A Fantastic Talk on Marketing.

Dan Grubb

Like many writers, I loathe the whole paraphernalia of marketing. But, also in common with most writers, I want my books to be read. This produces a bit of a problem, since there are so many books published that authorial silence is hardly likely to produce much in the way of attention from the reading public.

My writers’ group, an amazing mix of professional scribes who call themselves ‘Hornsea Writers’, for the very good reason that Hornsea is their geographical meeting place, had the opportunity this week to have a talk delivered by independent publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing’s CEO, Dan Grubb. He gave us a talk on, you’ve guessed it: marketing.

Amazing, inspiring, informative and, above all, entertaining, Dan’s talk was delivered with passion and professionalism, which is no surprise, given the way he runs his business. I’m not going to précis the content here, since Dan’s producing his own blog on that (I strongly suggest you subscribe to his weekly newsletter here, so you can catch that when it appears.)

But I will pass on a couple of his pointers:

·      If you don’t already belong, join these sites and be active – Facebook, Google+, Goodreads, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr,  Stumbleupon and Youtube. And, if you don’t already blog, DO! Blogger or Wordpress are probably the best free sites for that. Connect ALL these sites.

·      Whenever and wherever you post, make it engaging and interesting. There’s huge competition out there and it’s easy to be ignored and/or rejected, so give your readers something that’s of value to THEM.

It isn’t often that a small writers’ group, some of whom are quite tall, gets a talk from a publisher, so it’s as well for members to take heed of what they hear. What did I take away from his presentation?  Well, many things. But, principally, I was inspired to take a more positive view of marketing. To view it not simply as a sales platform but as a way of interacting with actual and potential readers. Now, that is something I can do with pleasure. In fact, it’s why I write this blog.

So, look out for Dan’s blog post, visit his website at Fantastic Books Publishing, and follow his advice there. Meantime, please connect with me on the sites listed above. The more connections we all have, the greater the chance that we can help each other.

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