Not selling? Take a Look at Your Marketing Plan
When we start out, and sometimes even after we reach a certain level, we can’t seem to grow, or we hit a plateau, though we seem to work harder. It may not be our books. Instead, I would look at your marketing plan.
One of the ways to kick-start where we are is to remember that we are not only writers, but we are also salespeople, every single one of us. Writers sell others on themselves, their products, their skills, their services, and even their ideas. Writers – most unknowingly – sell all the time: to agents, editors, publishers, readers, libraries, bookstores, reviewers, the press. And aspects of those sales include knowledge of the business, knowledge of the market, their own abilities, their own works, and – ultimately – no matter who they are speaking with or what they are speaking about, the ability to close the deal. In that respect, offering a product or service and closing the deal are no different from any other sales profession, except in this one area: when it doesn’t work out, we often feel personally rejected, that we have personally failed, that our work might not be any good. We shouldn’t. There is nothing personal about it. If you have written the best book you can write, then there is probably nothing wrong with the work, and there is certainly nothing wrong with you. So where is the weak link? It is usually in our sales and promotion.
As writers, we are self-employed businesspeople. We have to think like businesspeople. In business, there is research and development, production, and sales. As writers, we understand research and writing. But sometimes we forget that very important last piece of the businessowner trinity: sales. And, frankly, most writers are awful salespeople. It’s something you should work on. It is something that will separate you from the pack.
So, if you are in a slump, you’ve written great books, you’ve put together your marketing materials, and you’ve got everything in perfect order and you’ve hit that plateau or just can’t seem to get started, look again at your marketing materials. That may be what is killing you. See if a few changes in that area might make all the difference in your work and your career.
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