What if your biggest flop is actually your biggest learning opportunity?
That’s what you get when you approach your marketing with an experimental mindset. Too often I see authors get discouraged when a newsletter has a low open rate or a social media post gets ignored. They start to think, maybe I’m just not cut out for this. But here’s the truth: every single result—good or bad—is a piece of data you can use to learn and get better.
Think like a scientist, not a salesperson
Marketing is not a one-and-done event. It’s a process of testing, observing, and adjusting. When you treat each effort as an experiment, you take the pressure off yourself to be “right” every time. Instead, you’re simply gathering evidence about what resonates with your readers.
- Test an idea.
- Track what happens.
- Adjust your approach.
- Repeat.
That’s the cycle.
I’ve seen this firsthand in my years working with Daniel Pink. We tried his content in dozens of different formats—short videos, long essays, quick insights, even experiments with subject lines. Some landed, others didn’t. But over time, the experiments shaped his style and brand. The voice you see from him today wasn’t an accident. It was forged in testing.
For example – you might test these two headlines:
Version A: “3 habits to build in 2025”
Version B: “Are you building these 3 habits in 2025?”
Why tracking matters
Here’s the rub: if you don’t track what you’re trying, you’ll never see the patterns. You won’t know what worked and what didn’t. Peaks and valleys will look random.
Tracking doesn’t have to be complicated. It might mean:
- Looking at open rates and click-throughs on your email newsletter.
- Noting which social posts get comments or shares.
- Paying attention to the stories readers repeat back to you.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s discovery.
Reframe failure as data
The authors who win long term don’t see failure as failure. They see it as feedback. A flop isn’t a dead end, it’s simply pointing you toward a better path. Every piece of data tells you something about how to serve your audience more effectively.
The real question
Do you approach your marketing with an experimental mindset—willing to test, learn, and adapt? This is part of our author marketing checklist. We’d love to give it to you for free.
