Do You Know Your Book’s Market?

 

It sounds simple enough, but ask yourself why you market. I am guessing it is for a number of reasons and benefits, and that is fine. All that I ask is that you set specific goals and targets. Once you know WHY you are marketing your book, you will be able to figure out WHO you are marketing to.  

Is your marketing purpose based on getting sales? If so, how many books do you hope to sell this week, this month, this year? How many do you need to sell to break even? To make a certain profit size?  

Is your marketing purpose based on building up your ego? If so, how many books must you sell to satisfy such a need? What do you hope will happen as a result of your newfound fame? Do you need to make a best-seller list?  

Is your marketing purpose based on building up your credentials?  If so, what do you need to do in order to make the book a useful bullet point to your resume? What will you need to do with the book to establish your credibility as an expert?  

If your marketing purpose is based on helping others and making them aware or informed by reading your book, how many books do you need to sell or give away to build up critical mass?  

Is your marketing purpose geared towards using the book to sell other products and services or to support the branding of a business? If so, what will you need to achieve that goal?  

Is your marketing purpose centered on getting news media coverage, and if so, what steps will you take to contact the media and earn their attention?  

Analyze Your Target Market

• What is the level of income and education of your potential readership?
• What other books would they likely read?
• When would they choose or need to buy your book?
• What would motivate them to buy?
• How would they learn about your book?
• What would their common life activities involve?
• Where do they congregate and who do they affiliate with?
• What types of discussions would they engage in? 

Explore The Competition

·         How would you position your book against others?

·         What will you say about yourself to sound like an expert?

·         What can you say to get another to take an action step – to go from knowing to doing – and buying your book? 

Do A SWOT Analysis

Know your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

Strengths

1.      What do you offer others that is positive, new, unique?

2.      Why are you best positioned to be the expert on your book’s topic?

3.      What resources do you have at your disposal?

4.      What circumstances or marketplace elements are favorable to you? 

Weaknesses

1.      What do you lack and where do you fall short?

2.      Is there something wrong with your industry?

3.      Do people not buy into or agree with your message?

4.      Are your competitors too advanced, too numerous, too well funded to compete with? 

Opportunities

1.      Is there something happening that you can capitalize on, piggybank, exploit, or use to help you?

2.      Will laws change soon or some event occur that will open up things for you?

3.      Are there people or groups you can approach who can elevate you?

4.      Is there something in the news you can use to market yourself?

5.      Are there any special days, honorary weeks/months or anniversaries to tap into?

Threats

1.      Is there someone or something that looms out there that could steal or destroy your marketplace?

2.      Do you have any enemies dedicated to sabotaging you?

3.      Is there something going on in your life – health, relationship, family, death, moving – that will greatly distract you or impede your ability to market successfully?

You can market successfully once you understand why you market, who you market to, and what your SWOT is. good luck.

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their 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

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. 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. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen 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.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions 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. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, 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. 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.

How Writers Deal With Bullies

 

 

Do writers get bullied? If so, how should they handle it? 

Certainly, young writers in school may have to deal with traditional bullies, some of whom can taunt, tease, threaten, and abuse their victims unmercifully. Bullying can lead to violent encounters, verbal abuse, psychological torture, and force a victim into withdrawal, suicide, or dropping out of school.  

Thanks to social media, bullying can continue beyond the school's walls, 24-7. In such cases, parents, teachers, and administrators, and law enforcement have to get involved and do what it takes to protect children.  

As a kid, I had some confrontations with bullies in Brooklyn. I varied my responses. I ran from some, avoided others, and as a last resort, fought or stood up to a few. Some of them even became friends. Luckily, I don’t feel traumatized from these experiences, but many do and others experienced far worse stuff.  

There’s no easy answer at a young age to deal with other children who probably lack good parents, could be bullied by others, and may even have some undiagnosed mental health issues. They’d benefit from anger management training. As a kid, you feel alone, going up against some tormenting giant with no safeguards in place to rescue you. The good news is that as an adult, you hopefully encounter far fewer bullies, and if you do, you find yourself better equipped to handle them.   

As a writer, we already can be hard on ourselves. Insecurities, fears, and a lack of confidence easily plague a lot of writers. They want to feel they are good enough to get published. They want praise and public recognition. They want to feel proud about their writings. But then they hear the voices of doubt.  

First, it comes from within. We naturally second-guess ourselves and fear that anyone who reads our stuff until we feel it’s perfect. We dream big dreams while still learning how to practice our craft. A moment of conflict, concern, or just a feeling of not being good enough nor of being good enough as good enough comes over us. We have to deal with our own demons.  

