Authors, Market To Your Secondary Readers, Too

 

 

Here is an interesting stat: In the US, pornhub visitors break down 72-28% men/women. Internationally, it is 62-38% men/women. Latina was the most searched for term, then MILF, then Asian.

Why am I discussing this?

This shows you that behaviors and tastes are not universal. What is consumed overseas is not the same as what is viewed here.

It also shows that a product is for more than one’s intended audience. As you can see, though porn seems to be male-driven, over a quarter of American viewers are women, and overseas it is more than a third.

So how does this translate into marketing your book?

Well, think of who your likely or intended reader is. What demographics do they check off, based on gender, age, race, faith, wealth, and location. What habits, interests, or needs are they likely to possess? You are looking to market, not to everyone, but to those who would likely be your potential consumer.

Fine, that makes a lot of sense. But now think of your secondary and tertiary markets. Just as pornhub mainly services men, there are still a lot of women who watch, too. So, with your book, even if you think 75 percent will be women or certain types of people, there is still a significant minority of others who could be your reader. Be sure to market to them as well.

America has 343 million citizens. Carve them up into groups and segregate into subsets of various types of readers. The nation is so big that you can target just one percent and potentially score several million book sales. Know who to market to — primary, secondary, and tertiary — and then pursue them.

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum 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 5,400,000 page views. With 5,500+ 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 2026.

 

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

 

 

Interview With The Biographer Of The Dead, Podcaster Dr. Joe Lex

 

1.       What is your book, All Bones Considered: 52 Laurel Hill Women, about? All Bones Considered: 52 Laurel Hill Women is a collection of short biographies about extraordinary women, from the colonial era to the present, who are buried at Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. Each chapter tells of a woman’s life, but also puts her within the broader history of the city and the nation. What did the world look like around her? What obstacles did she face? In many cases, why has her name faded from public memory? The book introduces you to Founding Mother Esther DeBerdt Reed; Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother’s Day; Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first Black woman in the United States to earn a PhD in economics; Mary Ann Lee, America’s first prima ballerina; Christine Wetherill Stevenson, founder of both Plays & Players Theatre in Philadelphia and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. My goal is to introduce readers to women who deserve far more attention than they’ve received. I hope this book sparks curiosity and encourages deeper exploration.

 

2.       How did a retired medical doctor and university professor become a podcaster who focuses on retelling the stories of those buried in local cemeteries? After nearly five decades in emergency medicine beginning as a combat medic in Vietnam and retiring as a professor at Temple University, I left a career with only a vague idea of what would come next. That changed when I went on a guided tour of Laurel Hill Cemetery. It made me realize what I truly missed, even more than the patients, was the research and teaching that had always energized me. I took a course and became a cemetery tour guide. I soon discovered far too many fascinating stories to share during a single tour. So, I started a podcast, and then a second one, both dedicated to retelling the lives of those interred in local cemeteries. After a few years I had hundreds of scripts. Turning them into books seemed the logical next step. This journey from medicine to guided tours, to podcasting, and ultimately writing allowed me to continue exploring, teaching, and sharing remarkable stories in a new way.

 

3.       Why did you choose to focus your book only on women? That’s easy. Women’s stories are inherently more compelling because they have to be. In an era when a woman might find her name in print only at birth or marriage, it took exceptional determination for her to earn a doctorate in chemistry, author a renowned astronomy book, or drive a golf ball over 300 yards. Or even to write her own story. Men, especially wealthy white men, had countless career paths open to them – business, politics, medicine, law. Women often had to forge their own unique futures. Their journeys were rarely traditional, as they are the ones who began the traditions. Sometimes their creativity just to survive was nothing short of extraordinary. That drive and ingenuity is what makes their narratives so fascinating and worthy of focus.

 

4.       You wrote that you hope others around the country would undertake similar projects, to go to their local historic cemetery and hear their stories of those who came before us. How should one go about doing just that? If you want to dig into local cemetery history, having unbridled passion for the topic definitely helps, not to mention lots of free time and a bit of spare cash for books and online references. Being a little obsessive doesn't hurt, either! Start by checking out any tours at your local historic cemetery; they're a great way to get your bearings. Next, chat up the old-timers in the cemetery office. Let them know what you're up to and ask for their stories-they usually have plenty, and might even share old archives or scrapbooks. Don't forget your local historical society and librarians; they're goldmines for information. Just be ready to run into dead ends. Seriously, I found about 75% of my first leads didn't pan out. Stick with it and keep asking questions!

 

5.       How did you go about selecting the women that you chose to write about? I went through the scripts from a hundred or so podcasts and found my favorite 52 women. I compared them alongside my favorite 52 men - who was more interesting? While the men included the expected authors, mayors, polar explorers, an Indian fighter or two, and a few scoundrels, the women's group stood out with individuals like a founder of her own religion, the inventor of signal flares, a Hollywood gossip columnist, and a Black Communist who meticulously videotaped everything on television for more than 30 years. There’s also been a recent trend in major publications like The New York Times and Times of London, to publish obituaries for influential women they previously overlooked.

