MARKETING'S 4 P's AS IT RELATES TO BOOKS

An excerpt from my guest blog post for Midwest Writing Center's Blog:

In marketing, we talk about the 4 P’s: place, price, product, and promotion. This is just a simplified way to plan out how to promote any product, including a book. Place is where you will sell your book, more commonly known in the book-world as distribution. Price is how much you will charge for your book, but also encompasses determining if readers will pay that price. Product involves more than just your book’s title, but also includes, among other things, its genre, length, and ideal reader. Finally, promotion is figuring out how to tell people about your book.

To learn more about how to apply these 4 P’s to your book as well as other marketing tips, please attend my workshop from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at MWC’s March 22^nd Pen In Hand Mini Writing Conference (Yes, it's tomorrow - but if you're in the Davenport, Iowa, area - you're still welcome!). In this workshop, you will learn how to create a basic marketing plan so you can take focused action to try to get you book into readers’ – and buyers’ – hands. We’ll cover the four P’s (place, price, product, and promotion), the 5th P (people), holding giveaways, using social media, and setting up appearances.

Click here to learn about moreabout Pen In Hand. Call 563-324-1410 or email mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org to register. Or just show up on the 3rd floor of Bucktown at 225 E. 2nd Street in Downtown Davenport, Iowa.

To the 4 Ps!

-The Wordsy Woman

PREPARING TO HELP ANOTHER GROUP SAY WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

Next week, I embark on a 6-session Beginning Creative Writing workshop series with the Midwest Writing Center. This morning, as I prepared my presentation, I wondered about the people who would courageously embark on the writing journey with me. We have sent information and offered discounts to senior centers and retirement community residents, so I hope there will be some grandparents who will be able to pass on their legacies. But, will they do it through fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction? I'm anxious to find out.

The goal of the first session on March 12th is just to encourage them and get them writing. We'll talk about getting into a writing routine and making time to write, even making writing appointments with ourselves. I plan a listing exercise so when they do sit down to write, they will never be at a loss for what to write about. We'll end by talking about free writing, doing a timed free write of our own so they can walk away, already, with words in print.

After that will depend on the group dynamics and what they want to write about. Whatever it ends up being, my goal is, at the end of the series when it wraps up in May, they will have at least started to say what they want to say, whatever that may be.

Happy Writing!
-the Wordsy Woman