Still, despite my trepidation, disgust, and discomfort, I did it. Not a hero, but it certainly was not something a foreign tourist enjoys. The same goes for your feelings and attitude towards book marketing.

Long story short: It is hard to drive here but I didn’t give up. And you shouldn’t simply dismiss an important aspect of your marketing repertoire simply because it feels different or unfamiliar, lacks convenience, and is hard to do.

You just have to do it.

You’ve got this.

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 2024.

 

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