Betsy Lerner, whose office is right next to Beaufort’s new office, has written a brilliant article on what it means to market a book. If you’re an author, drink this in, because it will help you immensely when you publish your next book. If you work with authors, forward this to everyone you know! It’s really applicable to anything you want to market, but especially books.
“People who have long given up on Santa, on lower taxes, on the likelihood of Lindsay Lohan’s rehabilitation, still believe that Oprah would like their book. Is this the Quixotic self-belief that compels a person to write in the first place? Or that leads him to be believe that his book should be a bestseller, and that everyone on the planet would like it, no matter that it’s about copper buttons in 18th Century France.”
http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/11/should-i-tweet/
But the article isn’t just funny and snarky, it’s also incredibly informative. I wish every agent, editor, and publicist took the time to share this information with their authors, because it’s not their fault they have misconceptions about the industry. Readers only ever hear about the one-in-a-million success stories–the first time novelist with the six figure advance, the self-published book discovered by mainstream publishing that takes up nearly permanent residence on the New York Times bestseller list. They don’t hear about the hundreds of thousands of books that don’t work, because nobody does. That’s why they don’t work.
Enough from me. Go read the article.
Margot
Tags: Book Marketing, expert, Marketing, Oprah is Santa Claus