Are You An Evangelist?

Many people assume an evangelist is an occupation for someone like Billy Graham. I'm using the word in the secondary Webster definition: “Someone who talks about something with great enthusiasm.”  Pause for a moment and consider what topics you face with enthusiasm and are actively telling other people about it.

In recent weeks, I've been an Overdrive evangelist. Using Overdrive on my phone has raised the amount of books I'm consuming—audio books. Overdrive is a free app that I downloaded on my phone and it is tied to your local library. You can check out the audio book from your library for 21 days then download the entire book on your phone. Now that I have the audio on my phone, I can use it anywhere. I listen to the book while I walk on the treadmill. Because of Bluetooth, I listen to the same book in my car—even when I drive a short distance. Recently I've been traveling and I've listened to these audio books in the airport or on the airplane. If I have my phone, then I have access to the audio book.

You can have different library cards on Overdrive. Each library has purchased different books so you can access a different selection. Currently I have three library cards and recently drove into Denver to get a Denver Public Library Card because they have a larger selection of books on Overdrive.

I listen to a great deal of nonfiction—business books, biography, memoir and how-to books. You can see many of these books just checking this location on Goodreads. After I hear a book, I will write a short review and post it on Goodreads and Amazon. This practice doesn't take much time but increases the number of reviews I post because of the increased volume of audio books I've been consuming.
In my conversations at writers' conferences, I've been asking people if they use Overdrive. If they say, “No.” Then I pass along my experience and how they could use it as well. I've become an evangelist for this program.

Passion and enthusiasm is important for every writer. It is your passion that sustains you for the writing and marketing of a book. For example, for many years I've been passionate about teaching writers how to craft a great book proposal or pitch for their book. I've written a book.  I've taught the material at various writers' conferences. I continue to write about book proposals in my Book Proposal Boot Camp column for Southern Writers Magazine. I have a free teleseminar on the topic and also my free book proposal checklist.

My passion for book proposals has been actively passed on to others. Others have recommended my Book Proposals That Sell or my Write a Book Proposal course or other resources. It's been encouraging to see the Amazon reviews for the book and the feedback from other writers who have used my book to locate a literary agent or get a publishing deal.

How is your passion for your writing translating into action? A book? An online course? A teleseminar? A workshop for a conference? The possible ways for you to pass on your enthusiasm are endless.

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Gimmicks Can Work

The Weekend Edition of the Today Show was reviewing books to read at the beach and one of them caught my attention. It was a book called Poolside, or 14 stories from a number of well-known authors about their experiences around a swimming pool. The gimmick for this book is that it's waterproof. In fact, they had a little plastic pool and fished it out of the water on the show.

I have no idea how the short presentation affected other people but I went to my computer and ordered one. It worked to get me and purchase the book. It's definitely different and I'll be curious to see what it looks and feels like--then to read the book. The real test is not going to be the gimmick. It's going to be what is contained in the pages. If the writing and content is excellent, then I will probably be telling even more people about it.

With the proliferation of books, media and product in the marketplace, it is a challenge to get someone to purchase the book in the first place. The next step is to produce something so excellent the user becomes an evangelist for your product. You want to enable that person to actively spread the word about your book any chance they get the opportunity. It’s some of the principles of Greg Stielstra's excellent book, Pyromarketing. If you don't have it, get it and I recommend you read his introduction. I’ll be watching my mailbox for my copy of Poolside so I can check it out for myself.

One more thing: Numerous times in these entries, I've recommended snipurl.com. Their site has undergone a major overhaul. They say they are in beta mode but I applaud their improvements to the site. If you've never used it, register and log on to the site because then you can create your own private abbreviations for various links. It's a terrific resource that I use throughout my day.