Don't Market Your Book Like Apple's Ron Wayne

 

Authors must never give up on their creations if they believe in them. Just follow the lesson of Ron Wayne, who threw in the towel too soon on what could have dramatically changed his life and his family for generations to come.

Here is Ron’s story, a cautionary tale for all entrepreneurs and enterprising authors:

Apple, one of the world’s leading technology companies and heavily influential in the evolving telecommunications industry, just turned 50. The company was formed by a college dropout, Steve Jobs, and a gadget-tinkering friend who worked at Hewlett-Packard, Steve Wozniak.

They each formed their partnership with 45% shares and 10% went to their advisor, Ron Wayne. However, the company got off to a shaky start and Ron shit the bed, cashing in his stake very early, for an $800 payout. He would get another $1500 a year later. The company is now valued at $3,700,000,000,000. If you can’t add up all of the zeroes, that’s 3.7 trillion dollars. His share, due to changes when the company went public, would be worth at least 100 billion dollars today.

So, what is the moral here?

If you truly believe that you have created something unique and special, be willing to weather temporary missteps, losses, or setbacks. Be willing to take a risk. It is like a slumping athlete. Their tailspin is temporary. They know that if they stay fundamentally sound in their approach to their craft, and work hard, they will eventually breakthrough.

Sure, most start-ups fail, but many have modest success, and only a few really blow things out of the water. For authors and their books, it is the same thing.

But you don’t have to play things by statistical odds. All that you need to do is remain confident and take action. Be resilient. Your book, if it is good, deserves better. Market often and do it well. If your book is to fail it should be because it really was rejected by those who read it, not because your marketing was weak and lackluster.

There is a saying on Wall Street: Only invest what you can afford to lose. Similarly, do not break your credit card limits or take out a second mortgage to fund your marketing, but do stretch yourself to support what you believe in. That could mean working OT, getting a side hustle, delaying a vacation, buying a cheaper car, or even deciding against a planned home renovation. Invest what you can afford to do.

In addition to money, the author’s greatest resource is her or his time. Pour in what needs to be done to learn and execute core book marketing functions — social media, website, book awards, speaking, news media, and networking.

What you don’t want to do is be a Ron Wayne. He pulled out of what was destined to be a monster pay-off. He stopped believing, feared risk, and gave up. He even screwed up again years later, when someone paid him just $500 to get the original contract that he had signed. It would eventually get resold for $2 million!

 

Don’t stop until you break through -- or you see evidence of actual rejection of your book and not of your marketing.

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 5,950,000 page views. With 5,600+ 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