15-Step Author Success Plan!

1. Have a good book marketing plan. You can’t get to where you want to be unless you know where your journey is supposed to go. 

2. Leave enough time to execute it. Don’t sabotage yourself and lose the one asset that costs nothing: Time. Use it to your advantage by thinking and acting ahead of schedule. 

3. Find cost-cutting or time-cutting shortcuts to what you need to do. See how you can be more efficient at what you are doing to market your book. 

4. Dismissing some things — not all of your ideas are necessary. You simply can’t do it all, so prioritize the things that pose the greatest pay-off and are things you are capable of doing.

5. Operate in an empowering environment. If you are surrounded by negativity, in an echo chamber of no, you will not feel the motivation, love, support, and cheering that can help inspire you to very good results.

6. Schedule with flexibility and reality. The spectrum of life ranges from lazy-ass do-nothings to workaholics. Both are detrimental to you. Find a way to work hard and smart, with focus and resilience — tempered with rest, fun, and flexibility.

7. Start something — initiate. Action begins when you take the first step, send the first email, make the first call, write the first blog post, buy the first paid book review, apply for the first award, speak at the first bookstore, and secure your first news media appearance. Stop thinking and start doing.

8. See it through — finish what you start. Once you initiate, close the deal. It can take many follow-up touch points to get a positive result.

9. Don’t get distracted from the one big thing. Every day there should be a singular goal on your radar. Have secondary and tertiary ones as well. Yes, you will multi-task and burn several fires simultaneously, but never, ever lose sight of your anchored objective for the day.

10. Take responsibility and ownership for your book marketing. No one will market your book unless you pay them or if you have help from a publisher. But even in those scenarios, you need to participate and even supplement what they are doing. Do not leave your book’s discovery to chance. Take action and drive thus bus.  

11. Seek help: beg others for free assistance, trade favors with others, and hire professionals. Outsource the things you can’t, don’t know how, don’t want, or have little time to do.  

12. Seek out strategic book marketing advice from a professional. Some aspects of marketing may need to be outsourced, but even for the things you will do by yourself, you would benefit from hearing the strategies, insights, and ideas for marketing your book.  

13. Assume nothing but always anticipate. Don’t assume rejection from those you solicit but do anticipate their likely objections so that you can be prepared to answer and be better positioned for success.  

14. Mix up or rotate marketing tasks to keep it fresh. Don’t do the same exact things every day. Perhaps pursue speaking engagements on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do social media Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Update your web site every other Wednesday. Pursue news media opportunities on Tuesday and Wednesday. Diversify your efforts and your daily routines, just like one does alternating workout regimens at the gym.

15. Brainstorm, research, and question your way to success. To improve, expand, or change your marketing approaches, keep learning by thinking, talking to others, and reading or viewing content about book marketing.

 

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