How Do You Market Your Book When Reader Tastebuds Vary Greatly?

 

I spent several hours viewing subpar art in Manhattan a few months ago. However, others didn’t feel the same way. Pieces that were on display sold for hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of dollars each. Others clearly value the very things that I see as wasted canvas and misused gallery space.

Does my art experience mirror what is taking place with books — where the majority of published books don’t appeal to many, and yet, a few books will still sell well, and they will even win awards and garner great reviews?

Everyone’s tastes vary greatly, right?

When marketing a book, it is nice if the quality of the content is good if not great, but it doesn’t always matter. One markets with an as-if mindset. You promote any book as if it is truly a treasure. You are marketing the idea of a book being great — even if by most standards it is not so great.

Most promoters just need to latch onto a few interesting talking points connected to the book, where authors can be given an opportunity to talk their books up in media interviews, news media interviews, or social media posts. If you can find an interesting hook, something newsy, relevant, or different, or a strong human interest angle, you will be in a position for the media to be interested in an interview. They, too, don’t care if the book is great or not. Their only concern is that the author will present well in a lively interview.

The key to marketing your book is to understand that your potential readers vary greatly on their preferences and needs. You can’t win everyone over. In fact, you are seeking to target the minority group of people who would be predisposed to having an interest in your book.

In a nation of 345 million, some percentage consists potentially of your readers. For instance, if it is a poetry book, maybe 10 percent could conceivably have an interest. If it were romance, maybe as much as 40-50 percent could be interested. But even then, the type of romance will dictate different percentages. A gay romance will have a smaller pool of potential readers than a heterosexual one, and a vampire romance will differ in readership size from a human-human romance story.

Of any of those percentages, only a fraction will learn of your book, and then a fraction of that will actually try it. Some percentage of those readers will like it and spread word of mouth.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not hopeless to get readers for your book. In fact, it is the opposite. I am trying to point out your potential readers do exist, that they must be identified, that you have to consistently, creatively, and assertively hunt them down and get in front of their faces. A pro-active, diversified, commonsense marketing campaign is what is needed.

Even if 99% ignore your book, never hear of it, or think it’s trash, you will have wild success. Just find the people with the same tastebuds who will like your book.

"I dream my painting and I paint my dream." --Vincent Willem van Gogh  

"Everything you can imagine is real." --Pablo Picasso  

"Understanding changes minds, but only action changes lives." --Best-Selling Author John C. Maxwell

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 6,750,000 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 2026, 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