Together Everyone Achieves More (in Marketing) by Bryan Cohen

Today on the blog I am thrilled to introduce Bryan Cohen. Bryan started this brilliant event (which starts tomorrow) and I hope you’ll all jump on in! Without any further ado here is Bryan!

Together Everyone Achieves More is an acronym for “team.” I had that term drilled into me as a high school-aged counselor for an environment-themed sixth-grade camping trip. The lesson was meant to instill the values of togetherness and interdependence on each young group. While I’m no longer helping kids untie themselves from a human knot, it continues to amaze me how much a group of people can accomplish compared to one person alone.

Authors can be solitary creatures. As a full-time writer, I’ve had weeks in which my wife and the barista at my go-to coffee shop were the only people with whom I interacted. Unless you have a writing partner, you’re bound to spend a lot of your working hours alone. That’s how I used to approach marketing as well. I knew I didn’t have a lot of contacts, so I focused on my website’s search engine optimization and long-shot home run attempts like press releases to the Chicago Sun Times. The former served me well, though the latter usually led to strikeouts. I had a great year or two of sales with SEO alone, but when my numbers began to dwindle, I started to look for other options. Since I’d exhausted every solo venture I could think of, I reached out to other authors.

It started with guest posts and blog tours. Writing 30 or more posts for other people in a single month was a challenge, but I saw an immediate bump in sales. I also connected with some amazing bloggers who I remain friends with years later. My second and third attempts at such tours had diminishing returns and I was back to square one.

I continued to write and hope that a new marketing idea would come my way. As I listened to the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast, I found that idea. Author Timothy W. Long, a horror author, put together a Facebook author event in which a dozen writers each discounted a book to 99 cents and shared their fan bases during a live chat. After hearing that brilliant, collaborative idea, I couldn’t stop thinking about doing the same thing myself. Within hours, I began emailing my peers, writers who write non-fiction for other writers.

I shot for the moon. I messaged Sean Platt of the self-publishing podcast even though there was no way he’d join in. He did. Literary agent and author Rachelle Gardner was also on the “no chance on Earth” list. She signed up too. By the end of my efforts, I had 15 authors plus myself on board for an event coming up on Friday, February 28th.

Since the event, which is called March to a Bestseller: A One-Day Sale on Books for Authors, hasn’t happened yet, I can’t tell if it will lead to increased sales. That being said, I feel like it’s already been a success. I’ve made new friends within the writing community. More than a hundred readers who signed up for the event now know my name. Most importantly, this event re-taught me the lesson that Together Everyone Achieves More. Maybe this time I’ll remember it for the long haul.

Join March to a Bestseller on Facebook. Like and share certain posts on the event for a chance to win prizes like free author classes, personalized writing prompts and free books.

About the Author:

Bryan Cohen has written more than 30 books. His most recent work, 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, Volume 2, is on sale for a limited time as part of the event. Join his mailing list to learn how to beat writer’s block and find out more about future (collaborative) happenings.