Take a Creative Inventory
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The Bookish Brand launched one year ago. A few times I’ve wondered how long it may take for me to run out of topics to cover. Then I’ll encounter another person who is grappling with how to sustain a full-time writing career or an active side hustle. A living reminder that an effective promotional strategy takes time to craft, fine tune—and is ever evolving.
It took almost seven years for the author life I’d been striving for to blossom. Thus one purpose of this blog series is to lessen the burden of you having to do all the "leg work” in regard to figuring out the business side of freelancing and/or the publishing industry. I certainly would never claim to have all the answers, but that is why I also regularly interview other writers in various stages of their careers who have also successfully harnessed their creative talent to generate other revenue streams by blogging, becoming a self-made publisher, and more.
The notion of getting comfortable with rejection is another theme that I hope has repeatedly been discernible in several of these interviews. This is a fundamental component to acquiring artistic resilience. I continually seek out ways to grow my professional network, plus market my writing and classes for minimum out-of-pocket costs. Not every idea works, yet I usually gain a fresh perspective via the process—information I can then share with my next group of students or perhaps bequeath to a character in one of my manuscripts.
Trying to find a professional tribe of fellow creatives to connect with, in addition to building a professional brand and being constantly on the hunt for that next great opportunity or book idea, is certainly a lot to juggle (even when being an author is one’s full-time gig). Sure, those endeavors could be worked on in tangent. However each is more likely to yield the desired results if one takes the time to prioritize tasks based on desired outcome(s), as well as ease of execution, in terms of your skill set, budget and ultimate end goal.
A good place to start would be using the remainder of this year to take inventory of the creative goals you’ve accomplished so far in 2022. Also assess what, if any, objectives are you still working toward? Would additional support or constructive feedback help demolish the creative brick wall you’ve been struggling to climb over?
For those with book releases or new website launches on the horizon, this short list of suggestions can be done sans spending a large amount of money on digital marketing.
Email Newsletter
Share with readers and potential clients teaser snippets from your work-in-progress, book birthdays, and pro writing tips in a weekly or monthly message sent straight to their inbox. In particular, I am a fan of TinyLetter since the site is free. Its design and layout functions are very user-friendly too.
Author Events
Reach out to your local independent bookstores, libraries, and schools to inquire if there is any interest in hosting an author reading with you (in person or online).
Book Swag
Get the buzz going about your forthcoming book debut with podcast interviews, Zoom backgrounds, quote graphics, themed Spotify playlists, bookmarks, stickers, and BookToks.
Next month, the Bookish Brand will be on a short hiatus for the holiday season. But the blog will resume in January 2023. Happy posting, reading, and writing ‘til then!