Category: Community

Writers: Connecting to Your Audience Begins at Creation

When is the best time to begin thinking about marketing your book, connecting it to readers? At creation.

Before it is done. Before you have a title. Before the cover is designed. Before you have an agent. Before you have a publisher. Before you know the launch date. Before you have something to “sell.”

Why? Because marketing is not just a selfish process of selling something to people, it is a process of connecting with and understanding those that you share a worldview with. It is a process to understand your audience – what gets their attention – the marketplace they exist in – what gets them to take action – and how the support system around them operates: the agents, publishers, bookstores, book blogs, reviewers, and so many others that create the community around readers.

This is a process of learning.

When you consider marketing while creating, subtle changes can be made at this point that makes your work MORE meaningful to those you are hoping to connect with.
This is not about changing your work to pander to what others want. This is not about dumbing down to get mass audience appeal. I have been an artist, a musician, and a writer: I RESPECT the creative process – the act of listening to your inner voice to create something uniquely you. That you are doing something that moves our culture forward, and not just filling a gap in “the market,” or watering down your work to try to give others what they think they want.

But… if your book needs to find an audience. If you need to take steps to become a full-time author. If your work needs to support your personal life or a professional business. Then…

You may want to consider the process of marketing during creation. In the past I have written that not every creation needs to be shared, and used the example of a series of pop up books that I once spent three years creating. I was exploring ideas and a story in ways I never had before. I realized that the more I thought about ‘the market,’ about becoming a ‘published author,’ the more watered down it became. So I threw that idea out the door, and it became a personal project, with zero goals of sharing it beyond a few close friends. As an artist and writer, that was satisfying. But it should also be noted that those books haven’t seen the light of day in more than a decade. Those who had seen the books during that time still ask me what I am going to do with them, offended that the answer is: “nothing.”

But… I didn’t need those books to be my identity. Or my career. Or the foundation for a business. I just needed to create them for myself. I just needed to explore that story.

So if you are working on a book, and don’t care if 10 or fewer people read it, then – GREAT. I love that. But if you will judge success by the number of people who read your book. By HOW engaged they are. By the connections you make, the lives affected. If you want your ideas to SPREAD. Then consider marketing early in the process of creation. Consider building your author platform. Consider if you know who your ideal audience is and how to reach them. Consider if you know how to talk about your book and how to connect that with interests and desires already in the minds of those readers.

Sometimes this process of marketing at creation happens naturally. You are drawn to the people, places, and ideas that align with what you are creating. Conversations are something you seek out. Relationships are built. Your work is already affecting the world.

But sometimes this doesn’t happen. The idea is coveted – protected – and thus, not shared. The creator hides their process, hides their work, becomes tongue-tied when trying to explain it, gets shy about even mentioning it because it means potential judgment. It takes a lot of confidence to talk about one’s personal creative process openly with friends, family, and coworkers. So, many writers live a double life. Their creation is born in secret.

I think the key is that we get jaded about terms such as “marketing.” That it means a different purpose and identity than “creation.” That great work should speak for itself, and magically find it’s way into people’s lives. That we engage with the business end of things as a painful necessity, hiring mercenaries to shout about our work for short periods, but that our grace comes with the legacy of becoming part of the pantheon of great writers.

Carolyn Parkhurst illustrates this best:

I understand that when we talk about marketing, you may be thinking this is akin to selling out, or focusing your very limited resources on the wrong things. But I have worked with enough writers to know that it is a lot of HARD WORK to find success. That too many writers fail to not just share their work, but they give up on the process of writing altogether.

It’s hard work to succeed, and not just for the little guy, the newbie coming up. It’s hard for those famous and successful writers as well – to find continued success. They worked hard to get where they are, and many of them rarely slow down, always trying to further cement their body of work, engage new readers, and extend their legacy. Their success is earned by inches.

I just watched the 2002 documentary, The Comedian, where Jerry Seinfeld shares his process of creating an entirely new comedy routine after retiring all of his old material. It shows the struggle he goes through to create good jokes, and to constantly test them out in front of audiences. He characterizes his work ethic this way:

“When I was starting out, I used to sit down and write a couple times a week. Then one day I was watching these construction workers go back to work, trudging down the street. It was like a revelation to me. I realized: these guys don’t want to go back to work after lunch. But they’re going, because that’s their job. If they can exhibit that level of dedication for that job, I should be able to do the same. Just trudge your ass in.”

