If you’re an author who proactively markets, you are well advised to have broad shoulders. I can guarantee you this, the more you market, the more visible you become and the more you try to help other authors based on proven strategies, the more the haters comes out of the woodwork.
Feedback
“Clickbait article.”
“This is crazy BS. And all to try to sell a book. And the book is “How to be #1 on Amazon”. And anybody who tells you that they can make you #1 or a bestseller is lying to you. Period.”
“Just more useless advice base on one person’s vagrant opinions. Enough of the philosophising and let writers write. Them’s my sentiments.”
These are a handful of comments I received from a blog post I wrote that I shared on LinkedIn.
NOTE: I purposely didn’t correct the spelling of the word “philosophising” in that this person is a writer, but didn’t check their spelling prior to posting. Things that make you go, “Hmmmm”
Get Out of the Kitchen
If you can’t deal with criticism, you may be tempted to hide out and play it safe. The reality is this; the more visible you become, the more you open yourself up to criticism.
This is especially true for authors who are proactive in the way they market. Add those of us who teach other authors how to market and the criticism temperature rises considerably.
Here’s the deal, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Stop You in Your Tracks
Some people are more than willing to dole out harsh criticism. Sadly, this stops many authors from marketing their books.
Fear of criticism is what prevents some authors from doing all they can to get their message out to market. The comments above would stop many people in their tracks.
Whether it be their books, information products, webinars, teleseminars or presentations, to be visible means you are setting yourself up as target for other people’s criticism, judgment and harsh words.
My feelings about the criticism? So be it.
Yet, it’s a topic that does need to see the light of day.
My response
Although I could have ignored the comments, I chose to respond with, “I take no offense to any of the comments. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Not every author wants to make money. That’s great. If you enjoy writing for the sake of writing, fantastic.
“But if someone wants to make money with their writing, in most cases, they must market. Whether it be the author or someone on their team or a company they hire, rarely can you not market your book.”
More committed than ever
The negative feedback makes me more committed than ever to educate authors on various ways they can market their books.
Again, if an author has no desire to make money, that’s fine. But for most authors, we love to write AND we love to make money with our writing. Making money means selling books. Selling books means marketing.
Seems for some authors, especially those who skirt around marketing, they haven’t connected the dots.
It’s Laughable
I laughed when I read the comment, “And all to try to sell a book.”
Well duh. Isn’t selling books what most authors want to do? If we don’t sell books, who’s going to read our work?
Again, if you write simply to write, that’s great. But if you’re an author who wants to make money with your books and use your books to create other opportunities such as speaking engagements, consulting contracts and coaching, you need to market.
You also need to develop broad shoulders to weather the negative feedback you are bound to get.
90/10% Rule
According to Dr Anita Sanz, “Ninety percent of what anyone tells me about my book I figure is really giving me information about them and only ten percent is potentially helpful information about me or my book. I only need to pay attention to the ten percent, and it’s up to me to figure out what that ten percent is.”
What is the 10% you need to focus on? And… are you willing to let go of the other 90% of feedback that likely isn’t worth paying attention to?
No feedback is worse than negative feedback. If you get no feedback it means you are so perfect you make no mistakes or no one is paying attention to what you’re doing.
The bottom line is this; if you want to play with the big boys and girls, you must put on your big boys and girls pants.
Another powerhouse strategy is being interviewed on podcast shows. Look for interview opportunities on podcast shows that have a similar market reach as your ideal reader. iTunes is the most popular podcast platform with more than enough shows to reach out to.

FREE Podcast Checklist

Not sure how to go about finding opportunities, knowing how to prepare for a show, or what to do following your appearance?
Access my FREE checklist for Podcast Interviews. This is a brand new resources and yours at no cost. http://www.powerupforprofits.com/podcastchecklist

 
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