The Number One Marketing Hurdle: YOU

Must all marketing be an obnoxious slobbery love affair with yourself? It’s a question every author should ask. And those who don’t often drown in their own drool.

The thrill of receiving my first publishing contract (a two-book deal with Charisma House) was quickly doused by the realization that now I must sell books. I no longer had the luxury of obscurity. Not only was I a writer, now I was a unit-mover. So after years of hard work, rejection, and personalized pep-talks, I had turned a corner and come face-to-face with my worst enemy: ME.

And the spotlight has a way of making that wart on your nose look like Kilimanjaro.

It used to be that publishers promoted their authors. But those days are passing. In this new age of publishing, the impetus for getting your name “out there” is squarely on the shoulders of the author. Which can be a dangerous thing.

Especially for those who covet the spotlight.

And have warts.

Not long ago, agent Jessica at BookEnds took a poll of her readers. She asked, “What about an author’s Internet presence grabs your attention and impresses you, what turns you off?” The responses revealed two very important things about authors and marketing.

First, most readers recognize that authors need to market their books and promote themselves. No one begrudges a writer who pitches their stuff. In fact, if you go to an author’s website and find nothing about their books and where to buy them, it is right to question that author’s professionalism. Not only do readers tolerate a certain degree of marketing, we expect it.

But while most authors recognize the need to market oneself, there is also a point of diminishing returns, a point where self-promotion actually turns away potential buyers. Social media expert  Kristen Lamb in The Most Effective Author Marketing Tool, sadly chronicles what many desperate writers (and their internet presence) become:

This past week on Facebook I approved a friend request for another writer. Within MINUTES, I had four other e-mails. “Here is my website! Go to my blog! Look at my book! Here is a discount! Pass on to all of your friends and let me show them how to blah blah blah!” It made me regret I’d ever befriended this person. Rather than it being like Starbucks, “Here is a coupon for a free Frappuccino” (awesome), it sounded more like, “Me, me, me, me, me! Look at meeeeee!”

It’s part of the new paradigm, the power of social media. We can reach hundreds, thousands, potentially even tens of thousands of people with a mouse click. But if we’re not careful, our media stream will come off as an obnoxious slobbery love affair with ourselves and our message will sound like little more than “Me, me, me, me, me! Look at meeeeee!”

In a way, it can’t be avoided because marketing magnifies YOU. Not just your book. Your likes, dislikes, ideas, values, tone of voice and temperament are all amplified. Marketing magnifies your warts. Which makes me wonder whether or not the first marketing hurdle isn’t… OURSELVES.

Not only must we overcome our fears and introversion, we must overcome the lure of the spotlight and our temptation toward self-absorption. We must resist preoccupation with our own success, our own career, our own stats, and the number of our Followers. We must be more than just unit-movers. It’s one thing to be proud of your publishing accomplishments, it’s another thing to become a living, breathing spam advertisement for them. I mean, if all you are about is jamming your book down my throat, then I probably won’t like you or your book. If you are one-dimensional, self-absorbed, and shallow, I’m not sure that your book will be much better.

In a way, it’s not about being smaller (read: bashful, humble, deferential, etc.), but being bigger. Bigger than the business. Bigger than the spotlight. Bigger than your book.

Authors who are bigger than their books talk about more than just their books. They talk about other people, other ideas, other blogs, other books. They celebrate others’ success and enjoy aiming the spotlight elsewhere. And in doing so, they market themselves. Listen, if you can’t see beyond your book, your blog, your opinions, and your super-coolness, then please back away from the social media. But if you do then I recommend to use CRM software to manage all these social media clients, read Salesforce.com – what is crm.

It’s been said, “The smallest package in the world is a person all wrapped up in themselves.” And if that’s the case, then much of our marketing is just… drool.