Two Platform Lessons

I read a great blog post last week by Karla Akins, author of The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots. It got me to thinking about my marketing journey regarding my debut novel. It was suggested in much of my research that you ask for endorsements, and aim pretty high. What could it hurt? I wanted my message to reach as many folks as possible. So I got brave and asked some pretty big names for endorsements and reviews. I also asked some  lesser known authors and reviewers. Here's what happened.

The famous, high profile authors responded to me within a few days. The answer was "Sorry, no," but I received warm congratulations and well wishes. (Apparently, when you reach a certain pinnacle of success, your name doesn't belong to you anymore, or at least that was the case for one of the authors.) The emails were from assistants. That didn't bother me at all. They responded, and wished me well. The messages might have even been automated, but it didn't seem that way.

The lesser known folks DID NOT RESPOND. Now I will concede that there could be many reasons for that. This is not a rant or criticism, but it just illustrates a point. Who do you think I'm still a huge fan of, and who do you think not so much? The response I received solidified the message of the authors who responded. The lack of response caused me to lose a little faith in the message of those that completely ignored me.  Let it be noted that everyone with whom I have a relationship, whether multi-published or not, online or in person, said Yes!.

So the lessons I've learned in this journey so far are:

1. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

2. Relationship - build relationships with people who need your message and/or who can help get your message out there.  

Here's a link to Karla's post: You're Doing Twitter and Facebook all Wrong