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Dan Pink's 2008 MCAD Commencement Speech!!!

I'm a Minneapolis College of Art and Design Alumni!
While attending another university for 3 1/2 years, working toward a BS in design, I learned the tools BUT not the skills of creative thought and methodology. MCAD taught me that... and that's what helped me create award-winning toys.

Dan spoke in Naperville this past winter. I posted about it here.

If someday, I could possibly give a speech anywhere near as perfect as this... I guess I can dream.

We haven’t talked about our marketing calendar countdown in a bit and I can feel that clock ticking. There are a few other marketing strategies to consider employing, but they need to be addressed a good five to six months out, so I want to talk about them before too much time gets by. Especially since this marketing angle is particularly well suited to introverts: magazine articles.

Magazine articles based on some element or angle from your book can be a fabulous way to generate interest in the topic and get the word out about your book to a very specifically targeted audience. But since most magazines, especially print magazines, have a huge lead time, time is of the essence.

For example, for Mary’s book, THE ONE ABOUT A KID, she could have written an article highlighting the Challenged Athletes Foundation and pitched that to any one of a number of children’s magazines or even with that particular topic, mainstream women’s or consumer magazines. With Donna Gephart’s book, if she’d wanted to she could have written a short non-fiction article explaining the election cycle process for a kid’s magazine, which would have been a great way to get her name and book title out there in front of the reading public. It has the added benefit of requiring no face-to-face time, and usually has a high built in interest factor for you since you were passionate enough about the subject to write a book on it. Plus chances are you’ve already done most of the research.

When WEREWOLF RISING came out, I had always meant to do this but got swamped with other things at the time. I could easily have written a couple of articles using my research material. Maybe one on the social structure of wolf packs or the origin of the myths of werewolves.

This doesn’t work with all books or all subject matters. Some clearly lend themselves better to these sorts of articles. For example, I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to think of a magazine angle for TEN LUCKY THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO ME. The only things I could come up with were a short article on the effects and chances of truly being hit by lightening—which might be interesting for kids but Mary’s book doesn’t really deal all that much with the topic. Or perhaps, since her book is about friendship and she has great credentials due to being a coach and her prior vocational experience, an article about the ins and outs and dynamics of friendships and how to navigate that. Social tips for girls who aren’t particularly skilled or experienced in navigating the sometimes treacherous waters of friendship. That sort of thing.

Sometimes, especially with certain subjects (wolves, Egyptology, psychological issues) well-established print magazines might prefer someone with serious subject credentials. However, the good news is that there are hundreds of e-zines on the web and they are always looking for material. Plus, if they deal with a subject you touch on in your novel, you are targeting an audience with a built in interest factor. Depending on the age and readership of the magazine, these articles can run from the very short (250 words) to full length (2,000 words.) The other good news is that having an upcoming book release does give you some writing credentials when approaching the magazine.

So go forth and do what you do best: write!

Until next week!