Monday, April 02, 2012

We're All In This Together


Yesterday, hubby and I went to a party. Some longtime friends were celebrating two events--the successful recover of our host from surgery and his brand new grandchild. One woman, an artist, was also at the party. She does not have a Facebook account or a blog. Our host's son tried to convince her to set up a website. She said she just always thought she could take her little red wagon into town with her work and sell it. She is a talented painter, but in today's world she needs an online presence.

There are many people who believe the internet is a fearsome beast. However, for writers, artists, and musicians it is a powerful advertising tool. Best of all, it's very inexpensive.

The writers I know are generous and entirely willing to help each other. I spent the weekend hitting the LIKE button on several writers' Facebook fan pages. In turn, they liked my fan page. The authors at Crescent Moon Press started a tribe at triberr.com so we can now share blog posts easily on Twitter.

Selling books (or any art) is all about networking and reach. A potential customer needs to know you have something they might like to buy and your product should be easy to find in a search engine. It's simple.

But it helps to have good friends to give you a boost--not only those who will like your fan page and invite you to join their tribe, but those who will give you a good review on Amazon or Goodreads.

We are all in this together and I am very grateful to those who have helped me.

I hope my artist friend puts away her little red wagon, gets a blog, a website, and a Facebook page. I'll be the first one to "like" her. :^)

4 comments:

Constance Phillips said...

You are oh-so-right, Penelope. We, as artist, have to take a very active role in marketing our work. The nice thing about social media is I've met so many wonderful peope along the way.

Ciara said...

Social media has made it possible for me to meet so many amazing people. We all need to help each other out because it is so tough.

Penelope Marzec said...

I think social media is fun as well as useful. I know a gazillion writers now. :^)

MarkD60 said...

I always say, Facebook is good for finding old friends, Blogger is good for making new ones!