My husband is not a fan of northern winters, so when we can, we head to warmer climes. While most of the time we feel like we’re on vacation, it’s not really since we both work remotely.
And we’re not the only ones! We have run into several authors while traveling, some who helped us, and some we were able to help.
While we are on the road, we try to schedule presentations at nearby libraries. A couple of years ago, I did a talk on Poirot at the Key West library, and one of the folks who attended was Barbara Ross, a well-known and prolific mystery writer. She introduced herself, and we exchanged email addresses. Later, she invited me to be a guest blogger on the Wicked Authors website she shares with several other mystery writers. It was a thrill to be asked and also a nice boost for my marketing.
At one of this year’s presentations in the Florida Keys, an attendee named Jack McCutcheon introduced himself as a fellow author who was scheduled for an author talk at the same library in a few weeks. He had never done one before, so he stopped in to see how we do it. We had a nice chat about what to expect at a live event and about book marketing in general. Being a bit farther along on the author journey, we were happy to share some of our expertise.
We met yet another author in – of all places – the laundry room. Hensen March and his wife were spending their “working vacation” in the same community we were. I can’t even remember how we got on the subject, but Don had posted our library presentation schedule on the laundry room bulletin board, and I referred to it at some point.
March had specific questions about his author website, which Don could obviously answer, but we talked about other marketing topics as well. Just before our time in that community ended, we saw a new flyer on the bulletin board – for a Hensen March author talk. It seems he took a bit of our marketing advice!
You never know when you might run into someone you can help or someone who can help you. Especially if you are an author. Sure, it sometimes feels awkward to admit that you’re a writer. Is it a “real” job if it’s not supporting you 100%? Yes! Being a writer IS a real job, and we should be confident enough to say so. Because you never know who you may meet who could use your help or who could help you on your writer’s journey.
Photo by Anna Shvets