 

6.       America is turning 250 years old this year and Philadelphia feels like its birthplace. Does your book not only reveal the history of a city but of a nation? I would certainly like to think so, but semiquincentennial visitors may feel otherwise. To be truthful, Laurel Hill is not the place to visit founding fathers and mothers, although we have a few including Charles Thomson, Joseph & Esther Read, and Declaration signer Thomas McKean. Old City, especially Christ Church burial ground, is where hundreds of thousands of tourists will get their Philadelphia graveyard encounter and drop a now-obsolete penny on Ben Franklin's grave, ironically across the street from the US Mint, which they should also visit. But if you want the history of Philadelphia from the mid-19th century onward, this would be a pretty good place to start.

 

7.       Laurel Hill East was one of the nation’s first garden cemeteries when it opened in 1836. The population of the cemetery is a small city – 75,000 – and includes 33,000 monuments. How does it differ from Laurel Hill West? They were founded by the same man - John Jay Smith - a third of a century apart. Both sit high above the Schuylkill River, as Smith was somewhat of an aquaphobe. They are across the river from one another in separate cities and counties. Laurel Hill West has about 300 family mausoleums, several decorated with stained glass from the Louis Comfort Tiffany studios. While there are military men in both cemeteries, East has a preponderance of Civil War veterans, while West has a lot more Great War veterans. East is squeezed into 78 acres and is almost completely full, while West has lots of open space and a park-like feel. One major issue with West is inadequate public transportation, although there is a rail-to-trail public entrance, and a segment of road through the cemetery connects Montgomery County with Philadelphia County.

 

8.       Most people are concerned about what their legacy will be, and of what others will say about them if their name is even spoken of at all. Are you obsessed about what your tombstone will say? The opposite. I am a retired physician who learned anatomy on the body of a volunteer. The least I can do is return the favor. First dibs go to any salvageable organs, and then for teaching purposes, even if that involves a body farm. If there are cremains, a mulch pile will do. My legacy is a national teaching award named for me and the hundreds if not thousands of people around the world that I helped teach the art and science of emergency medicine. Plus, a podcast that’s been downloaded more than 85,000 times. But if I had an inscription, it would be a combination of two that I have seen, both at Laurel Hill West. Abram Winegardner Harris has on his stone simply “Scholar – Teacher – Leader – Friend” and lawyer / legal scholar Henry Sandwith Drinker has a line from Shakespeare: “The day shall not be up so soon as I / To try the fair adventure of tomorrow.”

 

9.       Is it hard to put each woman’s life into perspective, given they each lived during such different eras, when society’s laws, mores, and habits varied greatly from each other? Definitely. It's a real eye-opener. When I dive into the rhythms of life from another time, I realize just how unfamiliar and complicated things were for these women. Just picture the sights, sounds, and smells at 4th and Chestnut back in the late 1800s. Think about Martha Coston, just 21 years old, suddenly a widow with four kids and no safety net in 1847. Everything about daily life, what people wore, how they worked, who got to tell the stories, was shaped by rules and customs totally different from what we know now. I get that there are things I'll never fully understand, especially since I've grown up in a completely different world. Even so, trying to fill in those blanks and imagine life from their point of view helps me connect with their stories, even if I'll never have all the answers.

 

10.   Some of your stories share lessons and transmit values. What life advice can we obtain from the dead? Let me borrow a trick from the historians for this one. They’re the folks who remind us that those who’ve passed aren’t just footnotes. They’re still part of our story. When we look at their diaries, letters, old keepsakes, and records, we get a peek into what mattered to them, what they struggled with, and what dreams they chased. Sometimes, their stories warn us what not to do; other times, they light the way forward. We pick up humility from lost fortunes, courage from people who stood up for what’s right, and learn about the cost of intolerance from the tragedies we all remember. By checking out how past generations faced tough times and searched for meaning, historians help us see our own decisions as pieces of a bigger picture, and they nudge us to be thoughtful, kind, and remember we’re all in this together.

 

About The Author: Joe Lex retired in 2016 after 45+ years in emergency medicine which he started as a combat medic in Viet Nam and ended as a professor of Emergency Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. When he took a tour of the historic Laurel Hill Cemetery, founded in 1836, he realized that the role of a cemetery docent seemed to suit his personality. After a year or so of giving tours, he decided that both cemeteries, East and West, really needed a podcast to talk about their amazing inhabitants. The result was "All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories", followed a couple of years later by "Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories." For seven years he was the producer, researcher, and announcer for a weekly radio show on WPPM- Philadelphia.  One of his podcasts is now ranked the Number 1 Philadelphia History Podcast: https://podcast.feedspot.com/philadelphia_history_podcasts/. For more information, please see: https://allbonesconsidered.com/

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum 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 5,400,000 page views. With 5,500+ 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 2026.