Second, it comes from people we ask feedback from: editors, teachers, and fellow writers. Some of these people can be too liberal with the red pen or they fail to soften and explain their edits, instead, just ripping into your work in a way that feels more critical and less instructive. Some of these people are just failed writers who bitterly bully you by snuffing out your dreams.  

Third, once you publish a book, you are exposed to getting negative customer reviews and bad professional reviews from paid critics. Keep in mind, some readers may not even like the writings of a Pulitzer Prize Winner. Writing is a personal preference, a taste. Just because a few readers resist your writings doesn’t mean anything is wrong with your book. The critics out there who make a living trashing others are not always correct or justifiable in their rants and ramblings. Screw them. Thicken your skin and determine if any criticism has validity and learn from it and the rest of their blather should be ignored and dismissed.   

Fourth, and this may be the toughest bully to rid yourself of, is family and friends -- the people in your life who matter to you but likely are unqualified to critique your writings. They may, out of jealousy or ignorance, say things that are not true or legitimate as it relates to your writing. Or, they may not criticize your writing so much, but rather they will bully you into subjugating your desire to write. They will encourage you to get a job or focus your time on things they deem to be more important or worthy. These dream-killers need to be tolerated, but not embraced. All that they do is present fear, doubt, insecurity, uncertainty, and weakness as fact. Your destiny as a writer shall not be molded by them. You have to believe in yourself and keep writing, obsessively and determinedly.   

Writers get a mixed bag of respect. Some people really appreciate a well-written story, essay, poem, article, or book. But many don’t value writers because many of them do not get rich writing. It gets seen as a hobby or a side hustle. When someone asks another what they hope to be when they grow up, they don’t expect to hear “Writer.” It’s treated like a person who says, astronaut. Both seem unrealistic to the listener.   

I’m here to tell you the bullies can go screw themselves. The naysayers, critics, and sadistic editors that are out there must be shunned in order for you to find your way. In the end, you may give up on writing, or acknowledge limitations of your talent, or short comings of the financial side to publishing, but that will come in due time, on your own terms and timeline. No one has the right nor responsibility to kill a dream.   

Dear writer, stand up to the bullies out there, even in your own household. And walk away from the fears that spray shadows of weakness around you. Just see the words in your mind and let them flow from your soul onto paper or screen. Write what you want to write, do your best to write it, and then regale in the freedom and choice to publish your work. 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their 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

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. 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. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen 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.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions 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. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, 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. 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.

America's Literary Treasure Displayed At International Antiquarian Book Fair

 

I was treated to seeing millions of dollars-worth of literary royalty on display earlier this month at the International Antiquarian Booksellers Association Book Fair.  

The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was founded 75 years ago to encourage interest in rare books and manuscripts and to maintain the highest standards in the antiquarian book trade. The ABAA offers resources, vendors, authenticators, and information that helps encourage a vibrant marketplace to exist. The ABAA celebrated with a successful show in early April at an old Park Avenue armory in New York City.  

Available to see and touch were: 

·         Near-perfect first-editions of true literary classics,

·         Random newspaper clippings and political pamphlets from three centuries ago,

·         Bejeweled pages from 1450 French manuscripts,

·         Noir pulp fiction books during their heydays of the 1930s – 1960s,           

Plus, there were marvelous prints, letters, manuscripts, over-sized books, autographs, Bibles, children’s books, bookplates, ephemera, decorative bindings, historic documents, Lincolnia, maps, and a whole lot more. No NFTs or e-books were to be purchased with crypto here! No, this was a throwback to how America and the world used to be – where the written word was printed, read, shared, and saved. The printed word used to be of great importance, as something to be revered. In today’s transient digital world, I don’t know, it seems like words no longer carry the weight that paper afforded them.  

A culture of six centuries was on display in front of us, traded like one goes into a baseball stadium gift shop. The collection world looked to be busy and healthy judging by the heavy, steady foot traffic. Here is where the book is seen as art, as a commoditized product to be sold but not read, The show honors the printed words, but it is doubtful that many owners of these works will actually read from the antique edition. These books are too valuable to be read. 

What was interesting is you had museum-quality books on display, some worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they were fairly easy to see or access. There was a surprising lack of protection for such rare items.

Could any of these be forged, unauthenticated items, or mere reprints or items whose condition is misrepresented? Not on the ABAA’s watch! 

