‘Never self-reject. You never know who might buy what!’
Angelique Fawns
Her background in journalism and television production no doubt has helped Angelique Fawns establish herself as a prolific writer of speculative fiction. And she’s one terrific and imaginative storyteller. The Canadian writer has published over 80 short stories since launching her short story writing career in 2018.
She’s also persistent, pushing aside those 500 rejections over her first three years to rack up an impressive catalog of publications.
And she’s generous. She’s turned her experience of researching the writing market of her chosen genre into a free collection of 13 of her sold stories and a look at the editors who bought them. She also has a guidebook for other writers listing a comprehensive guide to current speculative short story market. Think of it as a Writer’s Market for speculative fiction. (Subscribe to her paid Substack to obtain your copy.) She supplements that resource by posting the latest calls for submission, complete with details about each magazine, on her Substack and blog.
Two marketing pros share their wisdom for writers.
Today’s Friday Five deviates from our usual fare — Q&As with literary types — to introduce two outstanding marketers and recent co-authors who can help all of us who struggle to promote our writing. Their tool is nothing mysterious; it’s that workhorse of modern communication, email.
A few months ago, one of my co-workers suggested that a term much in vogue among social media marketing types — the word engage — be included in one of those lists of banned or banished words, like the one produced by Lake Superior State University. (Two cousins of engage — “engagement” and “engaging users” — have been on a UK list since 2007.)
At first, I wasn’t so sure I agreed with my colleague. The term “engage” seems to have a nice, um, ring to it. And it’s been useful to describe one aspect of social media marketing — the act of making connections with customers, audiences, those people we want to enga– er, interact with. Brian Solis added an exclamation point to the word and turned it into the title of a book, which I understand has done quite well. Then there’s Chris Syme‘s new ebook about crisis communication. Syme’s book includes the word in its title, and the placement there seems appropriate.
But I must admit that, since my colleague brought the overuse of engage to my attention, I’ve noticed the word being misused and abused widely and repeatedly. Here are a few of the many, many examples I could cite — these from a Twitter search:
“3 takeaways 1 identify + engage your customers 2 take advantage of your biz data 3 look at crowdsourcing models”
“Join us tomorrow with [redacted] for a Twitter chat on how to engage distributors and retailers to stock you product.”
“Lots of companies are using video to spread the word on their products and engage their customers”
“5 Killer Strategies for Brands to Engage on Pinterest and LinkedIn”
“Content is the new way of old marketing. Engage an audience and have them become social w/interesting content. “
“How to spot your best customers online and engage“
Is there anything we can do to rescue engage from its descent into meaninglessness? Perhaps so, if we start thinking about the meaning behind our words. When we talk about “engage” or “engaging” or “engagement,” what do we really mean to say? Are we talking about holding a conversation? Are we talking about getting someone interested in what we’re trying to promote or sell? Are we talking about getting people to interact with our advertising? Fill out a form? What is it, exactly, that we’re trying to communicate?
I hope you’ll think a bit more critically about the use of this word — and any other overworked, misused buzzterms listed in the links above — and if you feel so inclined, to share your thoughts about it in the comments box below.
I’m not sure I’m ready to completely disengage my use of this term. But I will try to think a little bit more about whether it’s the right word for the situation.
If Twitter is my go-to learning network (see previous post), then Slideshare is my research library. What I love about both platforms is that they make so much great information accessible, so easily. Slideshare gives me quick and easy access to conference presentations by many of the great higher ed, marketing, PR and leadership experts I follow there. And when I can’t experience a conference presentation in person, I have Slideshare as a tool for viewing some great slide decks, at my convenience. It’s the next best thing to being there.
Earlier this week, a lot of higher ed web marketing folks gathered for #psuweb12, the annual web conference held at Penn State. Many of the presenters used Slideshare to kindly share their slide decks with the online world. Here are five that I found worth clicking through.
I hope I get through all of these over the summer. Maybe I should read that productivity book, 18 Minutes, first.
What’s on your list? What are your recommend summer reads for marketers? (Or if you’re tired of marketing books, you might want to take a cue from Dave Van de Walle and take a break from marketing books this summer.)