 

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

 

 

Interview With Author Mary Madeiras

 

1.      What inspired you to write this book? It began as my own personal practice. When visiting my own Akashic Records, I was shown that I was a writer and that writing would be a central part of my work. My Records encouraged me to save every reading I did for myself and then to continue opening my Records for guidance around the real questions I was navigating in my life. Over time, a larger picture emerged. The messages weren’t just answering my personal concerns — they were offering insight for humanity that was meant to be shared. The Akashic Way became the natural result of that unfolding: a blend of lived experience and Divine insight meant to support clarity, healing, and remembering on a collective level.

 

2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written for? The Akashic Way explores what happens when we run our life’s questions, concerns, and moments of confusion through the lens of our own Akashic Records. When we do, the soul imprints held within the Records are reflected back to us, creating a deep and familiar sense of remembering—of who we are, why we’re here, and what has always been true beneath the noise of everyday life. As that remembering settles in, alignment naturally follows, opening an easier path forward guided by choices and actions that reflect our inherent light. The Akashic Way is written for all of us—whether we’re actively searching for meaning or simply wanting to experience a clearer connection to our own brilliance.

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? I hope that readers will find a part of themselves in The Akashic Way, particularly as they journey with me, my personal experiences and the questions that shaped much of my life. By sharing those moments honestly, I wanted to create a space where readers feel seen and recognized rather than instructed. I also hope the Divine insight woven throughout the book gently triggers self-love in each reader. That is the most consistent message I receive from the Divine—that we are all love, and that we came here to experience ourselves as love and co-create through love, back to Source for the purpose of expansion—to infinity.  Divine love expressed in the book isn’t fixed or bound to time. The messages are living and responsive—meeting each reader exactly where they are in any given moment.

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? The title emerged directly from my own experience working in the Akashic Records. Each time I brought my challenges and feelings of being stuck, blocked, or uncertain into my own Records, what came back was clarity—and from that, expansion. Over time, I began to understand that the Akashic Records are both within us and all around us at the same time. They became not just a practice, but a way of life for me—a way of returning to my own light, gaining clarity, and living in alignment with my soul’s chosen journey. The Akashic Way was born from that realization. The cover design came from a painting created years ago by my cousin, Lee Passarella. It immediately resonated with me. Its soft colors and movement reflect the quiet beauty of who we truly are beneath our stories and struggles. It felt like a visual expression of the same essence the book carries—gentle, expansive, and deeply familiar.

 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? It’s funny, because when my Akashic Records showed me that I was a writer—and that I would write several books about the Akashic Records—I did exactly that. I ran. I avoided it. I struggled with the idea of bringing my personal life into the work, and I doubted myself constantly, with thoughts like, “Who, me? A writer?” At times, it felt genuinely torturous. What carried me through was continuing to bring all of that resistance, fear, and doubt directly into my own Akashic Records. Every time I did, I felt soothed, reassured and shown that this was part of my soul’s chosen journey. Eventually, I surrendered to the truth that I am a writer. The moment I stopped resisting, everything began to flow—with ease, grace, and joy. So, my advice is this: don’t run. Remember why you’re writing and why you were drawn to a particular story or subject in the first place. We’re never called to write something that isn’t already alive inside of us. The work is to honor it, trust it, and allow it. It’s part of who you are. And it can be so fulfilling.

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? One clear trend I see—especially in nonfiction—is a move toward authenticity and lived experience over purely conceptual writing. Readers are increasingly drawn to books that blend personal narrative with insight, particularly in areas like memoir, spirituality, wellness, and personal development, where categories are overlapping more fluidly. From an industry perspective, nonfiction is showing steady growth, with strong momentum in digital formats such as audiobooks and e-books. Readers are looking for work that feels relevant and meaningful—books they can return to and integrate over time rather than consume once. Publishing is also becoming more flexible and less rigid in how books are defined. Hybrid works are finding wider audiences because they reflect how people actually process change and meaning. The industry is heading toward books that build lasting relationships with readers—grounded, experiential work that meets people where they are in a rapidly changing world.

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? Absolutely. Many of my life experiences found their way into The Akashic Way, but two in particular were foundational. The first was my more than twenty years working in the entertainment industry, where I earned three Emmy Awards for television direction. That world demanded a high level of responsibility, discipline, and perseverance—skills I’m deeply grateful for and continue to rely on in everything I do today, including my writing.

