Think outside the box. How often do we hear that phrase? I choose to take it one step further, and live outside of the box, making my own boxes. I never realized how hard that could be until I, a marketing executive for 15 years, decided to pen a middle grade series.
You see, in business, we like to keep people in boxes. Marketers are not writers, and writers aren’t marketers. My book announcement, an exclusive given to the New York Times, stated I’d be “marketing to kids through my books.” Hmm. That’s an interesting thought. But given my research, I know how smart 8-12 year-olds are, so I knew that I wouldn’t even attempt to get over on my readers. But, it would make logical sense, right? A marketer could only have an interest in writing a series for girls if she could sell them facewash, right?
Not exactly. I started my career at the age of 16 as a writer. I got my first job writing a column for a newspaper for girls called The New Girl Times. I would always send a copy of my column to the kind PR person from Company X who’d send me things to review. And each time, I got the same response: if I send you more stuff, will you keep telling me what you think?
This was 1996, and teens and trendspotting were just starting to evolve in a big way. This was pre-Britney, Teen Vogue, The Hills…you get it. I quickly found out that the insights I offered to these marketing executives were much needed and pretty special. And as a teenager, it felt great to know that these companies actually cared about what I had to say.
Talk of my services started to spread throughout the business, and eventually I had more clients than hours in the day to review their products. I was, of course, still a fulltime student, managing school, field hockey, yearbook, choir, and so many other activities. So I hired some friends, who had other friends, and thus my buzzSpotter network was born. What started out as a team of 1 now boasts 9,000 members worldwide.
So even though I had a thriving venture, I still thought I’d end up being a journalist. I got my B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Journalism from Hood College. I also wrote for the college paper, and even had the title of News Editor for a year. And it was in college that I started writing for trade journals.
I can still remember sitting in my advisor’s office senior year, discussing my desire to go to law school. My point is, even though I had a business that was doing well, and actually making money, I still wasn’t committed to the idea
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 8/21/2009
Blog:
Ypulse
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Disney,
cyberbullying,
Alloy,
Hello Kitty,
Ypulse Essentials,
Tina Wells,
yellow submarine,
catherine hardwicke,
aeropostale,
athiesim,
kids upfront,
sanio,
spiderman musical,
young atheists,
Add a tag
Bored teens = higher web traffic (ComScore breaks out the biggest gainers online this summer with a paragraph devoted to kids/toy sites and teen sites that have seen an uptick in traffic – Alloy ranked #1.)
- BTS sales for teen retailers... Read the rest of this post
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 7/15/2009
Blog:
Ypulse
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
russell brand,
VMAs,
Ypulse Essentials,
soulja boy,
Tina Wells,
jc penney,
wizards of waverly place,
black box,
p.s.,
Add a tag
Russell Brand is back for VMAs (after raising some concerns last time around with his not-so-tween friendly fare. Plus Savage County MTV's new web horror series featuring killer hillbillies. And MTV's internal survey on what video ads work best)... Read the rest of this post
Great post. It's tragic to see the way we treat each other and how we perpetuate what's acceptable.
Also, yay, Penn! :)
Loved this. I'm glad you've been able to find what works for you and go for it no matter what. Great advice.
What a wonderful story. Mackenzie Blue sounds amazing, and so you you, Tina. I'd love for my daughter to read those books. I entered the contest but if I don't win, I'm definitely buying the series for her (and for myself, too!).
Thanks for the informative post! And the Mackenzie Blue website is so fun and bright. I confess I spent ten minutes trying on clothes on the characters (regressing back to my paper doll days). :)
I love the layout of the Mackenzie Blue book on the website. It looks like a great book for MG readers, soon to be my daughter. Thanks for sharing!
I've mentally put this book in my TBR pile. We need more uplifting books. Thank you for writing them!