Publishing is a people business. As an author, you are the most important person in the process. That’s why you come first. You have to assemble an army of allies who will help you launch your book so it blasts through the competitive static that could prevent you from connecting with potential readers.
The most valuable way networks can help you is by giving your books irresistible word-of-mouth praise to everyone they know. The more promotion you do, the more opportunities you create for your books and your networks to help you.
There are four powerful weapons in your arsenal:
- Your books (Expensive)
- Your networks (Free)
- Word of mouth (Free)
According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), about 560,000 books are published a year, with about 280,000 published traditionally—books that are sold through bookstores. Each book is a unique combination of author, text, title, cover, price, format, agent, editor, publisher, publicist, timing, promotion, and luck.
Regardless of how much competition you face, your books will have at least one unique advantage: you. You are the most powerful guerrilla marketing weapon in your arsenal.
“You should not only be an author on the subject you write about, but also an authority,” says Willy Spizman, CEO of The Spizman Agency. “ This differentiator will catapult your media success. At the end of the day, media outlets depend on expert commentary to make their stories substantial, well-rounded and credible. As a Guerilla Marketing Weapon, if you are the expert that your are claiming to be, they will definitely depend on you for expert commentary.
The future of your books and your career depends on:
- Your ability to write and talk
- Your passion for writing and promotion
- Your commitment to your career
- Your creativity in writing and promoting your books
- Your ability to make your books, your promotion, and your identity unique
- Your ability to create an authentic identity that enables you to present yourself as the embodiment of your ideas
- Your capacity for building and maintaining relationships with an ever-growing army of fans, professionals in your field, and allies in publishing and the media
- Your willingness to spend the rest of your life on sentry duty, seeking and seizing opportunities for writing, speaking, promoting your work, and creating new products and services
- Your tactical flair for integrating your weapons and using as many of them simultaneously as you can
- Your ability to overcome problems and bounce back from setbacks
Most Guerrilla Marketing weapons recommend are free. You aren’t one of them. Guerrillas know that time is more important than money. All but a relatively few lucky writers have to work to support their writing habit.
Even though you may not be able to assign a number to how much income you are giving up to work on your books, it may add up to more than what you earn from them, especially at the beginning of your career.
In any case, you face the never-ending challenge of using your time and talent as productively as you can. The fate of your books and your career is in your hands, which is the best place for it. The goal of this book is to show you how promotion will help you build the career you want, book by book.
An excerpt from the National Best-Seller “Guerrilla Marketing For Writers.”
By Rick Frishman
Reprinted from “Rick Frishman’s Author 101 Newsletter”
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