How to Best Crush Your Marketing Money-Mindset - BM329

Okay, I give in, I know that it’s time because so many of you have told me point blank. “Susan, I want to hear your thoughts on book and author marketing.”

 Yes, I admit my guilt. I’ve hidden behind my Book Marketing Mentor guests for far too long. I agree, it’s about time you heard more about my thought leadership in this area.

Moving forward, the plan is that twice a month I’ll introduce a guest expert as has been the regular format of Book Marketing Mentors for the past 6 years and about to start our 7th year. That’s hard to believe. 

And then, twice a month, you’ll hear from yours truly. 

 As much as this excites me, it also scares me. And, that’s okay because, like you, in order to stand out from the crowd, you need to take creative risks. 

 So welcome to the new, improved, and exciting format of Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, tips, and ideas from the masters which includes me, your host, Susan Friedmann, the Author Marketing Mentor and Influencer. 

The first topic I want to discuss is possibly the most important driver of anything you do as an author. Whether it’s writing, promoting, marketing, and selling your book, if this driver isn’t guiding you in the right direction, “Houston, you have a problem.”

What I’m referring to is your Mindset.

According to Webster’s dictionary, Mindset is “A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially one that is habitual.” 

 A few months ago, I sent out a research survey asking authors what stood in the way of marketing and promoting their book. 

Interestingly, the responses I got fell into four main categories, which are as follows:

1.      Lack of money to market the book

2.      Lack of time due to other more pressing commitments, such as family, or a job that they felt was their priority

3.      Lack of marketing and sales expertise

4.      Lack of confidence due to fears and insecurities

What I’d like to do over the next few weeks is to take each of these stumbling blocks and crush them.  That is, destroy them so they no longer can stand in the way you moving forward with your book and author marketing. In other words, we’ll erase them completely from your list of excuses. Perhaps that could be the title of my next book, “No More Author Marketing Excuses.”

 The first Stumbling Block on the list is the Lack of Money

 I don’t know about you, but I can probably count on one hand how many of the thousands of people I know, who would ever admit to having enough money. Perhaps, I do know a few. 

 However, if you don’t happen to fall into this super elite group and feel that you don’t have the funds to do what you want when you want to do it, know that you’re in good company, really good company. Because hundreds, thousands, and possibly millions of others share that same dilemma.

Like most “authorpreneurs,” you probably don’t have an endless stream of money, let alone a healthy trust fund to access, to finance your business venture. 

Yes, you can always beg, borrow, or steal, none of which I recommend as a long-term financial strategy.

Instead, your currency of choice comprises the skills you possess, namely, time, energy, imagination, and all the creativity you can muster.

There are multiple marketing strategies and tactics available for free, which should be music to your ears. However, if you're truly serious about marketing your book, you'll need to set aside a few hundred dollars initially to pay for essential services such as website hosting and email marketing.

As a rule of thumb, companies allocate between 5-10 percent of their budget to marketing opportunities. 

What I recommend is that when you make money selling your book, get speaking, training or coaching gigs, and save a few dollars (or whatever currency you use), to put towards your ongoing marketing efforts. 

Start small and as you grow, can afford to invest more in your author marketing ventures.

Oh, just as an aside, I often get asked, how long should you keep marketing your book?

It’s a great question and let’s take a few moments to address this now.

You’ve probably heard that each book you write and publish is like giving birth to a baby. And as they say, there’s nothing like the first one.

I recall so vividly when my first book came out. I was ecstatic. I wanted to shout about it from the rooftops. 

I was living in Cincinnati, OH at the time. I went into my local Barnes and Noble to make sure they had the book in stock, which they did. I took the book off the shelf and positioned it back on the shelf with the cover facing forward for everyone to see. 

I’m not sure how long it stayed like that after I left the store, but it did give me enormous satisfaction. 

I walked away from the store with the thought that I wanted to find ways of selling my book in bulk versus the onesies and twosies that the stores were likely to sell it. Amazon wasn’t around at the time, but the same concept applies. 

This idea led me down a path where after several years, I managed to sell 500,000 that’s ½ million copies of my book to one company.

Now, my intuition is telling me that you want to know exactly how I did that. 

And, I am going to leave that story for another episode when I’ll share some in-depth marketing strategies and tactics with you.

What I will share is that I didn’t stop marketing the book for well over 15 years. 

So, getting back to the question of how long you should keep marketing your book. 

My question to you is “how long do you want your book to sell?” Because that’s how long you need to keep marketing it. 

 Remember, chances are slim to none that your book is going to sell itself, unless of course, you’ve created an incredible “word of mouth” campaign and a team of foot soldiers to do the work for you. 

But, relying on others to sell your book isn’t a sustainable long-term strategy.

My final words of wisdom on this, for now, is that the best person to market and sell your book is you. 

Why? 

Because no one else can possibly have the passion and excitement for your baby the way you do. 

You birthed this baby. 

You gave it life right from the beginning. 

From the day you conceived the idea, put the first word on a page and then went through the whole gestation period, however long that was for you, right up to the day you were able to physically hold your baby in your hands. That beautiful, finished product!

What an incredible feat. Each and every one of you is a champion for becoming a published author. 

However, as much as you thought this was your final destination, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s just the beginning. 

Now it’s time to nurture your treasure. To feed and water it so that it grows up strong and healthy. That’s your marketing – everything you do to share your message with the world. 

In future episodes, I’ll delve deeper into many different marketing strategies and tactics that work. 

However, the next time we meet in a couple of weeks, I’ll address the second stumbling block, “lack of time.” 

Until then, I invite you to commit to investing 5 minutes minimum each day on a marketing activity that can help you get your book in front of your target audience. 

 Just to remind you of what I talked about at the beginning of this rant: Your currency of choice comprises the skills you possess, namely, time, energy, imagination, and all the creativity you can muster.

If you’re interested in brainstorming some marketing ideas with me, I invite you to go to BrainStormWithSusan.com to schedule a 20-minute session with me. This is a quick roll-up-your-sleeves session where we’ll put our heads together to come up with at least 3 ideas you can use to market your book.

Again, that address is BrainStormWithSusan.com

Until we meet again in a couple of weeks, here’s wishing you much book and author marketing success.

Book your complimentary 20-minute brainstorming session with Susan at BrainStormWithSusan.com