Do Authors Just Need A Different Perspective?

 

 

Though the Freedom Tower opened over 11 years ago, it wasn’t until recently that I visited the tallest building in North America, going to the observation deck on the 101st floor. It has changed my perspective of the city.

The building, measuring 1776 feet tall, stands near where the Twin Towers had watched over the city until 9/11. It is hard to believe we are approaching 25 years since the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor took place. Nearly 3,000 died when terrorists crashed airliners into the buildings.

Being able to see the city from so high was amazing. I have been to the Empire State Building and I once did a helicopter ride over the city, but both had become faint memories. This viewing gave me a fresh perspective on not just Manhattan, but of all the surrounding geography, including four other boroughs, New Jersey, Ellis Island, Liberty Island, etc. It was like looking at a doll house or one of those Lego miniature city renditions, only this was live and real.

The city is cavernous, littered with so many skyscrapers that increasingly dwarf one’s surroundings. It is hard to see too much of the landscape from the ground, but being so high up gives you a comprehensive viewing perch.

You can feel like a bird in the sky when you look down 1000 feet from your vantage point. Everything seems small and proportionately insignificant. You can’t hear the traffic, see the homeless, or smell weed in the streets. No, this is a sanitized view of the biggest city in America, but it is also a wide lens view. It is overwhelming to be able to see a huge chunk of Manhattan from just a single spot.

The city is roughly 18 square miles and packed in any given day with 20 million people, daily commuters, and tourists. But when you are looking from so high up you feel like you are alone, so removed from the lives of others. The city can at times feel overcrowded and claustrophobic, but when you literally distance yourself from the streets you feel god-like and above the fray.

Authors need to get a fresh perspective on things in order to write and market effectively. Writers fall into routines, habits, and rhythms. Sometimes that reliable consistency comforts them and serves them well, but eventually it grows tiresome. Writers need infusions of new input, of fresh perspectives to fuel their splashes of creativity across a blank canvas.

Whereas people may appreciate the view from the sky of the city, writers desperately need a viewing point that extracts them from their heads. They live in dreams, visions of ideal worlds, and in reflections of an unrepeatable past.

The act of writing is a lonely art, one filed with emotions, needs, and desires. How does a writer detach from themselves to see life from another perspective?

Some take to drugs and alcohol. Others get lost in risky or dangerous behaviors. But most authors cannot escape themselves, certainly not their pasts, thoughts, or fears.

Can they just take an elevator to the clouds and look out to see the world differently — or will their baggage weigh them down and only permit them to see through a distorted prism? One may be a thousand feet above the streets, but for some their soul remains in the gutter, chained to viewing the world the same no matter what they see or do.

How can writers gain a new perspective? They must do new things, do familiar things differently, and do anything with in-the-moment intentionality. They need surprises and shocks. They need to be challenged and thrust into new circumstances. They need to get out of their head.

Usually this only happens when writers are thrust into unhealthy situations of excess. Black -out alcoholics and those who violated their marriages have made for some of the greatest writers. It seems only the reckless, abusive, self-hurting, or victimized have the insights and capacities to pen great stories.

But for the rest of us who don’t bang someone else’s wife, who choose not to get high on drugs, and who do not feel haunted by their childhood, how are we, as writers, to get a new perspective?

Maybe we need to simply do the opposite of our norm. If we usually go to bed at 10, stretch it to 2 am tonight. Force yourself to get up early to see the sun rise. Foster a dog. Watch a movie out of your usual genre circle. Eat something you have never had. Visit a house of worship different from yours, if you even have one. Say yes when instincts say no. Take on that which you fear.

Gain a new perspective — on life and on your book marketing.

 

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 8,200,000 page views. With nearly 5,700+ 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