Thinking of fame

Thursday already!!

I'm very excited to see the spring fast approaching. It has been a very cold, snowy winter up in the Toledo, OH area. If I remember right, the weatherman said February was one of the top 3 snowiest on record. BRRR

Today I was thinking about FAME.

For those of you who have read "How I got here" [a series of blog posts that ran from Jan. 1, 2008 in to Feb.] you know that one of the phrases that carried me during the rough times was something my Freshman Lit. teacher said on my 15th birthday. He gave me a book and inside he wrote "Become Famous Some Day."

So today something about American Idol popped up on my computer when I was checking the news and I began to reflect on Fame.

Is Fame really something that is thrust on us? Is it something we create? Or is Fame really a persona that is necessary to build a career in the arts?

I thought about the Marketing that we have to do as writers. Writers get radio interviews, telephone interviews, blog tours, book signings and many other things that APPEAR to be linked to fame. In fact, they are not evidence of fame but rather a necessary part of the business.

The same with movie stars. They don't tour around on David Letterman and Conan because they love to chat and wave to fans [although, that is a wonderful byproduct of these appearances]. These are events that serve a dual purpose. The celebrity goes on to promote their recent project and the late night host gets a famous face.

So what does this have to do with you and your pursuit of publication?

Everything!!

Writers who want to build momentum need to be aware of various venues to promote their work. It is highly unlikely that Oprah or Dave will come knocking on my door anytime soon, but if something like that were to happen...I'd need to approach it as a business owner doing a job [promoting my work] and not as a giddy woman excited to be on TV.

So, bringing it down to the local level. We need to FIND ways to become relevant to our local press in order to promote our work without being a walking commercial. How can we structure our marketing to HELP a columnist with their job [writing columns]. How can we help someone who is doing a radio interview on us? How can we make our marketing a systematic part of our business rather than something we hope happens?

These are important things to consider. I don't have all the answers to them, but I feel that once people get those questions in perspective they are ahead of those who don't.

I'll be speaking in Westerville, OH [outside Columbus, OH] on Saturday, March 22nd. I'll give more details tomorrow but I'd love to see you there.