Some months ago I changed strategies with respect to marketing myself as a writer. It appears to be working. At least, there are a few signs of success recently.
The change in strategy actually involved three major shifts in emphasis. First I changed which medium would command my focus – from novels to plays:
- In January, "Happy Anniversary," a three-act comedy about a couple who have dinner on the first, fifth, and tenth anniversaries of their divorce, was stage-read (with costumes and blocking) as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, January 30, 2010 at the Gerding Theater at the Portland Armory.
- In June, "PS, I Love Your Daughter" opened the CoHo Theater's "World Premier Summer" Play Festival. We received positive reviews and pre-stage publicity from The Oregonian, The Columbian (Vancouver, WA), the Willamette Weekly, the Vancouver (WA) Voice, and Portland Mercury, among others. It was a fantastic experience.
- Last weekend, "The Jumper," a one-act comedy about a woman reluctantly considering suicide, was written and performed as part of the "24 Hour Plays Festival" at CoHo Theater in Portland. Another amazing experience.
- Soon, "Mama Versus the Mob," a murder mystery dinner theater spoof in which the gangsters' wives and girlfriends try to take over Al Capone's mob, will be staged as a private show this October by Magenta Theater in Vancouver, WA.
Second, within the novel realm, I changed which product would take the lead, from the legal thriller Lying in Judgment to the romantic suspense novel The Mountain Man's Dog. This has already yielded some positive results. First, I have a manuscript ready to market to agents and editors, free of the issues plaguing the first novel. The response so far has been favorable: three agents want to see it and an editor/publisher has already requested pages after a follow-up email subsequent to meeting at the Willamette Writers Conference. All now have pages and I'm in their queues.
As a second benefit, I learned some new strategies while writing and revising that novel that I can apply to other stories, including Lying in Judgment. I've begun a new revision of LiJ that I think will make it a stronger and more marketable book. Of course I also have ideas for other stories, including a sequel to MMD should that story gain some traction in the publishing world.
Third, I've begun to shift from a business focused primarily on writing services more towards a writing products business. I recently entered the world of E-business on my website, with a downloadable document chock-full of writing tips called "Write Better Right Now: Fixing Mistakes Made by Good Writers." As the name (hopefully) implies, it's a set of strategies to help writers locate and fix subtle weaknesses in otherwise good text. It's designed for writers pursuing publication in either the traditional or (especially) self-published world.
I say "especially" because most self-published works – at least the ones I've seen – need much stronger editing. One key strength of the traditional publishing world is that many people review a manuscript before it goes to print. Each of those people is good at something different – writing, editing, layout, cover art – and (most important) each brings a fresh perspective to the text. Self-published writers too often try to edit their own work – and as almost any writer can tell you, you can't edit your own work. Not well, anyway.
I plan to follow up on this initiative in two ways. One, I'm trying to generate interest in it by showing bits and pieces (sample tips) on my website (http://www.garycorbinwriting.com/index_files/EditingTips.htm), and letting people know the tips (and file) are there.
Second, I plan more downloadable tools, sometimes for free and sometimes for money. Check out my site's Resources page ((http://www.garycorbinwriting.com/index_files/resources.htm) if you're interested in freebies already available.
And now… back to writing.
