You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Every week I point you to pieces that I think will teach you something or spark an idea or two. This week I’m pointing you to pieces on surviving a disappointing launch and promoting your book in 2014.
From Ernest Dempsey: How to Regroup and Keep Going After a Disappointing Launch
“Zero hour arrived and you waited patiently as the sales began to trickle in; a good sign at first. Or so you thought. But as the day went by, the small flurry of sales never became the avalanche you’d hoped for, and by the end, you were left wondering what the hell just happened.”
From Rich Fahle: Marketing for the Long Haul: The Shifting Ground of Book PR in 2014
“That culture of immediacy in book PR is a holdover from a previous era when front-of-store displays at physical book retailers included a time stamp, similar to screens in movie theaters, where it’s imperative to maximize the short period of sunshine, before being pushed out of the theater by newer and shinier movies in the queue. But in a book discovery world where less physical browsing occurs, the shorter publicity time frame is becoming an actual impediment to success for many books, books that often take much longer to find their way into readers hands or devices–sometimes months or years after publicity efforts were put to bed.”
Wally’s Comment: This is the best thing I’ve seen on the changing nature of book promotion. It’s a must-read if you want to write a book and make it a success. Rich Fahle says things I haven’t said as well and several things I haven’t thought of.
Sources I Check Regularly
I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writer’s Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.