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M.E.Wood |
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Expanding
Your Circle With Mutual Backscratching
The writers in your circle are as vital to your promotional needs as you are to theirs. We need to support one another in our struggles and our successes. Whenever financially feasible I make the point of purchasing a book by a fellow writer I’ve been in contact with online or in person. This is regardless of whether I may be interested in the topic of the book. This little thing is my way of helping them take an extra step toward success and someday I hope they will do the same for me. This is a form of mutual back scratching. There are several other ways to scratch a fellow writer’s back. Most of them don’t involve the financial impact of purchasing their book. We can’t buy them all. What follows are a few simple ways to “scratch” one another’s backs. Exchange links: Have a page on your website for promoting your fellow writers. Call it “Writer’s to Watch” or “Up and Coming Writers”. Exchanging links increases your chances of showing up on search engines and most importantly shares your readership with other writers and vice versa. Include 2-3 lines of bio if space permits. Exchange Content: Write an article for their website or newsletter and have them write one for yours. Be sure to include a bio and links back to your site. Exchange Ads: If you distribute a newsletter then exchange ads with other writers. Run an ad for their book (or website) with links and they run an ad for your book (or website). Run an ad about their free newsletter and have them run an ad for your newsletter. If you have ads on your website then exchange website ads (Not a banner page, an actual ad within the content of your pages). This ad would have a regular placement every month until you withdraw your ad or they decide to withdraw theirs. Exchange bookmarks: Send 10 bookmarks to 10 different writers all over the globe to pass out with their books and you do the same for them. If you don’t have bookmarks, business cards work just as well. Exchange books: Do this wisely. When you get the books distribute them to your local library, give away as a draw at a fundraiser, have them on display at your book signings (with a sign “Author Watch” or “This Author Recommends”), craft fairs etc. This can be costly but do the 10 minimum, more if you can afford the delivery charges. How Do I Get Started? Make a list of all the writers you know personally or who you have had contact with (include those you have only met online). Put the ones you consider friends in one column and the ones you consider acquaintances in another column. Make a list of the exchanges you want to attempt. Link, bookmark, book, article writing, newsletter ads etc. Approach the writers you converse with regularly first. Explain what you propose and why and ask them if they would they be interested in being a part of an exchange with you. Send them the link to this article and suggest that they make their own list and letter. Once you have approached everyone on your list and performed your exchanges it is time for a follow-up letter. Ask for permission to exchange lists with everyone on your list who participated with their lists. Compare names then switch lists (Make sure the people on any lists have agreed to the switch before someone’s name is given out). With this new list you will start the process again stating you received their name from ‘such and such’ and are inviting them to exchange. Explain the who, when, why and what even though they may have exchanged with the writer who gave you the list. You want to have a clear agreement and terms. Imagine the coverage you could get. With as little as ten writers on your list, each with ten writer’s on their list willing to exchange with you. That’s a lot of people getting your name and the name of your book/website out there. If you work in exchange lists of ten, with each group you can decide what you are able to exchange. What is the most important aspect of this promotion tool if it is to work? Follow through. If someone has taken the time and money to send you material, it is extremely important to follow through. Distribute it. No excuses. Set up the links, distribute the ads, drop off the books etc... Take time to follow through on your commitment to other writers. Writer’s Helping Writers What a concept. We have the power to help one another reach more readers by widening our circles. There are enough readers to go around. There is not one reason to feel in competition with other authors. It’s not like buying a car, where you won’t buy another for five or more years. Readers are never satiated. How many books do you have on your shelf? How many haven’t you read yet? When was the last time you bought a book? We love to surround ourselves with them. Let’s help one another get our dreams out there for others to read and experience. If we share the load, name recognition will be a possibility for more of us. Make writer’s helping writers one of your mottos. *** *published in Kansas Fiction Writers: THE WRITE DIRECTION Newsletter / April 2004 |
We’ve
all heard the saying, “You scratch my back and I’ll
scratch yours.” But how does it apply to writers?
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