How I alienated the core demographic for my book
The marketing lesson they didn’t teach you in school
To get the shameless plug out of the way first, yes, I have written a book. I’ll post more below at the end, but you’re welcome to check it out here. Just be sure to come back to read this post.
Are you back? Great! Let’s dive in …
If you didn’t get a chance to check it out, my book is a Christian living book. I am a Christian and I am currently alive, so it seemed a relevant book genre.
A bit of background
How did I alienate my demographic? It all started with a pandemic.
I’d been working on my book off and on for a few years, but finally decided to self publish in late 2019. The process itself was going well, and I was happy with the company I chose to help publish it.
I had finalized my drafts, and was set for a release date in June of 2020, when the pandemic affected my publisher. The smaller self publishing company I was using had to close due to Covid.
Thankfully, they had a sister company with the resources to take on my project. And, they offered me an equivalent (slightly better) package to get it published. I did have to go through a lot of the revision and process again, but saw it as getting bonus sets of eyes to see it for feedback before it went to press.
It released for sale on December 31, 2020. Still middle of pandemic, and no end in sight at that point. Vaccines were still not as readily available. People were still arguing about masks. And, that is where I began alienating my demographic, unintentionally.
The book is not about Covid-19
My book is not about Covid-19, and was not inspired by it. It’s about counting the cost of becoming a Christian. What one can expect, and “dangers” to be on the look out for. How to work on our sanctification after our initial conversion to Christianity, to use the more religious term for it.
Before submitting my final draft to the new publisher, I was inclined in the chapter called “The Danger of Division” to insert a blurb about my feelings on masks during the pandemic. It was not a long excerpt, but it did touch on a conversation that was raging on social media by the time my book released.
I feel that masks and vaccines are important towards getting over this pandemic, and made it a point in the first few months of 2021 to post those feelings online at various times. Possibly, more often than I intended, some came off as passive aggressive towards those with whom I disagreed. Can you guess with which group I ran into the most disagreement about masks and vaccines?
My evangelical Christian brethren.
It occurred to me that in the midst of trying to promote the book amongst my Christian friends and family, I would do well to lay off of hot button issues that might cause some disagreement.
The irony that I wrote an entire chapter on division between Christians, and then proceeded, however unintentionally, to cause division among my Christian brethren was not lost on me. I truly wasn’t looking to ruffle feathers, and wanted to simply express my own opinions freely online as everyone else.
And, to clarify again, the book itself is not about Covid.
Because of the pandemic, our family chose to avoid physical gatherings at our home church in favor of their online services. But, being apart physically for a year when we were previously there a couple times a week, definitely affected our visibility within the church.
Another member of our church released a book at almost the same time as me, but was still physically attending. Their visibility was therefore much higher, and the pastor even briefly mentioned that book prior to a sermon one Sunday.
To our pastor’s credit, he said that he still planned to mention my book to the congregation once he finished reading it, but was trying to wait for the right moment. He had found it a very encouraging read, and felt it would be a great resource for newer believers.
Still, the decision of waiting to mention it may have been at least partially due to my sudden activity on Facebook expressing opinions with which many within our congregation disagreed.
I accidentally alienated myself while trying to remain safe during the pandemic and encourage others to do the same.
I’m not a marketing expert
The thing about self publishing is that once the book is out, the real burden of marketing falls on the author. And, admittedly, I’m not great at marketing myself.
My grand plans of book signings, or leading a study on the book at church, were put aside, justified somewhat by the fact I didn’t feel safe with physical gatherings.
It sold as expected among close friends and family, and has since hit a bit of a slump. And, while that’s not my main reason for writing this, I am trying to think of ways to get word out.
It’s a book that appeals in particular to newer believers, though those within the faith for some time should get something out of it as well. Heck, even my friend who does not adhere to Christianity had positive things to say about it.
Agree to Disagree
Though it pains me to do so with something as serious as Covid, I’m reaching the point of needing to just agree to disagree with folks who can’t see the value in vaccines or masks to help curb the spread of the virus.
I’d love to rail against it all day on social media, hoping somehow my views would convince them of the error of their ways. But, as we know, that’s not how social media, or even human discussions work.
As for the book, I can only hope that if anyone was resistant to checking it out because they thought it would somehow be more of my babbling about why masks and vaccines are important, they can rest assured that only one or two small excerpts exist within it regarding such matters.
What advice do I have? Stick to your convictions, even if it alienates a core demographic for a passion project that needs attention. Certainly, things have a way of working themselves out, and I’m sure there is an ample audience out there who will be curious enough to give it a try at some point.
If so inclined, I’d love for you to check out “A Dangerous Faith: Counting the Cost of a Life for Christ” at http://adangerousfaith.com
And, stick around for more writings on Medium that will be less about promoting the book, and more about writing on other topics of interest to me.
Thanks for stopping by!
