THE HOLLYWOOD SCHMOOZE

THE HOLLYWOOD SCHMOOZE MARCH MEETING TOPIC:
Immediate Goals and Short Term Strategies

It’s hard to think of yourself as a brand but when you are in publishing or media, it seems that’s what you are – as an individual, you need to create publicity for yourself – and it’s not for egotism, it’s for survival as an artist (or if you want to make any money at all) in this digital age.

So, how do we as Children’s Book Writers market ourselves?
Well, the usual suspects appeared: Facebook, Twitter Etc.
It’s all out there, one just has to figure out how to use it and use it to your advantage.

We learned some interesting details:

1) Famous People, Celebrities etc. who tweet probably are not the ones doing the actual tweeting. They hire publicists who do this for them.

2) Also, numbers matter: how many friends you have on Facebook, how many hits you get on your website this all speaks to whether you can generate traffic or not, whether people are interested in you or what you have to say.

3) A site where teen stories are published was mentioned. And a lively discussion ensued on the need for more online magazines for young people…

4) Questions were raised about time management and the time consuming aspect of social media. Certain time strategies were proposed and shared for dealing with this:

            a) separate the various parts of your life into different email accounts
            b) only open your Facebook page when you have time for it.
            b) Facebook does not have to be a total obsession. It can be used strategically.
            c) make a website that is interactive.

5) We went around the room and stated our short term goals – what we wished to accomplish in the next two or three months.

6) to make some money in the short term, submitting to magazines was suggested.

Additional comments and feedback welcome!