by Peter Leavell, @PeterLeavell

How cool must you be to market your books? Rockstar status would be nice. That means ripped skinny jeans and an awesome hairstyle for the dudes, and clothing optional for the ladies. Add an awesome gig, and you’ll sell. However, showing up to keynote in a Lady Gaga outfit might limit your future speaking opportunities, especially for you Christian fiction dudes.

What kind of person must you be to market your books? I’ve noticed a few distinct styles that seem to work.

• The Rockstar. This person is bigger than life. Daily, they post on social media their exploits, which usually include riding a donkey in unique settings. Or skydiving over an extinct volcano. Or riding a donkey while skydiving over a live volcano. Readers must buy their books simply because this person must be an amazing storyteller. They’re making a story of their life by doing a Facebook live from the moon.
• The Thinker. When a potential reader sees a bio with more letters behind their name than is in the Greek alphabet, and their teaching position is so prestigious they look good in argyle, the imagination pictures a person sitting in a dusty library looking through dusty spectacles at an ancient book covered in ancient dust. They’ve done the work. So the reader is eager to grasp the thinker’s work in their trembling hands and sit at the feet of knowledge and drink of the cup of brilliance. While the thinker is actually in a small office on campus, overstressed and overworked and allergic to dust, that’s okay. Don’t mess with the imagination.

• The Humorist. Memes, one-liners, and punchlines make this person draw a following that’s out for a good time—and it’s delivered. Snapping up this person’s books promises an equally interesting read.
• The Angry Citizen. Things are bad, and they’re going to get worse if something isn’t done. And this person knows exactly what needs to be done and how things should be. Their followers bask in the brilliance of the utopia this person paints and snap up their books like candy. Red hot candies.
• The Lover. The Historian. The Futurist. The Adventurer. So important is this person’s genre, they live what they write. The Sci-Fi writer does look good in a red uniform until beamed down on the planet. The lover’s life and books are filled with a longing for romance. The adventurer dreams of action. Some fantasize about other worlds. And these people do it so well that it creates a friendship with the author and reader that exemplifies C.S. Lewis’s famous quote: “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’”

Notice what they all have in common? These people market to their strengths, living life while sharing the moments with others. Marketing can be natural, enjoyable, and played to your strengths. What kind of marketer are you?

Dino Hunters: Discovery in the Desert

Siblings Josh and Abby Hunter don’t believe their parents’ death was an accident. After taking pictures of the most incredible find of the 1920’s—proof humans and dinosaurs lived together in the same time and place—desperate outlaws armed with tommy guns are on their tail! Only Josh and Abby know where the proof is hidden—in the canyons of Arizona’s desert. When an intruder searches Josh and Abby’s bags inside their new home, the two convince their uncle Dr. David Hunter to return to the canyon and find the pictures they’d hidden. But the outlaws are just as eager to find the proof before Josh and Abby. Can Josh use his super-smart brain to outfox the villains in time? Will Abby’s incredible physical abilities stop full-grown men? And will their uncle believe them?
Dino Hunters is an apologetics-adventure series aimed at the middle reader to help them trust the Bible from the very first verse.