It’s always an exciting time when a recording artist puts out a new single or an EP or a full album. And authors get to have the same experience when their book gets released. In both cases, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the fifth.
There are some people, however, whose grip is a little too tight on their upcoming new release. My educated opinion is that they’re going for the element of surprise, or they don’t want someone else to steal their idea. I’ll tell you why neither of those is worth the time and effort, but also, why you need to be very forthcoming with what’s about to finally hit shelves everywhere, even if those are virtual shelves.
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With regards to the element of surprise, though, first, I hate to break the news to you, but, unless you’re a major A-list star, nobody is going to be blown away by you unexpectedly dropping something on them that they had no idea was coming. I’m sorry to put a pin in your balloon, but really – does your data tell you that there are millions of people whose day, whose weekend, will be changed because you unexpectedly released new music or a new book? Look in the mirror and be entirely honest with yourself. Don’t let your ego make these decisions for you.
When it comes to this belief that someone is going to steal your idea, first I’ll point out that for an author, the likelihood that a rip-off of your novel gets written and released before yours is completely unrealistic. And on the music side, you’re not going to give away the farm. If you drop a small – small – sample of the song that is very short and neither gives away the hook nor too much of the music underneath the lyrics, even illusionist David Blaine won’t be able to guess your card, er, figure out what the rest of the song must consist of.
It's so, so common nowadays for recording artists to be asking people to pre-save their upcoming new song or for authors to encourage readers to pre-order their book that’s about to come out. That’s logical, but here’s why you must give the audience something to sink their teeth into.
I don’t drink wine, but I’ve been around long enough to see people at a table at a restaurant and the server coming over to let them sample one sip of wine first before they make the commitment to order a glass or a bottle. Similarly, have you ever seen the people in the mall food court who are giving out a sample of something they want you to taste so that you can then step up to the counter and order it? This also goes on every Saturday around lunchtime at Costco, with employees handing out free samples all throughout the warehouse, trying to convert the curiosity seekers into buyers.
So before you, as an author, get upset that Amazon wants to display a preview of your book that potential buyers can read through first, or instead of saying, “I’m just going to write a post saying that I have new music coming but not actually let any of the track play,” remember that you’re at a point in the process where you’re working to get people to where their palette is ready for what you want to serve them on release day, and thus they need to go hit the pre-save or pre-order button now.
In the interest of this still being Mental Health Awareness Month, please also don’t do the opposite. Adopting the attitude that “nobody cares anyway” and thus you’re not even going to promote the pre-save/pre-order period only sets you up for disappointment. Instead, watch and see how much it means to you when one person or two people or ten or 25 or 50 take action because they love and want to support you but also appreciate the gifts and the talent you have that they don’t!
I realize it gets a bit challenging when you release new material on a somewhat regular basis, so to speak, but this is part of the business. And the fact that it is a business means you need to make money. And you won’t make money if you don’t sound excited and tell people why they should pre-order/pre-save your new book, single, EP, etc. today.
Need advice on all of this? Let’s jump on a ten-minute call through Owwll call so you can take advantage of my 20 years of experience helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, small business owners, podcasters, and more. Contact me with your challenges so I can help keep you moving forward.