Criticizing The Popular

I see this ALL the time.
Something, a book, a song, a movie,
an exercise trend
becomes super popular
and someone,
often the competition,
starts to criticize it.

What the competition
doesn’t realize,
however,
is when they criticize
what we love,
they criticize us.

They mock
our decision-making skills.

They try to make us
feel bad or stupid
about our choices
and we usually associate
that negativity
with them.

There is a reason
why a certain thing
is popular.
Criticizing it
signals that you don’t understand it,
which likely means
you don’t understand your prospects.

Use your energy
to understand and appreciate
why a certain thing is popular.

Promoting On Sunday

I promote my books
seven days a week.

Sunday is a huge eBook buying day.
I always promote on Sundays.

But I’m also aware
that Sunday is a religious day
for many of my readers
in the USA.

So I wait to promote.
I don’t promote early in the morning.
I promote around 3 pm EST or later.

It doesn’t make a big difference
in sales
yet it makes those readers happy.

Consider timing
when promoting.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Staying Ahead Of Competition By Learning More

You might be young now
but, if you’re fortunate,
you’ll get older.

One of the advantages
we have
as we age
is the compound effect of learning
really starts to pay off.

Reading one article a day
in our chosen field
becomes 365 articles read in a year,
3,650 articles read in a decade.
That is quite a bit of extra learning,
learning your competition might not be doing.

Sandy Rubinstein,
CEO of Dxagency,
shares

“I stay ahead by reading.
I read what’s happening
in my clients’ industries
and in other industries.

It’s actually the other industries
where I learn the most.
I’ve found that it’s important
to keep your finger
on the pulse all around you.

That’s how you provide
the best for your company
and its clients.”

Did you read an extra article
today?

Honest People Don’t Tell You They’re Honest

Honest people don’t tell others
they’re honest.
Confident people don’t tell others
they’re confident.
Successful people don’t tell others
they’re successful.
People with faith don’t tell others
they have faith.

They simply ARE.
It is in everything they do,
reflected in their actions.
And others speak for them.

They might give other people
advice on how to be
more honest,
more confident,
more successful,
more dedicated to their faith,
but that is framed around the other person,
not themselves.

Because they don’t have anything
to prove.
They know who they are.

If someone tells you
they’re honest,
run far, far away from them.

Asking Publicly For Advice

If someone asks
a question on a loop
or in a group,
I usually don’t post my advice.

Why?

Because

a) I don’t know
if the person values my advice.
Why would I spend my valuable time
crafting an answer
if I don’t know if she cares?

And

b) every time I post my advice,
some goof posts a reply
telling me why I’m wrong.
I can’t be bothered to argue
with that goof.

If someone asks me privately,
I’ll do my best
to give her
all of the information
she might need
to make a decision.

You might think
posting a question to everyone
is the best way to find
the answer
but what you’re doing
is eliminating the busy folks,
the folks who are in demand,
the experts you likely wanted
to hear from.

Ask important questions
privately.

Selling Books Or Building A Readership

Some writers talk about
selling books.
That’s their focus.

My focus is building readership.

It might seem like
these two things are the same.
Readers buy books.
But they are very different.

Selling books focuses on today,
on the single transaction.
If I do X, how many units will I sell?

Building a readership
is long term.
It focuses on the relationship.
If I do X, how many units will I sell
over the next two decades?
Will my ‘forever’ readership
increase or decrease?

Unfortunately, many people
are solely focused on the sales today,
on that single transaction.

Seth Godin
shares

“The season ticket holder
bought a ticket
and got his games.
Even steven.
We owe you nothing.

The dedicated fan
sat through endless losing games.
Even steven.
Ticket purchased, game delivered.
We owe you nothing.

The problem with ‘even steven’
is that it turns trust
and connection
and emotions into nothing
but a number.
Revenue on a P&L.
It ignores the long-term
in exchange for a relentless focus
on today.
Only today.”

Are you selling a product
or building a relationship?

Published
Categorized as Sales

Partner Secrets

Amazon, as the biggest bookseller,
is my biggest ‘partner.’
They know how to sell books.
They have data
writers would dream of having.

The challenge is…
they don’t share it.

They don’t tell writers
that the best pricing is X
or the best length of pre-orders
is Y days.

However, we can guess
by what we’re allowed to do.

For example,
the average small publisher
is allowed to put a book
on pre-order
up to three months
before release.

Clearly, the ideal pre-order date
is three months or less.

A book hits the hot new release lists
for a month after release.
Clearly, Amazon customers
consider a book
less than a month old
to be a new release.

Combining this information,
I view 3 months before release
and 1 month after release
to be the best time
to promote a release.

Usually partner rules are based
on logic.
By sharing their rules,
these partners are sharing
their secrets.

Pay attention.

Published
Categorized as Sales

Add Perversity

We all know
at least one perverse person.
Everyone else says the answer is ‘yes.’
This person insists it is ‘no.’

It is tempting
to remove this person
from our teams.
She is the rain cloud
on our sunny day,
the brakes
when we’re going
full steam ahead,
the downer
at our party.
She makes things
uncomfortable
and
difficult.

Which is exactly
why we need her
on our team.

If the decision is important
(and why would we care
about consensus
if the decision
wasn’t important?),
we SHOULD pause
and think about it.
We SHOULD consider
all of the downsides.
We SHOULD discuss it.

This is what the perverse person
in our group does.

Do you have a perverse person
on your team?

Be Specific When It Counts In Copy

BookBub,
one of the top eBook marketers,
posted their results
of blurb (marketing copy) testing.

The results were
to be specific in copy
except when it is meaningless
to prospects.

Telling prospects
the heroine is 12 years old
will sell more units
than telling prospects
the heroine is a child.

There are prospects looking
for books about characters
of a specific age.

Telling prospects
the name of the character is Julianna
won’t sell more books.

Very few prospects
are looking for characters
with a specific name.

Specific is also
more believable.
If we name the award,
for example,
the prospect feels
she could verify it.
She likely won’t
but it gives her reassurance
that she has that option.

Be specific
when it counts
in marketing copy.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

April Fool’s Day

I don’t like April Fool’s Day.
I don’t participate in it.
I tend to avoid social media,
TV, newspapers today.

Why?

Because April Fool’s pranks,
tricking people,
erodes trust,
trust that I might have spent
YEARS
building.

‘If k has the ability
to fool me once,
she can fool me again.’

‘Why IS k so good
at fooling people?
She must have practice.’

And no one feels good
about being fooled.
They feel stupid.
Their confidence takes a beating.

It doesn’t matter
how funny the prank is.
It is at the expense
of someone else.

I want my brand,
personal and business,
to be associated with
feeling good,
feeling confident.

Think before engaging in
an April Fool’s prank.

Published
Categorized as Marketing