Admittedly one of the words in the title to this blog post doesn’t seemingly belong with the others. Yet, filing my taxes last month inspired me to be a better businesswoman. I think my exact words after filing my combined personal and small business taxes were, “Why am I not a millionaire yet?!”
Afterwards, I thought about what I could do with the modest refund that I’d receive in a few weeks. Just like that, opportunity knocked on my door via email. (Bad mixed metaphor, but acknowledging the problem is the first step to improvement!) The group I train capoeira with, Capoeira Evolucao, had sent all the information necessary for interested businesses to become our sponsors. As soon as I read through the information, a feeling came over me that this was just the promotional investment I’d been looking for.
Back in December 2010, I self-published my first novel, Tribe of One. As exhilarated as I was to see my manuscript finally in print, I had the daunting task of promoting it. All last year, I thought the best way to do that was through setting up reading events. I bought audio equipment and prepared press kits. For a while, I hustled around town, trying to set up readings in coffee shops and lingerie places since I had a collection of racy poems I’d written over the years and had planned to read the more “adult” passages of my book.
My little engine ran out of steam in a few months. The amount of energy and time needed to book reading gigs for myself was not worth the consistently smaller audiences that I’d read to. I wasn’t initially concerned with book sales at the events, but the whole word-of-mouth thing didn’t happen for me either. As a matter of fact, the best tip I got at my second reading was to join a professional writer’s group, which has been a valuable source of information and support.
In addition to training capoeira, I’ve been picking the brains of several capoeiristas who have small businesses on the side as well. Their insightful, free consultations have been wonderful. Not only that, but in any endeavor, it is always best to be surrounded by like-minded, positive people who believe in me.
Since my business is primarily writing, I’m not in direct competition with my capoeira group although I will also have T-shirts for sale, albeit not capoeira-themed T-shirts. Speaking of which, the official capoeira T-shirt for the event will have my “logo” on the back along with the other sponsors. Since I don’t actually have a logo, my book cover art will serve that purpose. Just seeing that beautifully colorful African woman on several shirts as well as my on own T-shirt is going to be very exciting.
Granted, advertising doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll receive matching or surpassing sales, but after experiencing a year of virtual no promotion and months where I had no sells, surely this is a step in the correct direction.