Can Writers Get Past Book Marketing Block?

 

 

 

Authors often do not approach book marketing from a healthy perspective. In fact, they are fearful, insecure, suspicious, uninformed, misinformed, and delusional when it comes to what they think promoting a book is all about.  

Now, I get some of that, I really do, but I also know that for a book to succeed, there needs to be real marketing muscle behind it. So, whatever your hang-ups are, whether warranted or not, you need to promote your book. To stay on the sidelines is to kill your book. 

Published authors need a boost of inspiration and confidence to get out of their bubble and to start doing pro-active things that can promote a book. The best type of things that can be helpful are these:

 

• Social media
• Book awards
• Mainstream media
• Speaking engagements 
• Author website
• Book reviews
• Direct marketing
• Networking 
• Testimonials
• Advertising

Having a plan and reserving a budget of time and money to execute each piece of the plan over time is what you need to put your energies into. Worrying, avoiding, or feeling crippled by a decision is a waste of time and energy, and eventually costs you money and opportunities.  

Authors mistakenly:

 

• Let a bad experience color all of their efforts 
• Hear about marketing fails of other authors and assume the same will happen to them
• Dismiss things like social media without understanding that there may be useful and easier ways to use it than they think
• Assume something won’t work when it can 
• Hear something that sounds good but they don’t really understand it and should not partake in
• Think they can hire or outsource all of their marketing 
• Focus only on writing and not much on marketing  

Authors need to examine a number of things, such as:

 

• Who your targeted reader is 
• Where that reader lives, plays, and turns up
• How to appeal to their ideal readers
• How much time, money, mind shape, and resources they really need to commit to marketing a book
• Less expensive ways to get their books published 
• Why they expect sales when they do little or nothing to generate book discovery 

Often, your marketing efforts need to be ongoing and holistic. You need to do things before publication, during your book launch, and after your book is published. What you do to promote one book could have a residual pay-off to promote prior or future books. Marketing a book is less a singular event and more a way of life. 

Open your eyes- and heart - and wallet - to the book marketing possibilities that are out there for you. Embrace the opportunity to promote, don’t evade or shun it. You start at a deficit and need to use marketing as a way to propel your book forward.

 

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 4.25 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