1st Turning Point

Posted By Ann Charles on October 31, 2009

Ann Charles, Author

by Ann Charles
1st Turning Point Co-Captain
Copyright © 2009 Ann Charles

“It was a dark and phlegmy night…Caught in a cacophony of coughing, I reached for my coffee and contemplated my coffin.”—Written by Jim Thomsen (during some midnight ramblings to me on Facebook)

Thank you, Jim, for that witty, flu season-inspired opening.

It’s my favorite time of year. Scary movies abound, goblins and ghouls decorate the stores and homes, and delicious candy of all shapes and sizes and flavors is everywhere. Happy Halloween to all! Now let’s get down to the business of tricks and treats of the promo and marketing trade that I’ve learned so far this year.

Trick: Believing that the $50 coupon from GoDaddy for a Facebook ad would actually save me $50. How foolish of me to think that after I spent the time setting up the ad and inserting the coupon code in the appropriate location, that I’d actually get a credit. Fifty dollars later, I’d had a whopping charge on my credit card and there was no phone number or email address for Facebook’s billing department to be found. Was the ad worth the price? We didn’t gain a single subscriber during the time that ad ran, so my vote is a loud, bellowing almost, NO! For those of you who are considering using a Facebook ad to draw folks to your website or author page, consider this—how many Facebook ads have you clicked on? How many do you even notice when you’re on there chatting with your family, friends, and old flames?

Treat: Agreeing to Pat Bertram’s request to lead a discussion over at her Facebook Suspense/Thriller Writers group. There were lots of great comments and suggestions about my question regarding promotion for the unpublished. And it was due to that discussion that I met several interesting and fun authors, including 1st Turning Point columnist Jim Thomsen, whose wit and charm entertained me from his very first email. So, pencil in ‘hosting and partaking in Facebook discussions’ as a beneficial promotional tool. Note: I wanted to clarify one thing in regards to this Treat—while I mentioned 1st Turning Point once in my initial question and included our website address in my replies to comments, I did not do any blatant self-promotion (BSP) during this discussion. Most people are tired of BSP, so I tried to just be myself and focus on interacting and learning, not ‘work the room.’

Trick: Thinking that just because I’m part of a Yahoo group the list moderator would post my “Check out my new 1st Turning Point website” without blinking an eye. I belong to a few loops, but like so many fellow loop-ees who are juggling jobs and families and writing, I post about once per change of season. However, because I am a ‘member,’ I thought I could just post my announcement about the opening of 1st Turning Point everywhere willy nilly. Reality gave me a nice slap down. Lesson learned: A stamp on my hand doesn’t guarentee the bouncer is going to let me into the club every time. I have to know the password, and sometimes even that’s not enough. Frustrating! Who has the time or energy to woo the bouncer?  

Treat: Not giving up on getting my message out there. So, after a day of stewing about my slap down, I returned to the bouncer, who still stood there blocking the entrance with his arms crossed, gaze straight ahead. I wasn’t going to be able to shove my way in, so I had to get creative. After all, that’s what I do best, right? What did I know about this club, this bouncer? How could I spin my message to appeal to everyone inside, to loosen up the bulk of muscle blocking the door? Ah! Make it personal. Make it full of praise for others. And add a touch of promo for the bouncer, too. No longer was my message about me and what I was doing. It was about what I was offering to all of the other great authors in the group, why I was wanting to help them through this new site, and which members of the group I was already promoting through the site. Viola! The bouncer smiled, stepped aside, and ushered me in. I had to stop trying to sell and start sharing what I had to offer. Big difference! In addition to getting my messages out to hundreds of more people using this mindset, I’ve bumped into several hard-working folks who soon became friends. Friends like 1st Turning Point columnists Robert W. Walker (who wowed me with his writing and marketing skills from the start) and John Foxjohn (who never ceases to amaze me with his ingenuity when it comes to promotion and marketing).

Trick: Thinking that by just hanging out my shingle on the internet and Facebook, I would have people coming in droves to meet me, ‘friend’ me, and want to know all about the world according to Ann Charles. The message was clear and simple—you need to build an internet presence, get your name and image out there. So I did it. I created http://www.anncharles.com, I set up a profile and author page on Facebook, and I joined several Yahoo groups that appealed to me as potential playgrounds for meeting and friending other authors. A year later, my family and friends all knew about my site, were my ‘friends’ on Facebook, and were struggling to grasp the difference between having an agent, an editor, and a publicist. But as for my new author friends…well, there were a handful, and I’m very grateful for them. But Ann Charles was still playing wall flower.

Treat: Finally understanding that even on the internet, you have to give to receive. 1st Turning Point is the result of that middle-of-the-night epiphany. Jacquie Rogers enlightened me further with a little arm twisting on my part, sharing much of what she’d learned through years of self-promotion. After months of self-studying, preparing, and reaching out (via begging, strong-arming, or offering years of indebted service) to those authors we already knew, the biggest writing-related treat so far this year dropped into my trick-or-treat bag: 1st Turning Point. This is more than just a website for all of us—crew, subscribers, and returning visitors alike. It’s a treat that we all can share in and enjoy, and it’s a fun place to come to learn. I can’t thank everyone who is part of it in whatever way enough.

Here is to many more treats (and not so many tricks) over the next year as we continue to sail through the promotion and marketing waters.

Happy Halloween! 

Categories: Advertising Basics, All authors, Ann Charles, Email Promotion, Marketing, Name Recognition, Platform Building, Social Networking
Tags: BSP, facebook ads, jacquie rogers, Jim Thomsen, john foxjohn, pat bertram, robert w. walker