Marketing lessons from the writing world for any business or persona
A collection of advice from three local conferences plus our upcoming book launches
Last weekend, my daughter ran the dishwasher while I attended the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group annual Write Stuff Conference, and I unloaded it this morning.
A full week later.
Among other meetings and commitments, I have attended three local book-related events in the last ten days and today, I will provide a round-up of the advice I heard. Anyone can apply this advice to their business, and perhaps more importantly, in this uber-connected age, anyone can become a product.
Whether you work for someone else, have your own business, or have to promote yourself as an author, speaker or even as someone who needs a job, today’s world requires monitoring/promoting your own brand.
(In the future, round-ups like this might be part of our paid subscriber content.)
EVENT ONE: THE WRITE STUFF
HOST: GREATER LEHIGH VALLEY WRITERS GROUP
April 11-13, 2024
WHY TO ATTEND: The event has been around for decades and has a reputation for being friendly and a venue for networking. The advice is typically geared toward beginning writers exploring publication and usually features editors, agents, authors and other professionals.
The event has expanded to include two days of workshops and one day of sessions with a keynote speaker present multiple days. All three days typically costs $300 to $350 depending on the add-ons you select, hotel room excluded. But the “main event” Friday evening and all-day Saturday costs around $130, without hotel. The event includes lunch for each day you register.
This event is amazing for having the opportunity and the free time to socialize and eat with the presenters. Organizers work hard to attract a “big name” for the keynote, who also participates in workshops and small sessions. These keynotes have advice for writers and authors of all ability/experience levels. This year’s event featured Jonathan Maberry.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Thursday morning’s session with Amy Deardon provided participants with a checklist of everything you need to do in the initial stages of preparing your book for publication and the first push for marketing. Services she recommends: anything from Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur, Story Origin, Book Reviewer Yellow Pages, KDSpy, Publisher Rocket, Nerdy Book Girl.
Thursday afternoon’s session was with author Melissa Koberlein and focused on the brainstorming side of organizing ideas and content for a podcast.
Friday featured two sessions with Jonathan Maberry. He recommended reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Is it a ghost story or an unreliable narrator? he asked.
His web site offers “free stuff for writers.” Click here.
Saturday featured sessions with Jonathan, Amy, Melissa, and others; pitch sessions with agent Mark Gottleib, agent/author Marie Lamba, and editor Donna Talarico. Middle grade author Jordan Sonnenblick also presented sessions. Topics included romantic comedy, productivity, young adult novels, memoir, querying, anthologies and research.
PRIMARY TAKEAWAYS:
Keep writing.
Jonathan believes in the power of being nice and the power of social media. Create a community and support other writers.
Never say no, and this means you may have to figure some stuff out.
Spend money and time on making your book and your craft the best it can be.
Cultivate an audience.
EVENT TWO: WRITING, READING & RETAILING SYMPOSIUM
HOST: COUNCIL FOR RETAIL & SALES, DESALES UNIVERSITY
April 19, 2024
WHY TO ATTEND: Accessible, easy parking, very well organized and well-paced. This event squeezed several days of material into about five hours. The $30 price tag included a very nice lunch. Information packed, not intimidating. The GPS can never quite find buildings at DeSales University but the campus is pleasant.
More on the Council here.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The event kicked off in the main room with a conversation between Daniel Roebuck and Dan Lauria. They discussed their acting careers and how the in-person aspect of the business has changed.
The council offered several tabletop sessions and attendees could pick two: “Using Social Media to Leverage Yourself,” “Ideation Creation,” “In-Store Promotions/Author Signings,” “Finding a Publisher,” “So you want to Compose?” “Navigating the Publishing Landscape” and “Writing Textbooks.” And they really were focused around tables.
Lunch featured a Zoom talk with Shelley Dennis, a writer on The Connors, the spin-off of the sit-com, Roseanne. It was fascinating to spend time with a television writer and learn the inner workings of the writers room.
After lunch, the hosts introduced us to an author panel of Maria Rodale, former CEO of Rodale Press, Vicki Mayk, former journalist at The Morning Call; and one of my favorite people, “serial killer lady” Katherine Ramsland.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
“Call every friend you know.” Especially when fundraising or creating buzz for a project. (One of the Dans)
Be consistent and persistent with social media.
There is often no formula for what marketing works.
Know where your audience hangs out. Understanding demographics will help you find what social media app or advertising opportunity will work for you.
Network and cultivate connections, and this includes talking to local bookstores.
