#8 Could our Winter truly be over?

It’s been a cold few months here in Northern Virginia, but for once a there are no storms in sight. As much as the cold has locked me inside, my writing has not been able to gain from the time. Sure I have done some work on my new screen play “And The Angel Watched Over The Flock”, my forth book in the “Watcher in the Fall” series, my new book series of Historical Fiction, starting with “Da Vinci Connections” as I make a book from the movies script (and expand the story).

I have found myself doing the 80% job that any aspiring business must do, especially one that is self-run in an industry where having your voice heard requires something unusual. After writing the initial books, I found myself wondering how to get people’s attention. My first attempt was to vector into movie screen plays. What I have found is that I am now just a single duck in a much larger set of ponds.

Lately I have spent my time twittering and face-booking across as many sites as I can find. In reading a number of articles, that seemed to be the first level advice. But while there may be some decent effects over time, what I have seen is thousands of writers doing the same thing.

Should marketing be about adding your name to the crowd? Should you be a just another person in a parade that only a few would notice?

So the answer of course is no!!! But the answer requires more than a shout, it requires some thinking, planning and figuring out how to reach a mass audience by being different. Being employed full-time with people to take care of and retirement coming in a few years, I am not ready to fly around the country to go to events. So what is the answer?

One advantage that has occurred is the coming NOVA Film Festival. By advertising at the festival, I can begin to catch some attention. I will be providing posters and postcards to the festival that will get me some attention. But how can I follow up to spread more attention?

In my everyday work, I advance and get known by providing leadership and system designs that more than answer the questions. As a systems architect for military systems, customers are impressed by my technical expertise and willingness to listen to their problems and offer them solutions they can own.

Unfortunately that is not a usable strategy in this domain and it was developed over a forty year period. I doubt I have enough time to replicate that again.

So the thought experiment continues as I wait for warmer temperatures to arrive.