Volume VI, Issue 50 December 11, 2017 Dear ,
This week's word is one that makes many of us feel kind of "squirmy."
What is there about selling, well, anything, that can
cause discomfort? Is it an underlying belief that personal gain for one means personal loss for another?
I'm inviting you, if you have negative associations with the word "sell," especially if it has to do with the printed word, to reconsider.
Take, say,
this real-life exhibit from my past. (Front and back of the same heart.)
My daughter Amanda, when she was six, understood that "selling"
was exchanging an item of value for something else of value (money). She engaged in several money-making ventures, including a lemonade stand and a dog-sitting business. None was more hilarious than when she sold me this “I Love You” heart for 15 cents! This was her first "published work," if we use the definition of published as "available for sale." I was happy to support her by buying her "first
edition."
Here's a photo of my little entrepreneur after a Brownie tie-dying event. (And, of course, her little brother needed his own shirt, in his favorite
color.)
Okay, it's a bit of a stretch from Amanda's 15-cent heart to your (or other writers') published books. But in both cases, the writer's words have value, and if no potential readers know these words even exist,
the value is missed out on. And that's what "selling" is really about. Sharing the value of something and then giving people a choice as to whether that value is worth the cost. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. As the adage says, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
If so, the weeks before Christmas are an ideal time to share about books you love. To quote Sambuchino: "Help writers sell books. It’s that simple. Just help them and support the publishing industry. Good karma will befall you, and the hope is that others will help you in return as your big release day comes."
In the interest of saving you time, since Sambuchino's blog is this week's featured writing, you can click here and read the entire thing if you didn't click the linked blog post title above.
Happy selling (and buying) of books you believe in!
Love and light,
Maureen
WordPlay Now! Writing
Prompt
This is WordPlay -- so why not revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "sell."
PROMPT:
1. Write about selling something, either from your own point of view or the point of view of a character, if you're a fiction writer. NOTE: no Death of a Salesman-like stories allowed. Instead, write about a sale that felt really good to you, whether you were the one with the available good/service or you were the one paying. Ooh, I just thought of my
topic: buying books from Scholastic International's monthly order form when I was in elementary school! Those were the best 35-cent purchases I ever made. I still have a lot of them, including Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle, which was instrumental in my development as a poet.
2. Help at least one writer whose work you
love "sell" his or her book by using one of the suggestions in Chuck Sambuchino's post. I recommend # 6: Leave a review on Amazon or BN.com or Goodreads or all. Reviews are still very important. Think about it. If you come by a new book and see it has 2.0 stars on Amazon, would you buy
it? On some level, that silly rating does affect me and my decision — and my guess is that it affects you, too. So it’s crucial that, when you read a book and enjoy it, you leave a review on Amazon or BN.com or Goodreads or all. Those first 10-20 reviews really matter and can set a book on the right path. (Note: You can leave the same
review on all sites to save time.)
AND/OR # 10:
Spread news
of the book through your social media channels. When the author mentions it on Facebook, share the news with your social circles and include a small note about what the book is and why they should buy it. In other words, spreading the word by saying “My friend got published!” is nice — but it’s better to say, “This new book by my hilarious friend is a great gift for dads who are raising daughters.
Laugh-out-loud-funny stuff for all fathers to enjoy!” See how the second one targets people in a simple-yet-specific way? Do this kind of targeting when you spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or blogs.
I'd love to see what you come up with! Email it to me at info@wordplaynow.com—you could be
featured in a future Word-zine.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and two collections of poetry, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one
another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for
joy. Here's to yours! |
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