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Mailing
People close to me know that my Fall Mailing has been the bane of my existence. Okay, so "bane" is a strong word, but it's been really annoying.
I have a total of 3,800 Lazarus packets to be sent out. Each packet will have a letter from me, a synopsis of Lazarus and a bio sheet (same page), reviews of Lazarus, availability, programming suggestions, and an order form (for single and group orders). The purpose of this mailing is to reach out to the communities that I feel will enjoy Lazarus or will benefit by bringing me in for events or programs. Those could be book signings or lectures, depending on the organization's needs.
After some research and talking to friends, I have identified about seven or eight topics that I am an "expert" at. At least enough of an expert where I feel comfortable speaking on the topic to a room full of strangers.
Other authors know this already and I am just following their lead, but in case you are an aspiring writer and you didn't know, here's a secret....you can't just sell books. You've got to enjoy public speaking to a certain degree so that people will try to seek you out as an expert. This works better for non-fiction authors, though. So all you aspriring non-fiction writers out there, get up off your duffs, write those books, and then groom yourself to be a speaker. If you are a knitter, and wrote a book about knitting, don't you think you should be speaking to knitting circles and knitting conventions?
For novelists, it's a little different and more challenging. Me, I'm a nobody so far, so I've got to do a lot of hard work to market myself as an "expert." Luckily, I have several niche markets that might be interested in what I have to say. I may never be invited to be a keynote speaker at a National Urban League conference, but seems to me that I could be a workshop facilitator at a fraternity or sorority conference. Ya know?
So that's the point of my mailing...to raise awareness of Lazarus, tell people where they can buy it, offer myself as an event or program, and let people know about group discounts.
Now, there's no way that I can afford to have them ALL sent out at the same time, but I have grouped and prioritized them based on what type of organization I'm sending them to. My first round will be sent to what I consider "semesterly" organizations -- offices and organizations that are based on college and university campuses. Technically, I am "late" on that because the semester has already started and many organizations have already planned their events for the year. But, ya never know which organization has a specific need for a certain type of program.
At any rate, I hope this info was helpful to other aspiring writers out there. I am really excited that the first round of my mailing will be going out this weekend and I look forward to seeing if there are any "bites" -- interest in what I have to say.
Posted by Rashid on September 13, 2005 7:27 AM
Comments
Rashid, Help can be just a phone call away. Give me a call and let me see what I can do to assist you with the mail outs.
Commented by Fratman1906 on September 13, 2005 8:50 AM
You know...it's funny you mentioned this. I was just chatting with a friend of mine about book publicizing. I love to write and would have no problem with churning out a book with enough time and patience, but I know I could not be one to go touring and publicizing it. And meeting folks and shit? You think Whitney is bad about autographs? Shiiiiiiit.
I guess it boils down to the notion that I could speak on stuff, I'd just prefer not to.
Commented by karsh on September 13, 2005 2:50 PM