LIVE. The stories that come out of living make you a better writer. (Shelley Dennis)
Take advantage of every opportunity. Prove yourself. (Katherine Ramsland)
Cultivate the discipline to write on demand. (Vicki Mayk)
Advertising corrupts content in publishing. (Maria Rodale)
EVENT THREE: POCONO WRITERS CONFERENCE
HOST: POCONO LIARS CLUB, EASTERN MONROE PUBLIC LIBRARY
April 20, 2024
WHY TO ATTEND: Structure of the event makes it convenient to select what you’d like to attend and stay within a budget. Talks all happen in the same room, with small workshops split into a conference room around the corner. Food not included but plentiful options nearby, even within walking distance. The library is gorgeous and has a small cafe.
The Pocono Liars Club does not charge dues, nor does the one-day event have an admission cost. Donations are encouraged. Presenters hold small sessions throughout the day for $20/per person, and the speaker receives all of those fees. That facilitates the one-on-one contact without big budget prices or production costs.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Presenters this year: Michael Ventrella, lawyer and author; Randee Dawn, entertainment journalist and author; Leslye Penelope, fantasy author; Lori Perkins, agent, author, publisher; and Josh Palmatier, anthology publisher (and math professor— talk about making the numbers work.)
“Lectures” were all in the same room, 45-60 minutes with a 15-minute break between.
Topics included beginning your online, in-person and in-the-press marketing; world-building, submitting to an anthology, and an insider’s view of the last 30 years in publishing.
MAIN TAKE AWAYS:
Create a public persona for yourself. It will make appearances less exhausting. (Randee Dawn)
Brainstorm 20 ideas for every project. The first 10 everyone will have. Throw those out. The last five are crazy. Throw those out. Work with the remaining five. (Josh Palmatier)
Have multiple streams of revenue to survive as a writer. (Lori Perkins)
The Internet is forever. So edit yourself and plan what you publicize.
If someone has given you the time of day, go back [to them]. (Lori Perkins)
Invest in Publisher’s Marketplace if you are serious about learning the traditional publishing agency. (This one came from Jonathan Maberry last week AND Lori Perkins yesterday.)
Presenters at this conference recommended beta and sensitivity readers, Jonathan Maberry warned that sensitivity readers can often have an axe to grind and recommended being extremely diligent in your research instead.
A big thank you to Andy Laties of Book and Puppet Company, the independent bookstore in downtown Easton, for manning the Book Fair at The Write Stuff. He always does a tremendous job of ordering and bringing our presenters’ books and bringing and consigning members’ books as well. Andy himself is an interesting fellow and you can learn more about him in his business memoir, The Rebel Bookseller.
Speaking of Book and Puppet, the poetry group Noble Quills, which has met in the Barnes & Noble in the Southmont Shopping Center for several years will host its first open mic and workshop at its new location at Book and Puppet at 6:30 p.m. May 2.
Also, Parisian Phoenix has the following news to announce:
Speaking of rebels, while searching this week for something unrelated, I discovered Sacha Black read my letter on the Rebel Author Podcast last year. For more information about the episode, click here. I had missed the episode when it originally aired because I was in the hospital. If you want to listen to her adorable accent reading the letter, tune in just before minute 9.
Sacha had this to say about our publishing community:
This is an awesome, awesome rebellion. And yeah, look up Parisian Phoenix if you are interested in finding out more about them. I think this is such a cool rebellion, and the fact that you are creating communities and collecting people and helping to bring diverse voices into the world is just fantastic. So I absofuckinglutely love that rebellion. And also thank you for listening.
— Sacha Black, episode 180, the Rebel Author Podcast
This weekend, in honor of Arbor Day, Echo City Capers will launch The Ballad of Otto the Oak at the Barnes & Noble in Center Valley, Pa. Author Ralph Greco Jr. and illustrator Joseph Swarctz will be on hand 11 a.m. April 27 to sign books and celebrate this story of a young tree that travels the world hoping to find his roots.
McKenna Graf’s second poetry chapbook, as she calls it an archive of her work-to-date, will be available for pre-order sometime this week on Amazon. The formal release date is June 21, and the book should be available for pre-order on other platforms in late May or early June.
Thurston Gill will be offering a free seminar on his Phulasso system of personal protection, 11 a.m. (and again in the afternoon, I believe) May 18 at the Barnes & Noble in the Southmont Shopping Center, Bethlehem Township, Pa.
The fourth novel in the Fashion and Fiends series, Road Trip, will officially release May 20 and should be available for pre-order now. Angel Ackerman (yes, that’s me) will be doing her first Barnes & Noble book signing on May 25 as part of Blood in the Stacks, a collection of local horror authors in-store at the Barnes & Noble in the Southmont Shopping Center, Bethlehem Township, Pa.
On May 26, both Parisian Phoenix and Echo City Capers will be participating in the Flemington Book Festival, Flemington, N.J. That will be my first time visiting that event, which includes a massive tent sale of books, books and more books. The event is organized by Act 2 Used Books.
Great list of advice.