The second came much earlier in life. Growing up in a chaotic household—with an alcoholic father and difficult family dynamics, including being bullied by one of my brothers—required resilience at a very young age. At the time, I didn’t have language for what I was developing, but looking back, I see how those experiences shaped my capacity to endure, adapt, and stay connected to myself. One of the ways I navigated those years was through my imagination, which became both a refuge and a strength. My imaginative inner world remains one of the most alive and beautiful parts of me, and it continues to inform my work as a screenwriter as well as how I engage with the Akashic Records today.

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? My writing style is conversational, experiential, and grounded in direct inquiry rather than instruction. Much of the book unfolds through dialogue with the Divine, which naturally gives it a reflective, intimate tone. I’m less interested in explaining spiritual concepts and more focused on allowing insight to emerge through lived experience and honest questioning. The closest comparison readers often make is to Conversations with God, in the sense that the wisdom comes through direct dialogue rather than doctrine. That said, my work is perhaps more rooted in personal lived experience and less focused on universal proclamations. It also shares qualities with books like The Seat of the Soul and The Untethered Soul, in its emphasis on inner awareness, non-judgment, and soul-level clarity. Ultimately, though, the voice of The Akashic Way is its own—gentle, practical, and oriented toward remembering rather than teaching.

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? One of the biggest challenges was doubt—specifically the concern of whether what I was writing would truly serve readers in the way I hoped. I always knew I was writing with authenticity, but there were moments when I questioned whether the work was good enough, or whether I might somehow let readers down. What helped me move through that was continuing to write anyway, trusting the process rather than waiting for certainty. Another pivotal moment came during the editing process, as the manuscript moved back and forth between my publisher and copy editor, both who continuously reflected back to me that this book was something meaningful and important. And finally, my wife, who is one of the most honest people I know. She kept reminding me how important The Akashic Way is. It was incredibly affirming and helped me to release my doubt and fully stand behind the book with confidence.

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

Because most people have never encountered the Akashic Records as a living, accessible resource for everyday life—and yet the Records are one of the most profound sources of clarity I know. The Akashic Way offers an experience of the Divine speaking directly to us, not as instruction, but as reflection toward a new kind of reality. This isn’t a book that teaches or tells readers what to do. It mirrors something back to them in a very alive way—something deeply familiar. In that sense, it can feel a little trippy, but also incredibly grounding and soothing. At a time when the world feels chaotic, fearful, and uncertain, The Akashic Way offers a quiet, steady reminder of who we are beneath all of that—and that alone can be transformative and powerful too.

About The Author:  Mary Madeiras is an Advanced Akashic Records Practitioner and Emmy

Award-winning television director. Her work in the Akashic Records brings forward divine

messages for both personal transformation and collective awakening. These transmissions form the

heart of her book, The Akashic Way – Living Through the Lens of the Akashic Records, a sacred

offering for humanity’s evolution and healing. Mary’s creative life—shaped by her work in film,

television, and screenwriting—is now a living collaboration with the wisdom of the Akashic

Realm. Please see: www.theakashicway.com.

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum 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 5,400,000 page views. With 5,500+ 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 2026.

 

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

 

 

Book Marketing That Cures The Disease of Poor Book Sales

 

 

Authors are bombarded with rumors, advertisements, amateur advice, or professional guidance — much of which may not be accurate, relevant, or tested. In short, authors don’t know what to do -- and do nothing — or they act on information that is biased, inaccurate, a scam, or simply not ideal for their situation.

I hear…

* One needs to be on Tik Tok
* You have to hire influencers
* We need to do Facebook ads
* You should have a trailer
* One has to get 50 amazon reviews

Is any of it valid?

This works, that doesn’t.

All day and night authors get advice, much of it bad, on what to do — or not — when it comes to marketing a book.

Just like my wife’s patients (she is a nutritionist) hear about fad diets, fake news, and incomplete medical advice, too many writers:

* Are exposed to bad information
* Lack accurate information
* Hear incomplete information
* Misunderstand or misinterpret what they learn
* Assume they know it all

Authors need to act on accurate, complete, and unbiased information. So, what should authors do to generate more book sales?

1. Have a game plan for your book and for you as a writer. Think through what you hope to accomplish and explore which marketing options would serve you best.

2. Be prepared for a trifecta approach: you will do some marketing, you will hire a book marketing pro to help; and there are some things that will just not get done and you will have to simply accept it.

3. Designate three time budgets: time to strategize; time to execute; time to evaluate, make adjustments, and follow-up.

4. Delegate a budget for things that you are unable to do.

5. Be mindful to craft a campaign around your book’s genre. The key areas tend to be: social media, news media, book awards, speaking engagements, book reviews, and sales efforts tailored to your targeted readership.

Books that are not marketed at all go unread.
Books that are marketed incorrectly produce few sales.
Books that are marketed well, but only for short bursts of time, will not build enough word-of-mouth.

Book marketing is a daily event that is done over a sustained period of time. If done well, it will cure the disease of anonymity.

 

 

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum 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 5,400,000 page views. With 5,500+ 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 2026.

 

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