The following is brought to you by Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist).
At Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist) where we support talented authors, as well as successful business owners in their marketing, by marrying social media, with more traditional approaches,
the goal is to help the client market their Book, Blog, or Business to the best of their ability.
One of the best ways for me to do this, is to share tips with my clients, so that they can define the services I provide them, to better meet their needs.
Tip of the Day!
Know a little something about what you’re doing before you sign on to do it.
I’m a content promoter my job is to take the content others create as they want it to be promoted and send to me to put onto my blog and other places which will give them the best recognition.
My feeling is that if you’re going to participate in any promotional activity you should know at the very least how to present your material.
For example, if you’re going to be put into a magazine or onto someone’s blog, you should know how to put the materials you want promoted together in a way which makes them ready to use and if not, you should have a good resource of help getting it done.
Take my Writer’s Grapevine Magazine for example.
I have specific guidelines contributors must meet when submitting work to me. Then, with the help of proofreaders and an editor the material is taken and used to put the magazine together.
I do not think it is unreasonable to assume that someone who has authored and published a book or is running a business should have at least some knowledge of how to put their material such as bio, website and whatever it is their presenting together in a document so that the one they’re submitting it to can use it in a way which will do them the most good.
I have come to realize over the years however this is not the case.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself if you’re an author or business owner.
- Do you have a media kit?
- If not, do you know what one is?
- If no to questions 1 and 2 are you willing to learn?
A media kit is a document you’ve created which contains your book or business information, your 300 to 500 word as well as a 100 word bio and the websites leading to the places where you and your work can be found.
Having this enables you quickly and efficiently to put together a nice piece to be used to promote yourself.
Let’s say for example you’re writing an article for my magazine. You’re going to want to first write your article. Then, when it’s done you will go to your media kit, copy out your 100 word bio and paste it into the document along with the article.
My magazine guidelines call for a 100 word or less bio. Other things allow for longer ones but 300 to 500 words is the recommended max.
Once that’s done, you’ll want to make sure your website is included and if you want a photo added you should insert it where it needs to go and if you do not know how to do that then you will at the very least want to mark the document where you wish the photo to be inserted.
When all that’s done, you’ll go back to the guideline sheet, check off the guidelines making certain the piece you’ve created goes by them and then you’ll submit.
Whatever you’re doing you need to know something of how it’s done.
How did I learn? By reading other’s works on blogs and in magazines and then simulating what I saw, and adding a bit of style of my own.
I don’t mind helping anyone who needs a little help but I distain spoon feeding people.
Over the years my clients have worked hard for me and many of them have gone out of their way to learn what they needed to know to help me help them and I’m so proud of all them I cannot even find the words to describe how it makes me feel to have watched them grow.
I’ve grown too because this is a never ending learning process.
I say to you, there’s no shame in not knowing. The shame is being unwilling to learn.
As stated above, I’ve had a lot of help learning along the way. Claire Plaisted of Plaisted Publishing House taught me about media kits. Sally Cronin taught me a ton and half about blogging and other types of promotion like Goodreads and Amazon Central. Two Pentacles Publishing has taught me tons about proper ways to deal with photos as a blind person such as the importance of descriptive text.
The list goes on and on.
Again, there’s no shame in not knowing but if you plan to be truly successful in whatever it is you’re doing with your life you must be willing to learn.
Well, that’s all for today.
Thanks for reading.
May harmony find you and blessid be.
About Patty L. Fletcher
Patty L. Fletcher lives in Kingsport Tennessee where she works full time as a Writer with the goal of bridging the great chasm which separates the disAbled from the non-disAbled. She is Also a Social Media Marketing Assistant.
To see, share, and Buy her work visit: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/PattyFletcher
And: https://www.amazon.com/Patty-L.-Fletcher/e/B00Q9I7RWG
As well as: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8431191.Patricia_L_Fletcher
Walk alongside Patty and Chief Seeing Eye® Dog Blue on the Pathway to Freedom at: https://paypal.me/tellittotheworld?locale.x=en_US