Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Overheard at My Last Power Lunch with Donald Trump

So you’re a real introvert, huh. And you want to promote your new book.

Nah, you’ll never succeed like that.

Listen, kid. Early on in Garth Stein’s career he read a fortune cookie. “He who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers in a well, is not as apt to get the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers!” His publisher, Harper, sent him on tours, launched plenty of solid marketing initiatives, and was exceedingly supportive of The Art of Racing in the Rain.

But nobody loved Stein’s book as much as Stein. So when Harper was finished, Stein stayed on the road non-stop for 3 years after publication, much of it at his own expense and with him doing all the organizing. The result? His book has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for 94 weeks. More than 1.5 million copies sold.

It’s all about hair and helicopters, son. Hair and helicopters.

Look. I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. I’m the number one developer in New York. I’m the biggest in Atlantic City. And maybe we’ll keep it this way, okay. There is absolutely no place in this world for a subtle marketer—understand?

What you’ve gotta do is sound off on Obama. Find that Kenyan birth certificate and take it to the press with your name attached to the investigation. You think I actually want to be president?! Look, it’s a downed economy and I’ve got Manhattan real estate to sell. Find the biggest ocean in the world and splash all the water out. That’s what I say.

So you write books, huh. Look, you can’t just write books, son. You need to make statements, and it all starts at the title. Your next novel should be named “Oprah’s Favorite Book.” Nothing less.
Promote with bravado. That’s the key. Think of yourself as a rock star and play to people's fantasies. Run around the stage in a ripped t-shirt with sweat dripping off your forehead. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by people who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts.

Okay. I gotta run. You’re picking up the check for lunch, yeah? Good.

So you’re a real introvert, huh.

No, you’ll never succeed at marketing like that.

Be brutal. Be tough. Climb that tree and holler for the dollar.

If you don’t, you’re fired.

(Marcus Brotherton's newest book Shifty's War releases on Tuesday May 3.)

Q4U: What advice would you give to an introvert who wanted to promote a book in really big ways?

Q4U answer: the powers to discriminate between shameless self-promotion and effective promotional marketing stratagems, and the differences between coercion and persuasion, and uncompromising compromise for the benefits of the greater good and the individual balancing self-serving biases.

Q4U: What advice would you give to an introvert who wanted to promote a book in really big ways?

Always tell the truth and show the difference. People feel if a product has a soul and if they feel it, they'll make it big, not you.

Be brutal. Be tough.

But always keep this in mind. :)

(Marcus Brotherton's newest book Shifty's War releases on Tuesday May 3.)

Self promotion 101. If you already advertise your work, at least add one link to it. Or take a link into your signature. Anything, otherwise people may see what you have from the text, but they don't have a clue how to get it.

(Marcus Brotherton's newest book Shifty's War releases on Tuesday May 3.)

Self promotion 101. If you already advertise your work, at least add one link to it. Or take a link into your signature. Anything, otherwise people may see what you have from the text, but they don't have a clue how to get it.[/quote]


Point well taken. Still trying to figure out how to add a URL in this forum. Let me try this ...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425240975?tag ... 4T01SGM48&

Marcus Brotherton wrote:: What advice would you give to an introvert who wanted to promote a book in really big ways?

If I had the money I'd buy a few thousand copies of my own book, to spike it up the bestseller list, like Donald Trump did.

Point well taken. Still trying to figure out how to add a URL in this forum. Let me try this ...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425240975?tag ... 4T01SGM48&

Now it's already grabbed my attention, especially after this...

He has collaborated with Lt. Lynn "Buck" Compton on his memoir Call of Duty.

He and Shifty, your MC is the very same who served in the 506th Easy, right?

If I had the money I'd buy a few thousand copies of my own book, to spike it up the bestseller list, like Donald Trump did.

If I had a lot of money, I would make a nice CGI cinematic trailer for it to grab the attention. Now, with the present lower budget Plan B is in motion. That's not that shiny as Plan A, but it's still going to be memorable, may bring the MC closer to the readers before the release with some unique elements, etc, etc...

Self promotion 102, always speak more about your work when you have a chance. Here, you have a chance, yet I needed to go to your Amazon site to know anything about your work. It sounds promising, it's also grabbed my attention, but many won't know and won't check it out if you're just giving a hint about it's existence and it's title. Remember; you know your work, you do know who Shifty was (I also do know), but others maybe don't know this. So, advertise your work, advertise the character, grab the attention (Your marketing should focus around Shifty.). Typing into forums won't cost you a single dime. Always remember; there are two type of people... the lazy one (There are a lot of them), and the curious one (I'm rather a curious one). Lazy ones won't click on links without an exact amount of background info. Only curious ones will do, but they're less in numbers as most people are lazy in general. So if you aim for the lazy ones, you can grab the curious ones too. But if you aim only for the curious ones, you'll loose more readers, because they're damned lazy to click on a single link.

Yeah, that's a good point. The posting I wrote above was just about having fun on a Friday, and doesn't really have anything to do with my book, subject-wise. Other than perhaps generating interest.

Since you asked, yes, the book is a new military non-fiction book about Sgt. Darrell "Shifty" Powers, the legendary sharpshooter featured in the Band of Brothers. If you've ever seen the HBO miniseries, you'll recognize Shifty (he was portrayed by actor Peter Youngblood Hills). I've written several other books about the Band of Brothers, and was Lt. Buck Compton's collaborative writer on his book, Call of Duty.

Shifty Powers was truly an amazing man, and an e-mail about him went viral--literally all over the world--just after he died in 2009. This book recounts his life story, how he grew up in the remote woods of Clinchco, Virginia, became a soldier with the elite Easy Company, 506th PIR, parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, and eventually survived the war.

Why write this article and post on this forum? Well, I actually do have a certain amount of publicity already being generated about this book--lots of radio interviews, various articles running, etc. But I guess the idea of imagining sitting down with Donald Trump and having him spout off about marketing got me to thinking, thus my post. I thought it would be funny, that's all.

Here's more information about the book, if you're interested. Shifty's War, http://www.shiftyswar.blogspot.com/

Thanks for asking,
--Marcus

Marcus Brotherton wrote: Point well taken. Still trying to figure out how to add a URL in this forum. Let me try this ...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425240975?tag ... 4T01SGM48&

Minor suggestion: use an URL shortener, like http://bit.ly, http://goo.gl or (developed by people I know) http://d2c.es. Maybe it's just me, but I've grown used to short URLs and each time I see one of these kilometric ones, I shudder.