The documentary shows Seinfeld – one of the biggest names in comedy – on stage in small clubs, testing new material from scraps of paper, forgetting his jokes, in anguish over nerves before a gig. It shows him – a very wealthy man with one of the most successful TV shows ever – trying again and again.

This is someone whose creative process is inherently a part of how he shares his work. Is it different for writers of books? Sure. In fact, it’s different for every individual. Only you can decide your creative process, how you will develop your writing career, how you will connect with readers. That is the joy of it, and for some, the endless frustration of it. But if your goal is to reach a wide audience, to engage people again and again, then consider how you share your work as you develop it. Consider connection during creation.

Thanks!
-Dan

Why I Love Writers, Publishers, and the Community that Supports Them

My business – We Grow Media – reached it’s one year anniversary of active business recently, and I wanted to take a moment to talk about my view of publishing, of the world writers are facing, of the opportunity in front of all of us, and give you a behind the scenes glimpse at my business. I created a video talking through things – but you can also read through it below:

I am constantly working with writers, with editors, with publishers – each trying to create something new in the world. This is not just “some bright idea” for a book or product, but rather, deeply wrapped up in their identity, their personal journey, how they affect the world, how they serve others, and what they hope their legacy will be.

For many people the work they are creating is something they have obsessed over for years, and cuts right to their core. This isn’t just a story, a book, a product, a service, an event: this is them making meaning of the world – them reaching out to others. Them, mattering.

If you are a writer, a publisher, or part of the community that supports them: this is who you are. This is the legacy you are creating.

For some, this means carving out a new identity. For others, it means building a new career. There is so much more wrapped up in this. And this is why I LOVE working with writers, publishers, and the community around them.

There is a lot of talk about the ‘future of publishing.’ What is more interesting to me is the PRESENT of publishing. Where anyone can create a brand, can create a work, can share their work, can connect with others, can find an audience, can get involved, can – YES – earn money from their work.

This is where we shape our ideas, let them loose in the world, watch them grow, and connect with like minds. This is where we help each other become a part of something meaningful.

This is why I started We Grow Media. Why I took the risk of launching a business, of making a commitment to writers, publishers, and the community around them. Because of this:

You inspire me.

When I work with clients, I always start with goals. We need to know where you are going if we are going to create a path to get there. And we always end with a plan for sustainable growth and iteration for months or years to come.

I love working with people to not just market a single book, but to build a writing CAREER. Yes, the former is a necessary part of that, and I work with writers on specific strategies and tactics to do just that. But who you are becoming, what you will accomplish, how the power of your work will shape the world, how you will help the community around your work – that is what endlessly engages me.

So who do I work with, and what do I do? Here’s the short version:

  1. Consulting with publishers.
    I work with publishers of all kinds (book, magazine, app, etc) in online marketing, content strategy, branding, business development, social media, search engine optimization, and web analytics. For most – we are baking these things into their core business, identifying core areas for growth, creating ways for them to more deeply engage their communities, and building the skills of those within their company. We are creating a framework that makes this all sustainable.

  2. Working one-on-one with writers.
    Similar to how I work with publishers, I partner with writers to build their writing career, establish their brand, and make things happen. I work with writers of all kinds – fiction, non-fiction, memoir – and have worked extensively with journalists and editors as well.

  3. Teaching classes and workshops.
    I love teaching. I regularly teach online classes in the topics listed above, and offer workshops at conferences. I teach in-depth classes at WeGrowMedia.com and introductory classes through Writer’s Digest University. This is an area that I am planning a lot of expansion in later in the year.

For each of these, I focus on helping people create a roadmap – a real strategy – and the tactics to back it up. There are tons of tips online, all a Google search away. But I offer a framework, choosing where to focus your resources, how to find the highest return on investment, and creating a process of iteration that leads you to your goals.

This goes beyond knowledge alone – it is how we come together to build something. Every time I launch a new class, I am amazed at how quickly we become a community of people working TOGETHER. That students go from struggling by themselves alone to working with a group that is actively helping each other reach their respective goals. THIS is why I love teaching classes and workshops. This is what it is the core of We Grow Media

Chris Rock has a wonderful piece on the difference between having a career and having a job (warning: strong language):

Here’s the gist:

“A job is something you do because you have to, a career is something you do because you love it. There ain’t enough time in the day when you have a career. When you have a job, there is too much time.”

