We are pleased to have Deborah Riley-Magnus as our guest blogger today. She will be teaching the online workshop "Geisha Marketing for Authors" for us November 7-12, and has offered to give us this preview of her topic:
Geisha Marketing for Authors vs. Hide-Under-the-Blanket Marketing.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word … marketing? Don’t be afraid, just spit it out. I already know what you’re thinking.
“Oh no! Will I need to become one of those authors? The kind that talk about their work all the time? The kind who think about nothing but selling books? Will I need to be like a used car salesman? A slimy manipulator? Can I get away without doing any marketing at all because really, I’m just too shy (or too busy, or too important, or above all that stuff, or all I want to do is write)?”
Um … no. Let me start by addressing your concerns. First, you will not become one of those authors because true marketing has nothing to do with irritating repetition. You will not be thinking about selling your book all the time because marketing is an ongoing component of being an author and creative thinker. Good marketing is a second nature, not a disruptive activity. If you market like a used car salesman, you’ll turn people off. If you come off like a slimy manipulator, you’ll turn people away.
Can you get away without marketing at all? This final concern is the primary reason for my workshop, Geisha Marketing for Authors. Unfortunately, no matter your reason for not wanting to market, you must market. The state of the publishing industry has unceremoniously dropped all that responsibility on the author’s shoulders but I’m here to tell you … this is a challenge and a huge benefit. Controlling your destiny is the key to this, so don’t look at it as a sad, terrible turn of events, look at this as a great opportunity.
Marketing is nothing you thought it was. Marketing is an art, and an effective marketing strategy must be creatively developed specifically for you and the book you wrote. The Geisha Marketing for Authors workshop covers the primary elements to help you to understand, craft and implement marketing exactly the way you and your book need it to be.
The definition of Marketing is: The process by which one creates customer interest in products or services. The definition of Geisha is: An entertainer whose skills include performing various arts such as classical music and dance. This workshop ties together the elegant art of the ancient geisha with the power of effective marketing. It is five days of exploring possibilities that work and don’t overwork the author because hey, you’re supposed to be writing your next book, right? Here’s what we’ll be covering:
- The Training for Geisha Marketing
- Tools, goals and creating perfection
- Polishing speaking, appearance and pride
- The Art of Geisha Marketing
- Building an Author Platform
- Building a Book Platform
- Social Networking at its best
- The Beauty of Geisha Marketing
- Marketing harmonies outside the norm
- Commitment to what art you have and will perform
- Finding and cultivating new lovers of your performance
- The Performance of Geisha Marketing
- Consistence, continuity and patience
- Short and long performances
- The harmony of presentation
- The Reputation of Good Geisha Marketing
- Follow up, building upon and the poetry of the “T” (testing) Ceremony
- The Geisha Marketer’s agreement with their readers
Marketing is personal, based on you and your book. Powerful marketing strategies come from powerful creative ideas and that is the primary goal of this workshop … to take the amazing creativity you put into your book and expand it into a marketing tool like no one else’s. All those other authors making that ruckus and noise on twitter and facebook, shouting that you really should buy their book, have not looked at marketing this way. They are doing what everyone else does.
Good marketing is developing a new or more creative path to better results. Are you up to the challenge? If so, Geisha Marketing for Authors is for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Deborah Riley-Magnus is an author and an Author Success Coach. She has a twenty-seven year professional background in marketing, advertising and public relations as a writer for print, television and radio. As an Author Success Coach she focuses exclusively on publicity, marketing and promotional solutions for authors.
Cold in California, book one of The Twice-Baked Vampire Series, was released in July, 2011. Her non-fiction, Finding Author Success: Discovering and Uncovering the Marketing Power Within Your Manuscript will be released in November, 2011. In January of 2012, she will be launching a new online publication called the Whispers of the Muse Literary Magazine.
She belongs to several writing and professional organizations and is a member of the WriteSEX blog group as the marketing, promotions and publicity expert. She can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has lived on both the east and west coast of the United States and has traveled the country widely.
