Regular readers will likely be aware that among other things I write and publish books. Where I've proved less successful to date - and have even been neglectful - is marketing and promoting those books. I have recently come to realise how illogical my thinking on this has been, which prompted me to post a public mea culpa thread on Twitter (@InformedinSport for those who are interested). I was surprised to find that the thread received a big response. Not only did what I shared seem to resonate with a lot of people, a number of individuals went further by reaching out to say that they had long held the same view and that were glad to see me finally arriving at these conclusions and doing something about it all. On that basis I decided that the mea culpa was worth sharing again and expanding upon.
To tell the story as it unfolded, what originally prompted these reflections and the dawning realisation was an exchange between Jordan Peterson and Jocko Willink that I happened to catch on a podcast:
“No matter how good your product.. the world will not beat a pathway to your doorway...
You need to pay attention to marketing; you can’t be contemptuous of it...
Who the hell is going to buy something they don’t know about”
It is fair to say that the inescapable logic of those words hit me like a punch in the face. Sometimes you need a punch in the face.
When Informed came out in 2018 a highly respected friend and colleague in the field (privately) compared it very favourably to a title from another coach that has been wildly successful. He even went as far to state 'this is the book that _________ ________ should have been'.
At the time I took this as a compliment. I also took some solace from the fact that despite the fact that the other title far outsold it, I had nevertheless written the better book.
The titles I have released since have earned similarly glowing feedback and praise from leaders and coaches in the field who I respect very highly. All of which has helped to affirm that the content I am creating is meaningful and has utility, according to those who are well qualified to make those judgements. It has also helped to soften the blow that the books have not sold as well as I might like.
Based on these events, I was coming to think that as an author I am perhaps just destined for underground sensation or cult classic status. By temperament I am not unduly concerned with status and I don’t exactly crave external validation for that matter, so until very recently this troubled me less than you might expect.
But a nagging thought that I have managed to suppress until now is that if it is true that 'Informed' was such a superior book then the fact that the other title outsold it by perhaps 100x needs to be accounted for in some other way. Timing and good fortune aside, the discrepancy suggests I did a horrible job of reaching the book’s intended audience.
As I carried on listening to the conversation between Jordan and Jocko the unrelenting pummeling continued:
“People allow a casual and unconscious contempt to allow them the luxury of not having to consider the importance of all the things they are not doing”
I freely and openly admit that the promotion and marketing aspect is what I have the least affinity for. It is also the part that I am least adept at (those two things likely being related).
Beneath all of this is an acute awareness that there is no shortage of shameless self-promotion in the ‘industry’, not to mention hordes of snake oil salespeople. But in my caution to avoid being perceived as adding to that I have done at best a half-hearted job of promoting the books (even that may be too generous). I admit that I have even opted out of these duties entirely for lengthy chunks of time.
What is less excusable is that I have viewed my preference to stay above the fray as some sort of virtue rather than a failing. Once again, I was struck by this realisation like a punch in the face, courtesy of an observation that Jordan Peterson made in the same conversation:
“It is more comfortable in some sense to have contempt for things...
That casual contempt for what you can’t do is a real ethical mistake”
With this final knock out blow my feeble rationalisations were unmasked and the justifications thoroughly demolished. Yes I have a natural distaste for marketing and promotion. But it is also true that I am clueless about these things and the prospect of promoting my work makes me uncomfortable. On that basis, with my half-hearted attempts I have basically been taking the easy way out. In opting for this approach, I also forfeit any right to feel aggrieved about the muted response to the books. After all, to echo Jordan Peterson’s words, who the hell is going to buy a book they don’t know about. Also this would fall perilously close to the territory of complaining about the results I didn’t get from the work I didn’t do.
So it seems that it is time to reconsider these questions and come up with a strategy that is more defensible.
On a fundamental level why write books if nobody gets to read them? Beyond that, there is sufficient feedback, especially from friends and colleagues who I hold in high esteem, to strongly support that the books have genuine value for coaches, practitioners and students in the field. If we accept that premise then failing to do the work to reach the audience is not only self-defeating but also does not serve anybody else.
The puzzle of handling promotion in a way that doesn't sacrifice integrity is nevertheless something I continue to struggle with. Equally, what I have come to recognise is that it is incumbent upon me to invest the time and grapple with figuring it out. All in all it is perhaps time to get over myself and get out of my own way (if that isn’t mixing metaphors).
POST SCRIPT:
After I shared the original thread and received a positive online response, my wife, who is also my de facto business coach, congratulated me and essentially gave me a pat on the head. Then she asked: ‘so what are you going to do differently?’. Sadly that one stumped me and the warm fuzzy feelings at a job well done faded somewhat. I am still puzzling over the question. What I can say is that I have finally been able to separate shameless self-promotion from the promotion of a book or other offering that brings value and contributes knowledge. This seems like a good start. What is also true is that readers themselves are the best people to help spread the word. So I will close with an invitation to review and share the books with others if you have found them of value. Thank you as always for reading.
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