Welcome to the first episode of a series that is dedicated to helping screenwriters, authors, indie filmmakers and suave, hardworking creative individuals with the one aspect that is they sorely need: Marketing!
That’s right, each episode, we will be dedicating our time to ensuring that you have the tools and knowledge to get the very most out of your creative endeavours.
Simply put: Get you paid and get your project made! 😉
My name is Chris Brennan. I am an author, screenwriter and filmmaker by night. But a Content Marketing Manager by day. So hopefully I can bridge the two worlds and help you cats and kittens out! 🐾
I want to kick off this series with a nice little idea. A taste of what you can expect from each episode: practical, useful strategies that you can implement immediately and hope to see results sooner rather than later.
All I ask in return? If you dig this content, then please check out a new children’s book that I am self-publishing: Lil’ Lukie. A sweet addition to storytime or a damn fine present for loved ones (if you are nipperless).
Oh and just share this article online and with your colleagues. Our goal is for everybody to make better films, better books and better content.
Because if we work together, then the projects will be stronger, more people will enjoy them, and more opportunities will present themselves!
So here is your very first Indie Writer Marketing Strategy: Send… One… Email!
Yep, that’s it! Send one email… a day.
And this email can be about anything…. as long as its purpose is to help your project or your career.
Don’t just send your brother a link to The Daily Show. Don’t send your husband the new Star Wars trailer.
You gotta drop an email to someone that can actually help further your career. And the content of the email should reflect that.
Simple, right? A little too simple, maybe? Well, why not?
Think about the last time you’ve actually been proactive for your career? I don’t mean in your writing… I mean in pushing your career. Might have been weeks ago? Months ago, even!
Now you send one email out a day for a week and that is seven possible opportunities that have the potential to stick.
You are putting yourself out there Every Single Day.
It won’t be an overnight thing — well, it could be. But don’t expect it. Instead, this will pay off after a few weeks or months.
I guarantee it!
I started doing this 2 years ago myself. And I’ve been writing for cold hard cash pretty damn consistently..
Okay, so you want examples of who to email, right? Well, that’s fair enough.
Try this on for size:
• Drop a writing colleague an email and propose that you proof each other’s work and give notes.
• Contact that producer or decision-maker that you met twice and have been meaning to pester about your project. But instead of going in to talk about yourself, invite them for a coffee and say that you would like to provide your writing services to them, in case they have a passion project that they never had a chance to develop.
• Contact a director and see if they would like to meet to discuss making a promo for your script/book.
• Know any illustrators or graphic designers? How about messaging them to see if they’d be up for creating some material for your idea.
You see where we’re going with this, right?
What is going to happen is that your proactivity will pay off and this is where opportunity will present itself.
Say you’re a screenwriter who gets a director on board to create a promo for your script. Each time you email each other about developing the idea, this counts as an email a day!
Say you’re an author that has agreed to read someone else’s material in exchange for reading yours. Each email counts, as you are also cultivating a relationship that could pay off later down the line! (This is exactly what happened with myself and the illustrator of Lil’ Lukie, Ger Hankey).
Keep this up and soon you’ll be dropping 3 or 4 emails a day on a variety of different projects and opportunities. You’ll forget the whole system of having to send an email a day… why? Well, you’ll be too busy working and collaborating to realise that you’re doing it anyway!
Pretty good, right? Simple, yet effective marketing with one crucial ingredient: consistency!
So that’s it for the first episode. I’ve got a lot more I want to cover. But just like your scripts, it’s best to keep these episodes concise, focused and to the point.
I hope you enjoyed this 1st one and I tell you what: if you want to kick off your daily email strategy now, you can email me at storybreakers@gmail.com.
Hit me up with a future topic you’d like to hear about. Any questions you might have.
Or perhaps drop me a working logline or the synopsis of your project and I’ll see if I can help you craft the wording of it to perfection — That is marketing after all! 😉
Thank you so much. Please do share this online. Especially in any writers groups that you think could benefit from this idea.
Now let’s get to work people!
Thank guys and until next time: Have fun creating!
Track I listened to as I wrote this: Planet Of The EscApes, War For The Planet Of The Apes, Michael Giaccinho
The Writer's Marketing Lab 