Paul here:
I never realized the number of “issues” that arise when putting together an organization like The Author’s Roost. Working with so many people, all of whom are technical specialists of one sort or another, is both an education and a confusion — all at the same time.
But as we move through each day, solving little problems, nurturing new ideas and suggestions from members and friends, the rewards are enormous. Not only do we learn “easy ways” to get things done, but we learn how to pass them along to members and site visitors.
Take our newest member service, for example — the “Hello, there” program.
Some time ago, we began wondering how we could help members to promote themselves in their own neighborhoods, cities or regions. “Well,” we postulated, “who knows a local scene better than the person who lives there.” Made sense to us. And we also knew (from asking members and from personal experience) that many authors — and newly minted speakers — aren’t very well equipped to promote themselves. There seem to be two basic reasons for this.
First, an author writes out of a need to express, or perhaps to teach. But “marketing” often doesn’t figure in; few writers have the knowledge, experience or insight into industry facts and trends to know what might work and what might not. And yet, the objective, long term, is to sell books. Same is true for speakers selling their talk topics — at least until the newbie speaker accumulates the experience and confidence to “self-sell” effectively. Which bring me to the second point, which is:
Most of us find it embarrassingly difficult to talk about ourselves in “selling” terms. It’s all about feeling somehow guilty about imposing our will on others. We want to be liked; we don’t want to offend; and we all too often won’t do the things that will market us effectively because we feel that we’re “pressuring” or “bragging” or another equally unseemly perception. No matter that we’re wrong in fact, we’re just trapped in feelings of insecurity.
That’s why we so often hire others to do our “dirty work” (unfortunately, many authors and speakers think of their sales, sales promotion and marketing campaigns in just this way!). Publicists, online marketers, and advertising specialists all cost money, and there are precious few who can or will produce outstanding results.
With this as background, we came up with an interesting, simple, self-protective way to get around the “call reluctance” that so many of our members experience when trying to sell their products.
We call it the “Hello, there” program. Simply stated, it’s an authoritative, third-party “introduction” that we make to the event planners, program chairpersons, booksellers, etc. who are local to each of our members and who can provide our people with terrific exposure if only they can find a way to make contact. Well, we do it for them. Want details? Here they are.
