Goddess of the Week: Venus (Or the one-minute MBA)

Petrea asked for a publishing goddess because she is preparing her novel Camelot & Vine for publication.  But I've read her novel and it is terrific, so really all she needs is a marketing goddess. I'm giving her Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, for when it comes to sales, it is a sad truth that a solid product isn't always enough. You need a bit of seduction to help potential buyers bypass those twin demons of moral certitude: inertia and self restraint.

A couple millennia of patriarchy have turned Venus into a just another pretty face standing on a clam shell, but in the ancient world no one motivated people more than Venus. Every now and then a god or goddess might start a war or drive a Hercules insane, but Venus moved product every day--and it wasn't always easy! People you loved fell out of chariots and died; People you loved got the plague and died; people you loved starved/went to war/fell out of boats...and they died. It would be enough for anyone to give up on love completely, but they didn't! Why? Because Venus could sell love to people living directly under active volcanoes. Before Apple was selling iPhones, Venus was selling apples...and apples literally grew on trees.

Venus knew that sales were about three things: packaging, aspirational desires, and sex, all of which were encapsulated in one of Venus's greatest sales triumphs: Helen of Troy.

Helen of Troy, wife of king Menaleus, sparked the Trojan War when Venus promised Helen's love to the Trojan prince Paris in exchange for Paris declaring Venus the loveliest goddess of all. What helped Venus make this sale?
1. Packaging (Helen was gorgeous).
2. Aspirational desire (Helen was married to a powerful king, and, hence, if she chose Paris over Menaleus, wouldn't that make Paris more powerful?)
3. Sex. (Sex!)

So, Petrea, when you think about marketing--when you think about how you can help people overcome inertia and self restraint so that they can have something that will give them pleasure--you must think about these three things:

1. Packaging: You can sell a book by its cover, at least initially. Is your book Helen of Troy?
2. Aspirational desire: How can you convince me that your book will help me reach an aspirational place?
3. Sex: It doesn't have to be Fifty Shade of Grey, but, we do like us our romance, especially if it is aspirational. How can convey that message to me?

Finally, Venus succeeded because Venus never doubted her product. NEVER! Because she never doubted her product, because she always believed her product would enhance to lives of those who embraced it, Venus was never wishy washy or shy about promoting it. It takes a special kind of confidence to be that bold. Can you be that confident for at least a few months? What can you do that will help you succeed at that?

There you go! Do these things and your novel will find the audience it deserves. That's right! A goddess can even help you with sales!

Channel this goddess: When marketing your book or when facing other marketing or sales challenges! Go Team!

Need a goddess? I got goddesses! Post a comment explaining what you need or want a goddess for, and then check back in a week or two and see what you got! It's fun! It's free! It will make you beautiful, desirable and sexy! Oh la la!