When We Stop Trying to Market
We might see that we've been doing it all along.
Someone writes a book. They want people to read it. But they hate marketing.
They've already mentioned it to a few people this week. Posted the cover somewhere. Told someone who might be interested.
They're already doing it. They just don't call it marketing.
Something happens when we frame what we're doing as "promotion." The life drains out. It becomes mechanical.
Writers tie themselves in knots over book promotion. I know I did. You must now have an email list, a social media strategy, launch sequences, an intuitive funnel. Otherwise, you're not taking marketing seriously.
Meanwhile, you're already mentioning the book. Reading passages aloud. Answering questions when people ask.
The marketing is already happening. Often quietly and ineffectively. But it's there.
It must take effort to pretend you don't want people to read what you wrote. Acting like it doesn't matter if you see 0 book downloads, week after week.
You have readers who loved your book. But you forget to give them easy ways to share it. You're afraid of bothering people when asking for reviews. The people who loved your book want to talk about it.
This idea of removing the marketer to let the marketing be done. It's about stopping the performance of marketing, the trying so hard part. Especially if the trying hard takes expression in pretending you don't care about all of it.
Your book exists. People are allowed to know it exists, because it’s pretty good.
You probably have ideas about ways to share it that you haven't tried yet. Maybe you convert it to audio. Maybe you mention it in conversations where it fits quite well.
It's just paying attention to what wants to happen anyway. You simply see yourself talking about your book a little more often.
