Inspiring People who Know their Industry"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."- Aristotle
I get inspired by people regularly...particularly people with vision who can also execute. As an author, you are an entrprenuer, and it's important to find and surround yourself with people (virtually or phsyically) who inspire you to keep pushing forward. For me, Dave Williams is definitely one of those people who "knows his industry." One of his recent articles is a super example of knowing your industry. When you read his article on Facebook Advertising, you realize very quickly just how much Dave knows about Facebook and advertising. Heck, I feel like I need to read this article 20 times just to learn everything that is mentioned in here. If they haven't already, someone will probably write a 200 page book on the same information in the article...it's packed!
As Larry (my dad) and I have started the marketing planning work for marketing "the book," we have been doing a lot of research on what is going on in the publishing industry. We are reading 100s of pieces of information about the market, the industry players, how money flows, what innovative authors are doing, the profile of our target market, book reviewers, etc. There is a knowledge threshold you really need to clear to understand an industry and how to market yourself in that industry - know the book industry in addition to the industry of the market your book is going to go into (e.g. consumer entertainment, motivation, business, finance, psychology, etc.). Meeting a knowledge threshold is important...and it takes time...but really costs nothing...the cost is a commitment to learn...and some spare time. Musicians often fail in this area...they love music but they don't pay attention to business. Music may be their passion, but if they want to make a living at it, they better understand the business side...I am willing to bet that any musician who has more than one platinum hit over the course of a decade has really learned the biz. Authors...know the industry.
Because when you are making decisions about where to spend your time and energy, you are trying to optimize the ROI on your efforts (unless you are just writing as a non-profit). Whether you know it consciously or not, you are constantly processing inputs that direct your energy...you are in a feedback loop. And, the market is sending some feedback information to you. Seeing and understanding what is going on in the book industry will help influence and improve your decisions...and ultimately your ROI.
Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but I am just sharing what is going on in our journey of taking a book to market. As always, feedback, comments, criticism, etc. is welcomed and appreciated. As well, let me know what ideas or topics you might want to see me cover. Thank you for reading!
Overheard and Interesting...
ReplyDeleteLiberty Media head John Malone "sees the book chain as a bargain and an opportunity to play in what may be a large growth opportunity for e-books" and is "less interested in uniting the bookseller with his disparate array of assets," which include cable networks, satellite TV, home-shopping networks and the Atlanta Braves.
Before the Kirshbaum move, Amazon had five publishing imprints, two of which it launched earlier this month: Montlake Romance, which will publish romantic suspense and contemporary and historic romance novels, as well as fantasy and paranormal, and Thomas & Mercer, which will focus on mysteries and thrillers.