Spread the Fire

Several times, I’ve exchanged emails with Greg Stielstra, the author of Pyromarketing. He closes these emails saying, “Spread the Fire.” Those simple words can be a call to action for every writer.

What are you doing to continue to grow in your craft of writing?  Hopefully for the year ahead you are planning to attend a writer’s conference. Besides learning more about your writing craft, what are you actively doing to spread the fire or market your books, your writing for magazines or yourself?  It doesn’t have to consume your day but it does have to be on your radar. I like the suggestions Jacqueline Deval makes in Publicize Your Book if you only have 15 minutes a day. Each of us can find a small amount of time. The key is to keep move ahead or spread the fire.

I returned to this concept of spread the fire when I watched this short YouTube video about Pyromarketing. My Feedblitz readers will have to follow the link where I’ve embedded the actual YouTube video in my Writing Life entry. In a clear way, this book trailer shows the changes in the ways people have to be reached with your product. It’s true we are bombarded with these messages much more than in years past and it calls for a fresh strategy to spread the fire.

As part of my personal effort to spread the fire, over a month ago I launched this Writing Tip of the Day.  It’s a viral marketing effort which spreads without any additional promotion or effort from me. Each version includes the message so anyone seeing it one place can add it to their own website. In about a month, I believe it is on over 1500 websites—and changing daily.

Can you create something which will spread like fire?