A writer I know
recently told readers,
“If I don’t see sales soon,
I’ll quit.
I won’t release
the final book in my series.”
I believe
he was hoping
this would push
some of his super fans
to promote his books.
The issue with this strategy
is…
1) No one likes
to be forced to do something,
to have a brand
hold them hostage,
especially when they originally associated
with the brand
because it made them feel good.
and
2) No one wants
to be associated with failure.
What happens
if the super fan
helps the writer promote
and he still quits,
he still ‘fails’?
The super fan
will be closely associated
with this failure.
She’ll have to tell her friends
the writer she was promoting
quit.
No one wants to do that.
There are a thousand ways
to increase sales.
Threatening to quit
isn’t one of them.