7 Publishing Myths

By Chris Maddock - Jan 20 , 2009

7 Publishing Myths, by Chris Maddock and Michael Drew

In the seven posts that follow this one, we’ll discuss some widespread publishing myths, how and why they’re false, and what the truth means to you and your own book. Each myth and its mirror reality make a great case for tactically blogging your book (the point of this post).

Myth 1: Your Publisher will help you market and advertise your book: No, they won’t. Not unless you’re famous, have a proven record of book sales or a big, receptive audience. In the next post we’ll discuss this myth, and in the weeks to come, we’ll talk at length about how to blog your way to just such an audience.

Myth 2: Your Publisher is all-powerful and all-knowing: Not so much. There was a time a couple of decades ago when publishers had all the answers and know-how to make a book sell. But such is much less the case now than at any other time. Selling a book takes more Author, and less Publisher than ever.

Myth 3: You have to be famous—like Tom Brokaw—to have your own, significant marketing platform: Being famous helps. But those without a known name or a camera to talk into can make a platform and a name for themselves – and its the Interweb that’s made that not just possible, but relatively cheap and easy.

Myth 4: To be a bestseller, a book has to be well-written. Nope. Go to the non-fiction bestsellers list. Read about a page from each of the top five. That this preconception is a myth will be readily apparent. A platform and savvy marketing campaign are infinitely more important.

Myth 5: Everyone should shoot for the U.S. bestseller lists. Not every author is ready for the prime-time. Shooting for the bestseller lists means getting your book on shelves of big bookstore chains. If you do get onto those shelves but you don’t have the platform and marketing plan to move those books, you likely won’t get another chance when you do your next book. Many authors would be better off self-publishing their books, making a little money, and using their books to build their platforms for another day.

Myth 6: It’s all about you and your book. Actually, it’s all about your audience, their preferences, and how adroit you are at learning about both so you can properly market to them. Intelligent, thought-provoking, emotionally relevant books written by great writers fail all too often because they weren’t focused enough on the reading audience.

Myth 7: Word-of-Mouth and traditional PR sells books. No, they don’t. Word-of-Mouth and traditional PR help when a book already has legs. They’re nice support to have, but without an audience and marketing, these tools are too underpowered to move books on their own.

Stay tuned as we dig deeper into these myths. And tell someone to join you for our next post.