Keep It Moving

I’ve learned the hard way in the writing life about the importance of having a lot of different things in motion—at the same time. You never know which project or which aspect will get attention on a particular day.

Today I received an email that one of my friends, Dr. Ted Baehr, turned my press release on Book Proposals That Sell to Assist News Service (a world-wide news service). My press release suddenly went to news services around the globe. Will something happen from this release? I don’t know but I’m excited about the potential.

Our obligation as writers is to celebrate these events and keep throwing out our material into the marketplace to see where it will have an impact. It’s been a personal encouragement to see the various reviews of my Book Proposals That Sell on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. From my own experience as a book buyer, I know these reviews will help others decide if they want to purchase the book or not.

Each week, I read a great deal of material.  In some publication, I learned it’s more effective to have ten different ways for people to purchase a book than to devote the energy to only one means.  It’s more effective if people can purchase the book at conferences, at various online sources, in the bookstore, directly from the author, and from the publisher—than only one marketing channel. It’s why publishers spend a lot of time talking about various sales channels.  Often in the sales area, a publisher will have a channel manager who is responsible for a particular type of sales (such as to Sam’s Club or Walden Books or book clubs).

As a writer, how are you keeping your writing moving? Are you writing magazine queries and sending them out on a regular basis? If you want to write books, are you learning how to craft your proposal for the editor? Are you meeting those editors at conferences then forming ongoing relationships? To make our dreams about writing happen will involve a combination of faithfully learning our craft and faithfully knocking on doors of opportunity. You never know which door will open.