Can Authors Overcome Bad Habits & Misconceptions?

 

We all act on what we know and think — and on what we don’t know or misperceive. Authors certainly act on a limited understanding and a bias of how book marketing actually works. 

How often do you find your fears and insecurities plotting against you?  

Can you see that many of your decisions are based on incorrect or incomplete information? 

Is it apparent to you that you make choices based on wants and needs, not so much on opportunities or facts? 

Here is what I see a lot of authors doing when it comes to marketing: 

·         Waiting and seeing if their book catches fire, but doing little to create a spark.

·         Doing something they think they should be doing, but having no real feeling for.

·         Setting a budget that is not based on anything, other than you believe you will only spend a certain amount on your book.

·         Seeing other books break through and then wondering why yours has not.

·         Overspending on inefficient methods, like advertising, and not enough on things like book awards and paid book reviews — or missing free opportunities in speaking or social media.

·         Thinking they don’t need a website — when they do. 

You need to grind all of that bad behavior to a halt. Step back and embrace a new book marketing perspective.

“We need the ability to unlearn what we know,” says Roger von Oech in his thought-provoking book, A Whack On The Side Of The Head. 

He continues: 

“Without the ability to temporarily forget what we know, our minds remain cluttered with ready-made answers, and we never have an opportunity to ask the questions that lead off the beaten path in new directions. Since the attitudes that create mental locks have all been learned, one key to opening them is to temporarily unlearn them - to empty our mental cup, as it were.  

“The danger of habits is that a person can become a prisoner of familiarity." The more often we do something in the same way - whether it's cooking a meal or managing a project - the more difficult it is to do it in any other way. We get stuck in how we already think about things.  

“In the imaginative phase, we ask questions such as: What if? Why not? What rules can we break? What assumptions can we drop? How about if we looked at this backwards? Can we borrow a metaphor from another discipline? The motto of the imaginative phase is: "Thinking something different."  

“Develop the explorer's attitude: the outlook that wherever you go, there are ideas waiting to be discovered.  

“Don't get so busy that you lose the free time necessary for exploring.  

“Allow yourself to be led astray. If you discover something anomolous or unusual, use it as a stepping stone to something unexpected."  

Start discovering new ideas, approaches, and information that can help you approach your book marketing differently and better. 

 

Do You Need Book Marketing 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 4.4 million pageviews. With 5,300+ posts over the past 14 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