Why Marketing Doesn’t Suck

So Cody wrote a really great guest blog for me recently, titled, “Why Marketing Sucks” and it got me thinking about why marketing sucks. And how to make it suck less, and the things that don’t suck about it.

While this may seem like it’s in opposition to his piece, it’s really not. Everything he said holds true. It’s just that for every silver lining, there is the cloud. In this scenario, Cody’s the cloud and I’m the silver lining, so it’s a bit like exactly the opposite of hanging out with us in person.

Making Marketing Fun

Most of marketing is so boring. Just so, so, so boring. Especially if you aren’t the type to really enjoy hanging out in big groups, networking, and telling strangers how awesome you are. Or writing fluffy guest posts for every Jane, Joe, or Richard Zuka on the internet.

Somewhere in there it’s nice, as a writer, to actually write things. Write things that people see and enjoy. Write for fun! And marketing takes away from all of that. Except if you can find a way to market yourself by doing exactly that.

So anyway, it gave me an idea. What if I could market in a way that let me write for fun, possibly might pay for my time, and would let others market at the same time? What if I could “crowd source” my marketing?

We’re supposed to be creative types, right? It’s really on us if we can’t find an entertaining and fun way to make sure the world notices us.

Cody gets some credit here, because our semi-weekly meetings to discuss marketing really kicked my brain into gear.

What I came up with is this:

A monthly ebook anthology. The Bite Monthly e-Book Anthology

I could do something I enjoy (writing!) and some other things I enjoy (editing!), and I can get the word out about other great writers while also enjoying the limelight. It’s my hope that by including a group of great, but less known, writers, our combined fan-bases might coalesce into something of one of those rising tides that lifts all the boats.

By necessity, the first book will be more about assembling a cadre of topnotch content creators than a single theme, but from there on out, each anthology will have a theme.

Basically, I want to get the word out about me, about other great writers, and I want it to not suck in the process.

So if you happen to be a writer who wants to get attention for actually writing a story please check out The Bite and consider submitting. The first deadline is February 28th, but there’s every theme every month after that.

At the end of the year, we’ll do a Best of anthology, and, now that I think of it, we might do a Wildcard themeless anthology every February. We’re playing this a bit by ear, but, damn it, we’re going to have a little fun doing it!