The advice from grandmothers is excerpted from an article on BuzzFeed: 33 Beautiful And Hilarious Pieces Of Advice From Grandmas. Below are 12 of the 33 pieces of advice from grandmas, those that I think are most relevant to writing, publishing, and marketing books. I comment on each piece of advice to show its relevance to your writing and marketing.
If you have a stain on your clothing, move around a lot! No one will be able to notice it. — Grandma
John’s Comment: That advice is good not only for avoiding notice, but also good for getting noticed. Get moving! Move around a lot. Dance! Write emails. Create relationships. Make comments. Share with others.
Sex isn’t a sin so long as it’s done right. — Grandma
John’s Comment: You can make mistakes all the time (i.e., sin), but as long as you keep doing things, you will recover. Do something every day to market your books.
Nobody should ever make you change who you are if they truly love you. — Grandma
John’s Comment: And you should never let someone make you change. Change can be good for you — but only if you choose to make the change.
Make sure those around you know that you love them. — Grandma
John’s Comment: If you want to be trusted, if you want to be followed, you have to let people know that you really like them. Social media is most effective when you genuinely mean whatever you share.
If it isn’t hurting anyone and it makes you happy then do it. In a hundred years nobody will give a good goddamn anyway. — Grandma
John’s Comment: Do what makes you happy. Write, share, market only if you enjoy doing it.
Be kind to others no matter what. — Grandma
John’s Comment: The only way that you will ever get people to know, love, and trust you (the key to marketing via the Internet) is to be kind to them. Give them your best.
Don’t be a chickenshit. Tell people how you really feel. — Grandma
John’s Comment: Be honest. Be truthful. Let people know exactly how you feel. That’s the key to social media success and, hence, to Internet marketing success.
You’ll never get anywhere without asking for it. — Grandma
John’s Comment: If you want something, you actually have to ask for it. Be clear about your intentions and desires. Then act.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then go hang out with someone whose life gave them vodka. — Grandma
John’s Comment: I love this grandmotherly advice. Don’t just make lemonade out of lemons, but go on to really celebrate your life with people you love.
It doesn’t matter if you’re flipping burgers or engineering, so long as you’re doing it better than all of the men there. — Grandma
John’s Comment: Every job in writing, publishing, and marketing a book is important. Your job? Just be the best that you can be: at writing, at publishing, and at marketing.
The only thing no one can take away from you is your education. The best thing you can invest in is yourself. — Grandma
John’s Comment: Keep reading this blog. Keep getting educated. Invest in yourself. The best advice is to spend time, money, and inspiration on yourself.
If you don’t want to do it for the rest of your life, then don’t start now. — Grandma
John’s Comment: Now that is incredible insight. Don’t waste your life. Start now to do what you really want to do. Live your destiny now—not tomorrow, not later, not next year, not next lifetime.
About John Kremer
John Kremer is author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, the Relationships Matter Marketing program, and many other books and reports on book marketing, Internet marketing, social media, and book publicity. -- John Kremer on Book Marketing.