Back to Basics

First, things, first. Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this week's Blitz. My blogs were all written and scheduled to post, but I hadn't been online much due to a stomach bug hoping around my house. Tuesday (my blitz day) was actually my first day out of bed since Saturday so it was such a nice surprise to log back in to find so many kind and thoughtful comments here. You really did make my day.

Also, I'm going to be closing to queries starting Monday, May 5th so I can catch up on everything I haven't read yet. If you are planning to query me, you need to get your email in before Monday.

Now on to today's real post.

I realized that if you've only recently joined me in my little corner of the internet, you might think I'm crazy. After all, I've spent the last month throwing one hair-brained idea after another at you. So today I wanted to take a moment to talk about what should be at the core of every marketing plan.

Your readers.

It's easy to get caught up in the newest flashy idea or try to mimic the success of an unorthodox technique. I fall victim to this as well. I have an entire notebook where I write down marketing ideas from the mundane to the zany. It's fun to let our creative side run wild with possibilities.

But being a successful writer is about more than just being creative. It's about having the business sense to only invest your time, energy and money into efforts that will result in more readers.

Sometimes, you can't know if something is going to reach your readers until you try. That's when you learn and move on. At the same time, you need to know your readers and weed out the ideas you know aren't going to target them.

You can find 1000 marketing ideas with little more than a few Google searchers. Don't fall into the trap of feeling like you need to try all (or even half) of them. Make your readers your first priority and your marketing plan can be successful with or without all the bells and whistles.