WHY ARE YOU SITTING ON A GREAT IDEA?

[Sunny Frazier]

Writers are, by nature, creative people. We sit around daydreaming of plots, characters, heroes and villains. But, what happens if you think up a terrific marketing idea yet don't follow through?

Too much work? Okay, it might take some effort. Afraid it won't work? Can't know unless you try. Think people will reject it? Maybe. Or, maybe you'll break new ground.

Scenario: The blog over at my publishing house was lacking. Nobody seemed to be following. I posted a URL to my post on Novel Spaces and was told the idea was not to navigate readers away from our blog. The hope is that they would stay and buy books. (We do have good ones. I know because I acquisitioned them!)

I came up with the idea to do a round-up every Friday of all the places our authors showed up in a week. I supplied the URLs. Suddenly, a negative became a positive. Not only did our authors get to see what their peers were doing, but the publisher and I could tell who was slacking in the promotion department.

Taking the extra step is the one most people miss. Instead of letting the Round-Up sit there, waiting for attention, I promoted it to all my contacts. I pointed out that information on review sites, interviewers and blogs looking for bloggers was all there for the taking. For readers, free book offers, contests, fun articles.

Even the most enterprising marketer would stop there. I made it a point to contact every site owner and personally thank them for hosting one of our authors. Guess what? They want to support Oak Tree even more.

I can hear some of you saying, “Too much work!” But, the column writes itself. Oak Tree authors send me where and when their posts will come up, where their signings will be. I put it in the column. I've already got columns started into 2013. I keep a list of authors and their book titles as well as a list of e-mail addresses of sites that supported us. I guarantee they will host more of our folks in the future. Organizing information makes ever round-up easier.

This is how a publishing house grows. This is how authors work together to market. This is the way we make the most of time and effort. This is how ideas become reality.

And, you better believe, this column is going to be mentioned in next Friday's Round-Up. Be sure and check at otpblog.blogspot.com