I Need 5 Minutes of Your Time & Your Wisdom

In less than five minutes yesterday, a gentleman I didn’t even know–author Joshua Swainston–reached out to me to offer information that has the potential to be of enormous value.

 

Joshua took the time yesterday at mid-day to point me to local (Tacoma-area) venues that offer showcases to authors. I pursued them yesterday afternoon and, before evening the same day, half of them had turned into upcoming events here in Tacoma.

 

Is five minutes of your time too much to ask?  

 

I have a lot of friends on Facebook… and a lot of you are creatives with connections to local and/or high-profile places and people that I don’t have. You’re authors, marketers, media (TV, radio, podcast, magazine) hosts, bloggers, features writers, studio employees, you name it!

 

Please don’t assume that I already know everything I need to know about getting the word out about my books. Although I’m a copywriter and author, capable of writing winning words that rivet readers in place, I’m not an expert when it comes to properly divining, defining and distributing information about my books and my availability to talk about or read excerpts from them: I have always left outreach methods to my clients’ marketing experts.

 

Although I’ve written winning copy, content and features and properly placed them with interested parties, I haven’t ever sat down and figured out how to market my books in any official capacity. I have only this website (for which I thank Lisa Twining Taylor of Dancing Goat Web Design in Tacoma) and a bunch of professionally-printed post cards (for which I thank Eli Struck of Enlighting Struck Design in Kent). (I wrote all of the copy on both; please don’t ‘blame’ my providers for that!) Beyond these, I’m without marketing materials as an author. (As a copy/content writer and editor, I’m covered, but I’m trying to  don my author hat more often so I can write more books. At my age, I have my writing legacy to consider. When I write for clients,  I don’t get a byline–just lots of thank yous and return business. That’s all well and good–but I still have a few more books left in me before I’m shoveled off this mortal coil!)

 

So I’m reaching out to ask you to spend just five minutes to outline a strategy that has already worked for you or someone else you know.  In return, you can ask me to do the same for you when it comes to copy, content or features writing. (In fact, many of you already have!)

 

If you have more than five minutes to spare, so much the better…but you’ll be amazed at how far I can get with five minutes’ worth of new information.

 

So send me your “starter kit”.

 

Assume I’m a complete neophyte. Make it a “Marketing for Dummies” outline.

 

It can be for local outreach, regional outreach, national outreach, international outreach. I will need all of that (real soon) if I gain some traction in the next few weeks and months.

 

If you know of local (Tacoma area) well-attended venues where artisans are offering their wares at holiday bazaars or other events during the upcoming holiday season, let me know who’s organizing them and how to contact them. (I’m already aware of ABC Day on October 1st in Spanaway and have a table reserved for that.)

 

If you know Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey or another high-profile TV host and think they’d be interested in my DeForest Kelley title, let them know I’m alive, or let me know you know them and give me permission to drop your name when I reach out to them! I’m not shy about reaching out: I just need a little leverage when I do reach out to the big guns!

 

I’m looking for workable solutions. I’ve already reached out to everyone I know (probably too much–you may be getting sick of me as a sad result! Sorry!!!); now I need to reach beyond the people I know (you can help with that–you know scads of people personally that I don’t know!) to find people who have never heard of me: people who love to read memoirs, people who love animals, people who love self-help books, people who love to read, people who are ace interviewers…

 

Do you know of radio shows whose hosts interview authors? (I already know about The Authors Show and Artists First Radio Network. If you know of any others, please let me know.)

 

Do you personally know a broadcast or podcast host who interviews authors?  If so, can you give me their contact info and your permission to drop your name when I contact them?

 

I want to make public appearances and/or get a book table at no-cost or low-cost local (Tacoma area) public venues.

 

I will also fly to do Star Trek, sci fi and comic conventions if the organizer will fly me in and out, put me up in the convention hotel (hopefully it has an airport shuttle that can take me to and from the airport), buy my food while I’m there, give me a dealer’s table, and pay for shipping 50 books to the venue, I will happily speak for FREE to convention attendees about my good friend DeForest Kelley.

 

Stuff like this will go a long way toward getting me where I need to be as a 100% self-supporting author.

 

Can you help? I would love it!

 

Can you send your insights and wisdom to me before another week is out (from the time you read this blog)? That would be just perfect!  Email your wisdom to krisATwordwhisperer.net.

 

THANK YOU!!!

 

With a very special thanks to Joshua Swainston!!! (BUY HIS BOOK! It has received great reviews! I plan to buy one in person so he can inscribe it to me when I finally meet this angel man!)