When I was younger, a
teenager, I used to think I had to write something great — or it was not worth
writing. But what I know now is that one does not have to set out with the
pressure of being perfect. In fact, there should be no such expectation.
Greatness comes many drafts or years later. In
fact, the good news here is the opposite: You don’t have to be great the first
time out. You can fall short over and over again, failing hundreds or even
thousands of times. No one has to know about that. You are doing whatever it
takes to produce the masterpiece, and anything that happens before it means
nothing.
No one will know how many times you drowned in
ink, and even if they do, it does not matter. It is not the journey that you
take in writing that people care about — it is the final product that people
will remember and be gifted with.
Thomas Edison reportedly failed some 10,000 times
before he landed on the right light bulb. He was not criticized for failing all
those times, but is profusely praised 150 years later for succeeding once.
So, no matter how many times you pick up a pen and
it feels like it is a 200-pound burden to move in the proper direction, know
that the more times you try to write something and the more times that you
fail, the closer you are to breaking through.
The same is true for your attempts at marketing
your book. You can’t give up if you fail to sell a book today or tomorrow or
the next day. Every attempt to market your book teaches you what works or why
it falls short. You make adjustments. You try harder, longer, smarter, better.
You seek out help or advice. You do what you can and even stretch your reach.
Sometimes, it just takes a lucky break or one clear-minded moment for you to
feel you are heading in the right direction.
Many aspects of life are about having the time,
patience, and practice in order to evolve or even break through whatever you
are trying to achieve.
I don’t know how many times I got rejected when
requesting someone date me. I don’t know how many dates failed to convert into
another. I don’t know how many relationships I had that broke up. It does not
matter. I am happily married now.
Many times in my life I struggled to lose some
extra weight. There were times I just accepted it and gave up. But eventually I
would try again. My weight now is the closest to being normal in many years.
What happened before no longer matters. I am arriving at my hoped-for
destination.
I did not grow up with much money, living a lower
middle-class life in an apartment building. My parents did not drive, never
flew anywhere, and didn’t even have a dog. In my early adult years, I struggled
to make good money even though I felt the ability was within me. But as time
went by, I found my groove, and now I own my own book marketing company that
rewards me in many ways, including financially.
So, dear author, worry not about failure nor feel
you need to seek perfection. Keep trying and success may come to you as soon as
your next attempt. But even if it takes years, if you have it in you, a
breakthrough will occur.
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
6,650,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 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) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). 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, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers
Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five
times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, 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
