The
latest metaphor picture the Lord gave me is this: to stop the marketing
and only write would be like cooking a gourmet meal and leaving it sit on the
stove. Marketing is the serving dishes by which I bring the food to hungry
people. The Lord is really serious about this. Groan. My emotions have yet to
catch up with my spirit’s enthusiastic “Yes!” I can tell that I am going to be
here for a while.
Today I listened to a webinar on writing blogs. Not just any blog--successful blogs that convert readers to loyal, satisfied customers. Dereck Halpern, the speaker, agreed with the idea that the greater percentage of one's time should be spent on promotion and the lesser on creating content.
How
do I reconcile the fact that my assignment is to stay one step behind
Jesus…close enough to hear what He says and write it down, the fact that He has
given me a flaming pen that can also be a sword…writing as spiritual warfare,
as gourmet food…how can I be called to make plain the mysteries of God and
spend 75% of my time in marketing. Only 25% of my time relating to God and writing what I hear?
I
sat and contemplated that for a while, thinking about prophets of old…and then of
Jesus who spent 75% of His time with the people and 25% alone with Father.
Okay, I see it. Marketing IS ministry. Help me Jesus!
How do you other writers do it? Is it 75/25, 80/20 or 90/10? And is the larger percentage on creation or promotion (ministry)? We writers tend to go off alone, but this is something we all struggle with.
Let's talk to each other and see if we can isolate common elements that help us get a successful balance. I anticipate two or three difference sets of elements--one for parents with children at home, one for empty-nesters, and one for those with physical limitations (illness, disabilities, etc.).
Let me hear from you. How do you balance your equation?
Blessings, Carol
What a great subject for discussion, Carol. Personally, I have not come to a satisfactory balance with the marketing equation, because there are so many options that one is forced to pick only as many as can fit into their brief allotment of days. Then there is that period of time before you know if you are just on a learning curve, or if it really isn't for you.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only thing I AM certain of, is that the Lord has a specific plan for every writer, and the best thing we can do is to keep our spiritual ears open to his instructions. Especially because what is perfect for one kind of writer will not always fit another. There is also a struggle to believe that you are "hearing right."
That said, at this point in my own career, I have settled on the fact that since I have a very intense, one-traack mind, it is difficult for me to switch back and forth between one thing and another. So, to accommodate, I have broken my year down into writing in the fall and winter, and marketing during spring and summer. This doesn't count the reviews and interviews I help other writers with, interspersed all year long.
As a result, there are times when I feel far behind what everyone else seems to be doing. But I invented a name for my method called "turtle marketing" and just keep on. Does it work? I don't know, yet, the votes have not all come in. But I think if we will be open and share our experiences with each other, it will be a great benefit to us all.
So if we roll the reviews and interview in with the spring/summer marketing time, it looks pretty close to 75% to me. I think that is a nice way to do it. I like to go deep when I dive in and like you, I find it difficult to splash around doing marketing when everything in me wants to stay deep! Your way of doing it may be more effective than trying to do both in one day every day. Thanks for sharing!
Delete