This is my career. I am in this for the long haul. My wife and I have made some major decisions to ensure that we are committed to We Grow Media, for me to work with writers, publishers, and the community around them.

One final quote, this time from Don Draper in Mad Men, when discussing which direction to take on a client’s campaign:


“We have to commit to one thing. They don’t like wiggle room, they like to see us blowing up bridges behind us.”

Making a commitment to writers, publishers and the community around them is not a sacrifice, it is an opportunity. To work with those who inspire me, those who are creating a world I want to live in. If that is you, then THANK YOU.

-Dan

Nathan Bransford Interview: Building an Online Community for Writers

Nathan Bransford has done so much to build a community for writers online:

We explore each of these in the full interview:

Thank you Nathan for taking the time to speak with me!

-Dan

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Honing Your Craft vs Connecting With Your Audience

Should a writer spend their time honing their craft, working towards producing work of the highest quality – OR – should they focus their time on building their audience, connecting with others, and building their writing career?

This is a questions I have seen posed many times in many places in the past couple months. I often see people come back with a passionate answer of:

IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK. DON’T WORRY ABOUT MARKETING UNLESS YOUR WORK IS AMAZING.

And yes, that resonates with me, that is something I can nod my head to. When I look at the great work of our culture in stories of all kinds, I find them to be breathtaking, and on high rotation in the playlist of my life.

But should writers ONLY spend their time head down, locked in the attic, creating and revising their work until it meets some standard of greatness? The more I consider this, the more I am convinced that honing your craft and connecting with your audience are not mutually exclusive activities.

So I wanted to explore this topic today. I will say up front: there are no right answers except for what works best for you personally. Whatever feels right in your gut: go with that. Okay, let’s dig in…

A Romantic Vision of the Creative Process

Oftentimes, we have a romanticized view of the creative process and success. We look for purity – we want to think our favorite singer became popular because of their sheer majestic talent alone, that there wasn’t a team of producers crafting their work, that they didn’t throw out 20 songs to come up with one amazing tune, or that they started out as goth before going alt-country.

We don’t want to know about the corporate machine – the business – behind art. The idea of the lone artist resonates with us, that they are creating their work in a cabin in the woods – completely pure. And then, magically, the world discovers their work, validates their effort, and shines a light on their gift. This is how we dream success will happen.

Oftentimes creating great work is akin to how sausage is made. You do not want to know what went into making that hot dog – you simply want to know it tastes yummy at a summer picnic.

When you hear your favorite song – it sounds impassioned, personal, it speaks directly to your heart. But even one verse can be made up of 20 takes, could have been processed in subtle ways (not something as obvious as auto-tune), and be composed of dozens of nuanced layers, all while being debated endlessly by the artist and collaborators. It’s been road tested at a dozen live shows, it’s been shared with friends for months, collecting feedback, slowly improving the performance, the rough edges.

The point is: creative work is often a long process of revision, of sharing, of iteration, of slowly adding and removing layers. In the music world, it is expected that bands will tour and play live shows endlessly before they “make it” – they hone their craft right in front of their audience. They are constantly learning about their fans, how their work connects to people, and are becoming not just better musicians, but better storytellers in the process.

For writers, yes, I love the image of JK Rowling sitting alone in the cafe, creating her little world. I. LOVE. THAT.

But I don’t want to pretend that is the only way for creators to produce quality work. That you are not allowed to come out of the attic with your work until it is amazing. I have been a writer, been an artist, been a musician. When did my work improve? When it was shared. When I took the training wheels off, and took a leap of faith to share it with someone.

Planning vs Doing

You learn so much when you share your work, connecting it with others, and listening to not just the feedback of others, but to how you yourself react to your work once it is free in the world.

This process begins to help define you as a writer, or artist, or musician or other creative. The work lives, it has been unleashed, it can’t be taken back.

For some, this is the start of their career – of their identity. They learn how to share, how to deal with reaction, how their own vision evolves, changes, and grows.

Consider the difference of practicing basketball by yourself, perfecting your moves and shooting vs playing in an actual game. The difference is night and day. It’s the same with music – the difference between spending thousands of hours practicing alone, perfecting your technique vs the experience of playing with a band. BOTH sides of this equation are useful. But something special happens when you experience your craft with others, you see it from an entirely new light. Oftentimes, it is the difference between planning and doing.

