Do Authors Challenge Their Assumptions?

  

Felix Unger, a character of the famed Broadway play and 1970’s television show, The Odd Couple, once said to his apartment mate, Oscar Madison, “Don’t assume. You will make an ass out of you and me.”

Well, don’t assume too much of anything when it comes to marketing your book.

Did you:

* Assume your publisher would do everything that is needed to market your book — but they did not?

* Assume all your friends, family, and colleagues will buy copies of your book and will even tell their friends, family, and colleagues to do the same — but they did not?

* Assume you could expect anyone you hire to do a great job and have your best interests at hand — only to find out they did not?

* Assume great books will get lots of word-of-mouth and that you will get discovered organically — only to see that the author has to drive this?

* Assume everyone will want to read it — only to see that most people don’t know it exists and that the overall majority who are aware of your book simply do not care? 

As you can see, many authors are living under the wrong assumptions. Stop doing that! 

And, if you already have been burned and learned first-hand that operating under such assumptions is foolish, what will you do about it? 

You can’t just give up or live in fear of getting screwed. No, you must turn things around and make new assumptions. For each one, find a tangible way to get what it is that you seek.  

Assume the following:

—Success depends on taking action, not dreaming. Hoping is not a strategy.

—If you are to generate book sales it will happen only when you take ownership of your marketing.

—it will take time, money, favors, trades, hard work, and luck to get what you want for your book.

—Your book will not be randomly or organically discovered; its discovery comes from what you plan and do, from what you initiate, assert, and manipulate, and from what you create.  

Confront and challenge your assumptions about marketing a book — and replace them with new ones.

 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 5,000,000 page views. With 5,400+ 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 was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

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