Sunday, April 17, 2011

Collaborative Marketing: Strength in Numbers with Rosanne Parry #SCBWIWWA

Reported by Liz Mills

Rosanne Parry is the author of the picture book DADDY’S HOME and the middle-grade novels HEART OF A SHEPHERD and SECOND FIDDLE. She lives in Portland, OR, and writes in a treehouse in her backyard.

In a straight-talking presentation peppered with heartwarming anecdotes and personal experiences, Rosanne took us through the steps to creating a collaborative marketing plan for our books or future books. While it is a reality that large publishers do not have deep promotional pockets for all their authors, there are ways to collaborate with each other as authors to celebrate the writing and reading community, establish a presence in that community, and hopefully sell books along the way. These partnerships can even focus on one aspect of your book, as in the event Rosanne did for SECOND FIDDLE, in which young musicians came and played pieces related to her book and provided a wonderful evening of entertainment in support of a good cause.

Rosanne focused her talk on two core ideas: tips on things everyone can do according to their book’s genre, and what authors should keep in mind as they brainstorm an appropriate marketing plan. Using the rubric Local, Level, Topic, and Clan, she encouraged us to read widely in our genre and get to know our fellows, so that we can partner with them effectively and meaningfully. I know I’ll be working on my marketing plan over the next few weeks, looking for creative ways to collaborate with and contribute to my community, helping to nurture a love of reading.

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