Welcome back and Happy Wednesday!
It’s been quite a busy and hectic week for me, and I’m already looking forward to the weekend.
Today we’ll talk briefly about marketing. How many of you have an unlimited marketing budget for your writing business, or for that matter any business you might have? That’s what I thought…funds are a bit scarce, aren’t they?
A writer has to be quite ingenious in marketing his/her skills and product. There are what, millions of writers out there, and they are all after a piece of the public pie, and that’s some serious competition…and few of us are lucky enough to have a major publishing firm to market our books…so it falls in our laps to do it.
I have written several articles about the marketing aspect of this business, but it all boils down to being creative and being persistent. There are opportunities out there for you, but you have to want them bad enough to go find them.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Marketing is what you do when your product is no good.”
Edwin Land
Yes, I’m laughing at that quote, but I’m also cringing, because all I have to do is look around at some of the products on the market to know this is true.
And it is true in the writing world. I am reminded of an author I once read religiously…Robert Parker, the author of quite a few “Spenser” mysteries. Mr. Parker’s earlier works were quite good, but eventually it appeared that he was just going through the motions with his books. The plots were mundane at best, and the characters became stale and boring. Once that point was reached, marketing was a major factor in getting those later books to sell.
TIP OF THE DAY
Market locally and then spread out from there. Go to bookstores and libraries and ask to do readings and book signings. Those places love local authors and they are always quite willing to give you time. You might also contact local schools and ask them if their English teachers would like to have a local author stop by and discuss writing with the students.
SITE OF THE DAY
Writers Marketing is a site designed just for this topic and it gives some interesting and helpful tips about marketing. You can find them here.
FUNDS FOR THE DAY
The NEA gives a series of grants to artists/writers and you might qualify. You can find their site here.
PROMPT OF THE DAY
I hope you find these prompts helpful. Who knows where inspiration will come from, right?
I GUESS THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY
I hope you have a productive day, and thank you for stopping by. Remember, you are always invited to do a guest blog for me about writing, or just share a comment about the subject of writing if you don’t feel like writing an entire blog. Send it to my email address at holland1145@yahoo.com.
Thanks and have a great day!
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 