Questionable Marketing Tactics
First, read Amanda Green's post over at Mad Genius Club today: Work Smart and Think
When I saw ithe link to a marketing company with a facebook page promoting marketing for writers, it set off red flags. Marketing isn’t easy. I don’t feel like I have a great handle on marketing my writing, because it is different from my other business. But I do know that word of mouth is probably the best way, and it’s slow. It’s not selling your work to other writers, although a loose network helping one another with reviews and shared links is a good way to help ‘feed’ your readers and theirs. But as Amanda points out, you have to know and trust the work of those cross promotions, or you risk losing the trust your readers have in you, and setting back word-of-mouth marketing.
Because it is about trust. This is also why pushy marketing, begging, and even that crowd-funding she mentions are not very (if at all) effective. Your readers (customers) don’t want to feel like you only want to milk them. The kick starters I see working are happening with artists (in whatever medium) who have a substantial fan base, and those fans are getting a trusted product they want and eagerly anticipate, in return for their investment. Trying to do this without that foundation of trust is going to fail.
And now I’ll step off the soapbox – where did that come from, anyway?