Most authors I know end up obsessed with book sales, usually to such an extent that they don’t write their next book. What a shame. They don’t realize their potential as writers or as authors. Yet, there is a way for you to avoid this pitfall while still selling and writing more books. Today, national publicist Annie Jennings of Annie Jennings PR explains how you can live the life every author dreams of living with a PR strategy you may not have considered. NA
What is the one thing Annie Jennings PR can count on every day? A self-published author will call with their sad story.
“Can you help me?” they say. “My book was published a few months ago, and I only sold 14 books and these were mostly to family. Where did my dream go?”
BINGO!
That’s exactly the right question to be asking yourself if you are not selling books. “Where did your dream go?”
Your dream took a detour into the land of No Book Sales. And this detour destroys the author’s enthusiasm and triggers a downward spiral into the Why can’t I? mindset. Why can’t I be a New York Times bestseller? Why can’t I get rich from book sales? Why can’t I be successful like Mark Victor Hansen?
Let me tell you this: Book sales are the last thing you should be thinking about. Seriously. The recent stats say that over 3.8 million print on demand books were published in 2010, with a projected figure of 1.1 million print on demand books published in total for 2011. That’s down over 69 percent in one year. Do you think the numbers indicate people don’t want to make the same mistake twice?But that’s still way up from the 22,000 print on demand books published as reported in 2006.
That’s a lot of books for the market to absorb.
But I say WRITE MORE BOOKS!
Why?
So you can have the time of your life.
Your book is nothing but a reflection of all that you have come to be, a showcase of who you are and what you have to share at a certain date and time in your life.
Where you are today is actually different from where you will be tomorrow. You are always evolving. Each and every day you put your knowledge, experience and wisdom to work for you. So by the end of the day, you are different. You have had experiences that influenced you, that changed you . . . a little or a lot.
But in any event, yesterday’s book is out of date, almost already.
But here is the key that will change your life. Keep writing but engage in active publicity, not passive publicity. Here’s how the difference between the two plays out.
ACTIVE PUBLICITY: Publishing your book propels you to new heights of happiness and success. At the end of the day, you feel great.
PASSIVE PUBLICITY: Publishing your book basically sucks you down the drain. You’re finished. Time to move to some faraway place and blame it all on the fact that you did not sell books and everyone failed you.
Do you want what active publicity gives you? Good choice. Totally beats the choice of passive publicity. Who can live like that?
Active publicity is founded in the belief that reaching people matters, that you should strive to reach as many people as you can with your message.
How Do You Get Active Publicity?
Active publicity is all about getting booked as the guest on radio talk shows, TV talk shows in your cities and the cities where you travel. It’s about giving talks and workshops, hosting luncheons where you are the speaker, going to all of the trade shows to meet new people, make new friends and put yourself if the path of tremendous opportunity. And yes, active publicity includes writing more books.
The more books you write the more successful you will be if, and only if, you engage in active publicity.
Now, on the other hand, you have passive book marketing . . .
Oh, yes, the kiss of death. This is the set up.
First, you spend a huge amount of time and money self publishing. You buy a package of press releases or other “passive publicity products” for distribution to the media, someone else writes your press release that is not even close to what your book is really about and on your publication date you sit back and wait for all of the sales to pour in.
You keep going to Amazon to see how many books you sold.
Except, nothing happens. And this is your eye opener.
Slowly this starts to sink in: If you write it, it does not mean they will buy it.
And it gets worse as you sit and wait, sit and wait, sit and wait. And then blame . . . everyone else.
When you could have been having the time of your life. Invigorated. Inspired. Experiencing the joy of sharing your message day in and day out with all those in your path. You could have been creating a lucrative business model that is the outcome of active publicity.
And guess what? Book sales pour in.
And here’s why: Your message was spot on. You are so socially relevant with your finger on the pulse that demand for your work skyrocketed. People believed that you knew what you were talking about and if they needed to know, your book would be the best investment they could make.
I think the hard thing for authors to realize is that they could have had it all.
That the whole time, they had a choice.
About the Author
National Publicist, Annie Jennings, of the PR Firm, Annie Jennings PR provides active publicity that is unparalleled in the PR industry. Annie offers a performance guarantee where her word is like gold, solid and trustworthy.
Annie Jennings is the creator of the new online feature magazine, JenningsWire: The World Of Success, a social community that brings together the voices of success.
Annie Jennings PR offers active publicity campaigns that include radio talk show bookings in the major cities on the high-impact, high-listenership radio stations that broadcast to the heart of the marketplace and on nationally syndicated shows. All radio campaigns include Annie’s famous performance guarantee and unlimited media training with her on-staff national media trainer.
Annie Jennings PR offers her famous Pay For Play PR for TV in any city and on major national TV shows. Cities include NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC etc. and FOX, CNN, Bloomberg, TODAY Show and FOX Business. Print and online media included FORBES, Wall Street Journal, FOXNEWS.com, CNBC.com, Family Circle, First For Women and leading media outlets.
Annie Jennings PR’s video creation team produces Hollywood quality videos and trailers that look like real TV commercials. Watch demo videos here.
Annie Jennings is the nation’s inspirational publicist who believes that each and every person deserves their chance at the brass ring. And that it’s her job to get you there.
Contact Annie at Annie Jennings PR and visit Annie’s online magazine, JenningsWire: The World Of Success
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I’m quite sure Annie Jennings did not intend to sound like Joel Osteen, but doggone it, that’s all I could think about as I read this thoughtful blog post. Everything she says and the differences she notes between active and passive publicity is not just common sense – – it bears a striking resemblance to the powerful words given by Osteen himself.
Here is the line that captivated me the most: “Your book is nothing but a reflection of all that you have come to be, a showcase of who you are and what you have to share at a certain date and time in your life.” As a freelance writer and blogger, I can attest to the authenticity ofthat comment. That is why, when I am inspired, either in the positive or the negative, I have to write because my heart is pushing forth emotions and contradictions that make sense only in writing.
After I write a blog post one day, I know I cannot replicate the same things I wrote previously because I feel differently each day. Hence, my writing reflects those differences.
This line: “Where you are today is actually different from where you will be tomorrow.” can be taken directly out of Joel Osteen’s playbook. The way I interpret it relates to suffering of some of the things I’ve been through. Just because I am going through X now, that does not infer that X will still happen in the future.
Bravo, Annie and Nina. Loved this one!
Hi Nina:
Just a few quick admin things to bring up… 1) I have no way of knowing if you or anyone else responds to my comments on your blog unless I come back. Is there a way to automate this so that I will automatically receive replies in my inbox? 2) I am on wordpress.com. Is there a way to put my avatar on my comments? 3) I was unable to “share” Joel Friedlander’s recent post via Twitter. What did I do wrong? How can I fix this?
Thanks.
Amanda,
I’m not sure why your gravatar is not showing up. Other people have theirs showing up. Try logging in a different way. No…I don’t have a way to subscribe to comments…not sure how to do that. Will look into it. I don’t know why you couldn’t share on Twitter. Sometimes it’s a techo problem. Shut down. Come back. I find it’s usually that simple (or not depending upon your computer). :~)
Oh…you can subscribe to comments via RSS feed, I believe.