Today's Totally Important Post is about class member Daphne Grab. Teen reviewer Gela gushes about Daphne's book, Alive and Well in Prague, New York. Check it out.
Now, back to this week's topic: Group Marketing...
Debbie Reed Fischer is the other person who was part of the dynamic duo that took SCBWI Florida by storm in January. Let's find out what she has to say about doing a workshop with another author.
Debbie?
Chatting online every day for months creates a very unique bond with someone, and that is especially true in 2k8. Like the rest of the class, Jody and I had already spent hundreds of hours discussing book promotion, as well as sharing opinions, triumphs, disappointments and jokes. So when I arrived at the conference and we found each other, it wasn't the polite, tentative greeting that usually takes place when meeting someone for the first time. From the moment we hugged in the main conference room, I felt as though we'd been friends forever. When we did sit down to discuss our presentation, there was a comfort level of two people who had been working together for a long time. It made planning and executing our presentation as easy as two friends talking about a common interest. That was a direct result of being in the Class of 2k8.
The really great thing about 2k8 is that members have professional backgrounds in areas other than publishing. How is that a plus, you ask? Well, when Jody and I were speaking about book promotion, I was grateful she had worked in the related field of advertising for many years. It was reassuring to have her expertise handy.
One attendee told me, "You usually see workshops on the same thing at all these conferences. This was something truly different." That 'something different' is another thing 2k8 brings to the table, and Jody and I were eager to talk about it. We have mutual enthusiasm for the group and its purpose, which really showed in our presentation. Our Class of 2k8 brochures were received with interest and curiosity, and a lot of people wanted to know more. Another attendee complained that our workshop wasn't long enough, after we spoke for an hour and a half! Not to mention it was the very last workshop of a three-day conference!
M.P. Barker also knows how important group marketing is...
Being part of 2k8 has helped me because I'm a terrible procrastinator, very disorganized, and know absolutely nothing about marketing. I'm very bad at meeting personal deadlines if I'm not responsible to anyone but myself, but fear of shame and humiliation makes me very good at meeting deadlines when they're imposed by somebody else. Having a group to be answerable to forces me to get my act together and get things accomplished. It's also great to have a support group of people whom I can learn from and who are going through all the same things I am.
Liz Gallagher simply puts it this way:
It makes the fish a little bigger in that big pond.
So, if you're thinking of joining a group to help you get the word out about your books,
JUMP RIGHT IN
and
MAKE A SPLASH
that the publishing world won't soon forget!
This is disturbing, but I have noticed a good bit of "tech" at the beaches this year! Folks are willing to brave salt and sand to stay plugged in... sigh. Thanks for sharing your poem!
Oh, I LONG to simply go to the beach instead of packing for our move. Thank you for getting my brain there, if nothing else..
Ah, this poem brings back so many memories of warm climate beaches visited with my grandparents! Thanks, Greg!
Lovely.
Thank you. :)
One of the great things I love about Poetry Friday is that it leads me to your poems - with its cryptic quality, its staccato-like images, and the beautiful way that everything just goes together. Again, thanks for sharing.
I'm an Arizona desert rat, and I had no use for Florida until we were "forced" to move there so my husband to do an internship. We lived in Cape Coral, 40 minutes from Sanibel Island and Fort Myers beaches. Your poem pictures the beaches exactly. Especially your last line, "At the beach I'm never bored". I also remember the great, puffy clouds that rolled in every summer afternoon, signaling time to go home before the ferocious thunderstorm would hit.
Back in AZ now, and thinking of the beach!
Thanks, Greg!