Artist Entrepreneur: Build From Your Strengths, A Case Study

Many artists, authors included, go into art because they love it. But to build a business, sorry guys, love is not enough…

What am I saying? It’s passion that got me here in the first place. Passion and determination.

And building on my strengths.

That’s such an abstract concept. Let’s break it down.

It’s a given that we’re not all excellent at everything; what might work for me doesn’t work for another. And yes, I’m talking about marketing, and blogging and social media for authors. When am I not talking about these subjects?! 🙂

Case in point: A client came to me a few months ago knowing she needed to getting more familiar and more comfortable using social media. She didn’t get Twitter, and Facebook was just horrid with all those faces. And how was it different from Twitter anyway? And what’s the deal about blogging? Did she have to reveal personal details about herself? What did she write about? And how did she get the American audience learning about her European titles and other writer names?

She knew she needed to overcome her fear and confusion of social media and start taking some action steps because she was about to release over half a dozen books in her backlist. She’d written 25 books in her long writing career, and she had to get with the times. She was now a mostly independent author and couldn’t rely on tools and support that didn’t exist anymore, like publisher sponsored book tours.

After I got clear on all her writing names and all her titles, (wow!) together we came up with a strategy that focused on her strengths.

To get there I asked her questions like:

  • What do you like to read? How do you find the books you read?
  • What do you like to chit chat about with your friends and acquaintances? What could you spend all day talking about (when you’re not writing?)
  • What is unique about you that maybe you take for granted and is easy for you to talk about?

Together we found out that she likes to talk about her travels, certain time periods in history and her childhood in India. She also loves to talk about chocolate, the inspiration for her books, the settings for her stories, how to write romantic comedy, and how to write series.

I showed her how to write Tweets and Facebook posts that generate interest and conversation. She started blogging more. And the single most important thing we did for and with her was set up a summer/fall blog tour with book giveaways, to introduce her newly re-released series to an American audience. I also worked with her in our coaching sessions to become more comfortable with using social media. Twitter became fun, and Facebook became understandable.

Now, as we roll into the last few weeks of her blog tour, her newly re-released series is getting sales. Yippee! Additionally, for her new book just released, we’ve been doing a Facebook and Twitter campaign and some blogging, and it has been getting sales, too. Yeah!

More importantly, readers are discovering or rediscovering her and that makes the author, Elizabeth Aston, very happy.

Question to you! What are your strengths that maybe you take for granted? Things you do easily? Perhaps ask a friend or a colleague to help you identify them with you.

Sometimes we need to eyes, minds and hearts of others to help us become more of who we are. We are social creatures, after all!

If you’re curious about how to build from your strengths, and learn more about what it’s like to work with Beth Barany and her team, you can go here. Thanks!

You may also like...

>