Here's a glance at what some first edition copies of classics go for: 

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain

$75,000 

The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway

$225,000 

Ulysses by Joyce

$65,000 

Gone With The Wind by Mitchell

$12,500 

Winnie The Pooh by Milne

$5,000 

The Grapes Of Wrath by Steinbeck

$17,500 

Casino Royale by Fkeming

$165,000 

The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupery

$6,000 

Metamorphosis by Kafka

$2,500 

On The Road by Kerouac

$15,000 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Capote

$1,500 

The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger

$15,000 

Lord of the Flies by Golding

$22,500 

1984 by Orwell

$17,500 

There were even books being sold that you wouldn’t associate with the words rare or classic, like a copy of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A first edition copy of the 1981 novel was being hawked for $1000. I like the movie that it was based on, but let’s be real.  There is no market for that – is there? 

If you want to learn more about ABAA, which is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, please consult: www.abaa.org.  



Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their 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

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. 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. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen 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.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions 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. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, 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. 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.

How Authors Avoid Being Boring

  

What impresses a message upon another in a way that will get them interested in what you have to say — and to act upon your offer?   

Yes, dear author, I am talking to you.   

How and what will you say what will win another over to buy your book, a bookstore over to agree to have you speak, or a news media outlet to want to interview you?  

Whatever you think should work, make sure it is something that you can say in 30 seconds or less — or that takes no more than 200 written words. Anything longer and people will tune you out or stop reading, and mentally vacate the premises. We live in an ADHD world, where a distraction is only one click away.  

First and foremost, explain why you are communicating with someone. Are you looking to make a sale, persuade a book reviewer to read it, seek a library to have you come speak, beg a bookstore to carry your book, or something else?  

When discussing your book, listeners need perspective, context, setting, and the big picture. Is this a vampire LGBTQ romance, an international crime thriller, a memoir, an inspiring self-help book, or … what? State the genre early on.  

The recipient of your elevator speech wants to know what is in it for them. Who are you, what is it about, and what need or desire does your book purport to fill for them? They may not ask these questions, but they certainly need to hear the answers.  

What is the persona or voice that you will speak in? Are you about logic and substance or style and appearance? Funny or serious? Some other type of vibe that you want to give off? 

Ask yourself: What can I say or do — and how can I say or do them -- in such a say that I will come off as being:  

* Engaging 

* Empathetic 

* Witty 

* Relevant

* Sincere

* Truthful

* Authentic

* Entertaining

* Inspiring

* Enlightening

* Motivating

* Relatable  

Here are added bonuses when seeking to effectively convey a message: 

* Be a great dresser

* Have an attractive appearance

* Wear a smile n your face

* Possess a great vocabulary 

* Share good stories

* Listen carefully

* Exhibit good body language

* Show some energy 

Don’t drone on, mumble, talk too softly, fail to make eye contact, or sound ignorant.  

But above all, do not bore me! 

 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their 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

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. 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. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen 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.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions 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. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, 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. 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.

Book Marketing Loses When Journalism Fails

 

The news media, particularly newspapers, is shrinking in size, influence, and capability. This is not only devastating for our democracy and safety, but it is detrimental to the process of authors seeking to promote their books. We need a stronger, more robust media in order for books to flourish.

We readily acknowledge that a free society needs to remain informed, inspired, and protected from the lies, corruption, and secrets of our nation’s wealthy elites, corporate powers, government officials, and military forces. That means we need a vibrant, expansive, and honest news media to keep things legitimate.  

The news media act as our eyes and ears, skilled in fair, accurate, and comprehensive reporting, and as unbiased aviators in the pursuit of discovering the truth and in the sharing of well-informed opinions.

As for the book world, the media, in its many forms, offers interviews, feature stories, book reviews, news stories, opinion columns, byline articles, and events coverage for authors. The newspaper is consumed by other media outlets, who then gain awareness of authors to interview or cover on their media outlets. Then, social media outlets and users may cover what appears in the newspaper.

A recently published book is worth exploring: What Works In Community News: Media Start-Ups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate. It details the state of the newspaper landscape and warns us of what happens when communities lack a newspaper.

According to The State of Local News 2023, a document produced by Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, there have been over 2,900 newspaper dailies and weeklies shuttered since 2005. 130 of those came in the past year. 204 counties don’t have a newspaper.  1562 counties have just one. The NYC metro area has lost 210 papers since 2005. CA is one of the states with the fewest newspapers per capita. 

These numbers are not pretty. 

As we lose local media outlets, these communities become more dependent on fewer original local news sources, giving way to newswires, non-newspaper media outlets, or non-journalistic hyper-local websites that are filled more with opinions or unsubstantiated reporting of basic incidents, like a murder or car crash. But who is doing local investigative journalism?  

When the media shrinks, citizens get dumber, and powerful institutions like big corporations, government agencies, wealthy individuals, and lobbyists go unchecked. And for the book world, it simply means one less authoritative voice is out there to support books. Sigh.  

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their 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

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. 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. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen 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.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions 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. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, 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. 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.