There are some things that you can’t learn until you experiences them – with real people reacting to your work, with the insights you gain that make your next piece even better. This often works best if you build it slowly over time, instead of rushing out of the gate with something to sell six weeks before your book comes out.

So how do you create quality work? By doing. By sharing. By publishing. By repeating that process.
This is the principle around the “lean startup” process for launching a business. That, instead of getting an idea for a product, and diligently building it until it is what you want it to be and THEN launching it, you launch little iterations quickly. The idea is that things rarely go according to plan. That what you think is perfect when you launch, after you have expended all the time and resources to create it, is often missing key elements. That you can never predict how people will react to it. So you should launch small “good enough” versions, get feedback, and quickly improve the product to meet the needs of others and improve overall quality.

When you share, you learn so much not just about those who do or don’t react to your work, but about the work itself, and about your own understanding of your vision and abilities.

Storytelling is a Process
For most of us, our work gets better over time. What this means is the first work we create may often be of, say, lower quality than we would like. We mean well, but we simply didn’t have the experience to craft amazing stories, or songs, or works of art yet.

But, as the saying goes, it gets better.

We try, we share, we connect. Just as bands tour their work – they learn, they grow, all through the process of creating AND sharing. It is not an event, it is a PROCESS.

Ira Glass, host of This American Life, reflects on his process of finding and sharing great stories:

“All we do is look for interesting stories, and there are 7 or 8 of us now. I have to say, more than half of our week is engaged in looking for stories and trying stuff out. We’re really good at our jobs, we are as good as anyone who does this sort of thing. Between a half and a third of everything we try, we kill it. By killing, you will make something else even better live.” (meaning they record and produce it, and then they throw it in the trash.) Not enough gets said about the importance of abandoning crap.”

It speaks to the process of creative activity. That it is a cycle of creation, of sharing, of creation, of sharing. Ira and his team aren’t sitting in a room, alone, making one story better and better. They are out there, in the world, researching, listening, creating, broadcasting, and in a constant process of creating and connecting – because both sides of the process increase quality over time.

The Subjectiveness of Quality

Let’s just say you have written one of the greatest works of your lifetime – a book that will electrify an entire generation, become one of the biggest sellers of all time, and create a billion dollar empire. Here is the reaction that JK Rowling’s literary agent got when they approached publishers:

“The agency sent Rowling’s 200-page script to 12 publishers, all of whom, to their eternal regret, turned down the book. Harper Collins showed interest but was too slow in formulating a bid and so the first book by the most lucrative writer in the world was picked up by Bloomsbury for an advance of £1,500.”

Or how about another writer’s story. After being rejected by more than 20 publishers…

Early in 1965, Frank Herbert received good news from a surprising source. Chilton Books, best known for publishing auto repair manuals, made an offer of $7,500 (plus future royalties) to publish the three Dune segments.”

Once these writers received 10 rejection letters, should they have gone back to revisions, back to their cabin in the woods, to somehow increase the quality of what have since become classics?

The Confidence Game

Oftentimes the biggest the biggest barrier to someone who wants to create something is themselves. They create a document on their computer – a story, a song, a poem, and image, a video – and they never share it.

Success relies on more than the quality of work. Lots of quality work goes unnoticed. Lots of brilliant people die alone, unknown, without any measure of success or legacy.

Being successful is often as much about confidence, as it is about anything else. Confidence to create. Confidence to share. Confidence to persevere.

I have found that if you share something you are working on with JUST ONE PERSON, a whole new world of possibilities opens up. We live in a world where having “only” 32 followers on Twitter is disappointing. Imagine that – 32 FANS! Never before could you do that, especially on your own, without affiliation of a larger entity.

This is well summed up in this mention from Nathan Bransford’s blog/forum:

“Comment! of! the! Week! I really liked Cathy Yardley’s answer about what she wished she had known when she started writing, because it’s something I believe in wholeheartedly:”

“I wish I’d know that everybody writes alone, but nobody becomes a writing success that way. Not just the critique aspect, but the support. It’s too tough a business to lone wolf.”

Clearly – the goal is to produce quality work – stuff that will shape our culture, touch our hearts, inspire others to greatness, and leave a legacy long after we are gone. And I think that what I am describing in that post is one process to achieve work of the highest quality.

