Does Self-Help Advice Help Authors?
There are tons of self-help books seeking to
motivate, inspire, and rally the masses to be good, do better, and live your
best you. They tell us to get off the couch, stop whining, and to do something
with our lives. But just how true is their wisdom -- is it merely rah-rah
wishful thinking that only a select few can act upon, or are there offerings
full of practical, improvements and guidance that anyone should be able to take
advantage of? More importantly, are their theories and teachings in self-help
books applicable to authors marketing their books?
There have been some great self-help,
motivational, and inspirational books, published over the past century that
still ring true today. A few that came to mind are:
Tony Robbins: Awaken The Giant Within
James Allen: As A Man Thinketh
Napoleon Hill: Think & Grow Rich
Dale Carnegie: How To Want Friends & Influence
People
Og Mandino: The Greatest Salesman in The World
Norman V. Peale: The Power Of Positive Thinking
Stephen Covey: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People
Victor Frankl: Man’s Search For Meaning
Read any or all of them and you’ll have a
foundation of values and inspiration to achieve great things in life.
A book can work magic on its readers only if the
reader is open to it. So, my advice below, though I think it’s great and useful
to authors marketing their books, is only as wonderful as a reader thinks it to
be.
Here is my self-help advice for authors:
Today is a new day . What you did yesterday -good-or- bad-is not today. Treat
each day as a unique entity and an opportunity to get your book out there.
Rest not on your accomplishments nor whine over past failures. Start fresh
today.
Embrace failure and rejection . Book marketing id a numbers game. Most
often, you should expect to hear NO. That’s ok. For you, success just
means getting a YES, regardless of how many denials you accumulate. The
author who gets a bookstore to say yes to a query on scheduling a book
signing on their first phone, call is no better off than the author who
had to hear NO six times before getting a yes today. Both have one book
signing.
No reason to be risk-averse or to play things safely . You have little to lose - you haven’t
done shit yet. Go out there and put yourself on the line. Hustle, speak up,
and assert yourself with a sense oof urgency and purpose.
Do what’s normally not done by most people . Find alternative routes to get to your
destination if other ways are blocked.
Challenge your assumptions and move past the things
that you think hold you back.
Find role models to inspire your best behavior. Seek out a mentor.
Before you seek out a solution to a problem, look to
avoid the problem in the first place. Or, redefine your situation so as not to be stuck in a
problem. In any case, see any problem as an opportunity.
Be industrious, scrappy, and hungry. Think like a criminal.
Find a way to say yes to an idea or opportunity, rather than
an excuse to say no .
Think like an outsider , the underdog, or a 10-year-old kid.
Play devil’s advocate and think like a contrarian.
Don’t look for anyone’s permission to succeed. Take action and ownership of what needs to
be done .
No is a delayed yes .
Persist. Try harder. Try again. Try a new message. Try a new method. Try
until radio silence or rejection is replaced with a yes.
Good luck in your book marketing pursuits. It
ain’t easy out there, but you just need to keep going at it, without looking
back.
Need Book Marketing Help?
Brian
Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at [email protected] 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!
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. 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 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ 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 two jobs 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 recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA,
Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction
Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland)
Writers Association, APEX, 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 . He has been featured in The
Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald . For more information, please consult:
www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum .
