When I am not being an author, my full-time job is in public relations.

As one might imagine, the value of, say, being quoted in a magazine feature article, is harder to measure than most other marketing efforts. It’s pretty rare to see a direct jump in sales as a result of such a placement.

More often than not, these mentions are cumulative:

A reader sees you over here in a magazine.

Then later they see you over there in a newspaper.

Later, her friend mentions your book as one of many on a list of new releases.

And in this way, a person gradually develops a familiarity with you without being able to point to a specific touchpoint for it.

Because of this, I sometimes find myself in the position of having to explain to clients why what I do for them matters.

The same is true for authors — including this one, despite all I know about the industry.