Is this hard work with no clear roadmap? Oftentimes, yes. But I will leave you with this quote from comedian Louis C.K.:

“I’ve learned from experience that if you work harder at it, and apply more energy and time to it, and more consistency, you get a better result. It comes from the work. I remember seeing this thing, a documentary about a Los Angeles coach [John Wooden], the guy who coached UCLA to huge wins, so they couldn’t be beat for three seasons. He’s a very legendary coach, but a very unassuming guy with thick glasses. They just won and won and won. They talked about the difference between him and, like, Bobby Knight and Vince Lombardi. He didn’t make winning speeches. He never made speeches about being winners and being the best, like, “This is our house,” that kind of horsesh*t. Never said it. He said that to focus on that, to win, win, win, is worthless. It just has no value. He’d address all his players in his little voice, “If you just listen to me, and you work on your fundamentals and you apply yourself to working on these skills, you’re probably going to be happy with the results.” I think about that all the time.”

Thanks!
-Dan

The Value of Dependence

“In their own minds, everybody is Mick Jagger.”

This is how Derek Sivers explains the value of customer service – of serving those in your community – those that you are dependent on. The example he gives is:


“Imagine that every person you’re emailing with is Mick Jagger. If somebody were to email you and say, “Hey Derek, I’ve been checking out your site and I have a question about so-and-so and where can I download the PDF e-book?”

“If you think of that person as some peon that’s a pain in your [butt], that’s another email in your inbox. You’re like, “You just follow the link. Jeez, don’t be such an idiot.”

“But think how you would respond if the email was signed Mick Jagger, Mick.Jagger@rollingstones.com? You would go, “Oh my god, it’s an honor to even be speaking with you. Wow. I’m so happy you emailed. Here, let me . . . in fact, you know what? Instead of telling you where to get the PDF, I will attach it to this email so you don’t have to bother because I know you’re busy. Wow, thank you so much for emailing.”

He concludes: “Treat everybody like it’s Mick Jagger. In their own minds, everybody is Mick Jagger. They are that important. So let’s honor that, let’s respect that, and talk to them as that.”

I have been thinking a lot about how we are dependent on each other for success and well being. In the past year, my wife and I have made some big decisions:

  • I started a business
  • She left her job to be home full time with our 10 month old son, and pursue her art career

Inherently, these decisions have the air of “independence” about them, that we are disconnecting from traditional systems and support structures that most people rely on. But I can’t help but feel that with these decisions, my wife and I have become MORE dependent on others, and that this is a positive thing. That I am more focused on serving the needs of the communities that I am a part of – the needs of others.

In fact, starting our own businesses is the MOST social thing that my wife and I can do, and the biggest commitments we can make to others.

I think others view starting a business as me “not having a boss anymore.” It’s the opposite really – I now have MANY bosses. Each of my clients is someone I have to serve and ensure is 100% happy with my services. Each student I teach is someone I have to meet their expectations and provide a lot of value to. The markets and communities I serve will determine the health of my business – I have to give and give and give as much free value as I can to ensure I am a valuable member of these communities.

All of this has made me acutely aware of how interconnected we are, how well being comes from what I can do for you, how I can make others more successful.

Why? Because the good will of these communities are what have allowed me any opportunities I have. The only way I will find success is by the good will of others, including you.

Sure, like anyone, I am a fan of a certain level of independence – of free will – of choice. But I do look critically at what independence is and what dependence is, and which helps us create a more meaningful experience in our culture. That dependence can be positive – helping us to each grow and be a part of something larger.

This is why I have been such a big fan of social media. It connects us to others – strengthening ties that are a support structure in so many ways: professionally, emotionally, socially, within families.

For many types of publishers, it has been an awakening to realize that they are not just delivering a product with content, but are linchpins in a community that depends on them. That publishers can’t just deliver information – they must serve and connect these communities in other ways. And yes, that means providing resources that are sometimes free – that help without asking anything in return.

How does this relate to business, to digital media, to publishing? This:

Myspace to Be Sold to Specific Media for $35 Million

Just six years ago, News Corp. bought Myspace for $580 million.

But without the connections – without people choosing to spend their time on Myspace, the company has little value. Sure, the domain name has value, the brand equity has value, the technology has value, the experience, knowledge and connections of whatever employees are left are valuable. But with Facebook being valued at around $70 billion, you have to wonder: what went wrong with Myspace?

It was noted that:

“News Corp. bought Myspace for $580 million in 2005, and made that back via a lucrative advertising deal with Google when the social networking site was flying high.”

Perhaps Myspace should have been serving the needs of their community, instead of serving ads.

Thanks!
-Dan