Seven Logical Fallacies That Screw Up Your Marketing
If you’re an author, you think about promotion, marketing, and how to make your books successful. Well, I’m here to tell you that the vast majority of what authors believe about book marketing is based on completely false logic. I may not know the RIGHT way to market, but I’m a smart cookie when it comes to spotting things that are wrong.
Here, in 8 step, are the problems with conventional thinking.
1. The idea that you’re working to “make your book successful.” Your book is not human, it has no free will. It can neither succeed or fail. What you want is to convince READERS to buy your book. Start thinking about their needs, not your book’s.
2. The idea that if a person has great sales they must know a lot about selling. Authors sell well for a variety of reasons, that may or may not have to do with marketing savvy. You wouldn’t take diet advice from someone just because they are thin, right? Don’t assume people know what they’re talking about just because they’ve sold well in the past.
3. The idea that you can become successful by gaming the system (Amazon or otherwise.) It’s Godhart’s Law—any loophole will likely close 5 minutes after you notice it’s existence. This going double for weird trends like dinosaur porn.
4. The idea that anyone who criticizes your book wishes you never wrote it. (Or wishes you were never born and that your book will burn in the fiery pits of hell.) Truth is, if someone reviewed your book, that means they READ IT. That makes them more of a fan than the billions of people on the planet who have not read it.
5. The idea that a single failure means your career is going downhill. (Or that a single success means you’re on your way up!) A single success of failure is simply one data point. You need a lot of data points to make judgements about where your career is going.
6. The idea of a finite readership. Authors act like we are fighting for readers, and that the same readers we had yesterday are the ones reading today. In my experience, many readers binge on one author and move on. And there are always more readers looking for a good book.
7. The idea that all readers “count” the same. Readers are different. Some people will only ever read free books. That’s their gig and they are not moving from their price point of 0. Some people pirate things, and they are never, ever going to pay you money. Some people only read KU titles, or only read certain publishers. You didn’t “lose” money because someone bought your book for 99 cents instead of 2.99. That same person likely never would have paid 2.99.
Anyway, hope these ideas are helpful. I wanted to get them down on paper before I forgot. Happy marketing!
-D
