Yesterday in the 10-day book proposal challenge we were focusing on the marketing plan for the book, which is something of a Marmite task. One participant in particular approached it with a feeling of dread, but was pleasantly surprised.
‘When I saw today’s task my heart sank – so I’m surprised with what laying this out has produced… [she went on to set out an incredibly creative and effective range of activities to promote the book] And still having ideas about creating through streams I’d not considered before. Can’t believe how useful this task has been.’
There’s an old joke in publishing – amongst editors at least – that marketing is the ‘dark side’, and many authors see the writing of the book as the main locus of creativity. But I discovered early in my career that drawing attention to the book is just as important as creating the book in the first place, and can be just as creative.
Seth Godin made this point tellingly in The Extraordinary Business Book Club this week when he argued that the success of one of my favourite books and a massive bestseller, Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly, was based entirely on the attention she garnered through her TED talk, which went viral.
The book, by itself, is beautiful, but it wouldn’t be a bestseller if she didn’t have awareness and trust.’
Because they’re writing books to build their businesses, every participant in my challenge has the platform and expertise to design this process of building awareness and trust alongside the writing of their book. I’m thrilled they’re enjoying the process so much.