With exercise, the first few minutes are the toughest; with writing, it’s the first couple of sentences. Then somehow, without realizing it’s happening, I lose all sense of time and the real world around me and become part of my make-believe creation. It’s a wonderful experience.
But, I am a writer who is most productive when I’m in my own little corner, alone with no music or other distractions. This week, I was in Arkansas visiting my parents; my writing ‘nest’ is in Florida. I decided to use my free time, to read up on marketing ideas rather than trying to write.
To me, the term ‘marketing’ has always meant going to my local grocery store to buy items on my shopping list. I knew I needed to change this mindset, so I picked up the book Guerrilla Marketing for Writers by Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen. I visualized techniques that would have me dressing in camouflage, taking hostages and forcing them to buy my book, The Ride, at gunpoint.
While their book did not go to those extremes, it may not be the best first read for a marketing novice. If I know nothing about the marketing in general, how can I possibly be ready for aggressive marketing techniques? It’s kind of like walking into a calculus class without ever having taken any basic arithmetic courses.
Doing a quick scan of the Table of Contents, I noticed most chapters contain the word ‘weapon’ in their title. And, while I’m sure the book is chock full of great ideas for aggressive people with unlimited time and energy who can walk into a crowded room and within five minutes know everything about everyone, it simply reinforced the fact that I’m a peace loving introvert who simply wants to write.
Evidently I am not alone. From http://www.sedgeband.com/quotes.html, I found this quote:
“Publishing today is a manufacturing industry that puts its production workers in charge of product marketing. I wonder what great books may go unwritten while authors are busy soliciting cover blurbs, cranking out news releases and promoting the bookstore signing they had to schedule themselves.”
Martin J. Smith
Shadow Image
See you next week. In the meantime, I think I’ll head back to the bookstore and look for a “Marketing for Dummies” book.
Jane Kennedy Sutton
Author of The Ride
Web site: http://janekennedysutton.googlepages.com/home
Email: janekennedysutton@gmail.com
Tags: The Ride, Archebooks, marketing, Guerrilla Marketing for Writers , Martin Smith
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1 comment:
Jane,
That quote is downright inspirational. I feel that pain, and it's why I only get four hours of sleep a night. (I'm up from the three I was getting when Choices Meant for Gods was first released.) Because I'm an author no one's ever heard of (Sandy Lender, Southwest Florida), I have to fight and attack and struggle (I'm sure these are words you found in that marketing book) to get every inch of ground I've gained. Any day that I don't post to my blog is a day I lose an inch. Any day that I don't make a new contact is a day that I lose an inch. Any day that I don't send out a press release is a day that I lose an inch. It's high-pressure, high-stress, high-worry...and it's probably killing me.
It's killing me because when I feel my eyelids closing but my fingers are still tap tap tapping away at the keyboard, and I feel myself hit the "send" key, I wonder what on earth I've just uploaded to the world wide web...
Yes, I'd rather be writing, too. And that takes place in those few minutes before I fall asleep to catch that extra hour I used to deny myself.
This second career called "writing" is an addiction, but there's a new song on the radio called Rehab that sums up the way I feel about it. "Try to make me go to rehab and I said no no no."
:)
Sandy L.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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