Category: New Business Development

As Seth Godin shares

“In a world that lacks
so many traditional gatekeepers,
there are fewer people than ever
to say no to your project,
your idea,
your song.
If you want to put it out there,
go ahead.”

What this means,
however,
is that your business partners
will likely try anything too.

A big publisher came to me,
asked me to write a year long project
with monthly releases.
They were very specific
about what they wanted.

I knew this was a huge undertaking,
a grueling 18 month project for me.
What I didn’t know was
they were just throwing this idea
out there.
Covers were stock art.
Editing was minimal.
Marketing was non existent.

Their investment was low.
My investment was very high.
Their let’s just try it approach
almost cost me my writing career.

In this try anything culture,
put extra effort
into judging how invested
your partners are
in projects.

When I worked in Fortune 500 companies
and I had a cross-functional project
I really wanted to launch,
I was very conscious
of the order of approvals.

1) I would first approach
my manager.
I’d pitch him the project,
tell him I’d take total responsibility
for it
(yes, I put my job on the line
for each project).
All I would request from him
was permission
to pitch it to our V-P.
He normally agreed
because hey, if it was a bad idea,
our V-P would turn me down.

2) I would then pitch the project
to my V-P,
mentioning that I’d already spoken
to my manager.
Again, I offered to take full responsibility
for this project.
All I would ask of my V-P
was the opp
to pitch it to the V-Ps
affected by the cross-functional project.

3) Then I would pitch the project
to the other V-Ps individually,
pitching to the V-P less affected first,
mentioning that I’d already spoken
to my V-P.
I’d offer to take full responsibility.

Why would I pitch individually
rather than pitch to everyone
at once?
Wouldn’t a group pitch have been more effective?

Maybe but it would have resulted in a no.
As Seth Godin shares
“If you work in an organization,
the underlying rule is simple:
People are not afraid of failure,
they’re afraid of blame.”

With individual pitches,
the V-Ps could blame each other.
With group pitches,
they’d have to take some of the responsibility.

The order of your pitches
can be as important as
the pitch itself.
Think strategically.

I’ve written a series
of increasingly popular
how to write romance
blog posts.

At first,
I received a flurry of
“this is a super awesome post”
comments
from readers and aspiring writers.
Published writers ignored me.

As the popularity of the series increases,
I’ve been receiving more and more
harsh comments
from published writers.
They see the posts are popular
and they want to piggyback
on that popularity.
The easiest way to get noticed
is to slam the post.

The natural reaction
is to avoid this criticism
by posting something safer,
less edgy,
less interesting.

This is the exact wrong thing
to do.
Readers like these posts
because they’re different.

(In hindsight,
I would have written the entire series
at once
– this is the technique I use
with my romance novels.
Now, I have to force myself
to be as edgy, as daring.)

Criticism might not be a symptom
of poor quality.
It might be a symptom
of increased popularity.
Don’t change your product
if it’s working.

A project manager
asked for volunteers
to help with marketing a project.
I set aside time in my busy schedule
and volunteered.

A week passed
and I didn’t hear anything.
I figured my help wasn’t needed
and I reallocated that time.

Three weeks later
(a full month after the ask),
the project manager contacted me
about the marketing tasks.
She seemed surprised
that I was no longer available.

No response to a doer
is a no.
She usually won’t waste
more of her time
by contacting you again.
(Why would she?
If you didn’t respond the first time,
you likely won’t respond the second time.)
She’ll simply allocate the resources
elsewhere.

If you want a solid, lasting yes,
respond to that yes.

One of my romance pen names
is known for having a light tone
with a certain heat level.

My agent came to me
with a project.
It required me to write
under this pen name
with a different heat level.

That wasn’t that big
of a compromise, was it?

I drafted a proposal for the project.
I wasn’t excited about it.
I knew in my gut
I was messing with my brand
but the project was too good
to walk away from.

The agent then came to me
with more feedback.
The publisher wanted a darker tone.
That wasn’t that big
of a compromise, was it?

Of course, it was.
The FIRST compromise was too big.
I walked away from the project.
(and promptly was offered a different project)

Your brand HAS to stand for something
or you don’t truly have a brand.
Don’t compromise on this something.

I pitched a project
to a group.
The pitch was detailed.
I knew exactly what I wanted to do,
how they could help me,
and
how we’d both benefit.

The leader of the group
replied with
“Let’s talk.
We’ll bounce some ideas around.”

While I was open to modifying my offer,
I wanted any suggestions given
to have been as well thought out
as my original idea.
Suggesting that
we ‘bounce some ideas around’
was insulting.
It was dismissive
of the work I’d done.

A serious offer
warrants a serious counteroffer.
Put as much thought
into your response
as your valued partner
put into her pitch.

Every year during NaNoWriMo
(National Novel Writing Month
in November),
I host a month long workshop
on romance writing.

I contacted one Facebook group.
They hemmed and hawed
over the project,
a project all they’re doing
is providing a home for.
After the 5th request
for more information,
I told them ‘forget it.’

I contacted another Facebook group
and they were super enthusiastic,
offering to help
rather than finding reasons
to say no.

In this extremely connected world,
it makes zero sense
to partner with someone
who isn’t enthusiastic
about your project.

Take the time
to find the right partner.
It will influence
whether or not
your project is a success.

An expert
recently advised

“There’s no such thing
as communicating too much
when you’re working on a project
with multiple people.”

That’s bullsh*t.
There IS such a thing
as communicating too much.

I’m part of a marketing project.
My first clue that the project manager
was an over-communicator
was when she set up a Yahoo loop
for the project.

I receive over 100 emails a day
from this Yahoo loop.

At first,
I read everything.
Once I figured out
that most of it didn’t pertain to me,
I only read the one or two a week
marked important.
The rest of the emails are deleted.

If you have talent on your team,
that talent is likely involved
in several projects,
not just yours.

Don’t waste his or her time
with unnecessary communication.

I was asked to participate
in a writer’s retreat.
This is a weekend
away from distractions.
Writers can concentrate on
banging out words
and getting sh*t done.

After some consideration
(I’m on tight deadlines),
I agreed
to participate.

Then I was told to
bring my swimsuit,
shoes for hiking,
warm sweaters for nights
around the campfire.

WTF?

That’s not a writer’s retreat.
That’s a girls weekend.

I don’t have any problems
with girls weekends.
I do have a problem with
a fun-filled weekend
disguised as a working weekend.

If you’re pitching an event,
be clear which type of event it is.
If participants expect to get sh*t done,
ensure sh*t gets done.

Readers believe that
brilliant stories are solely a product
of brilliant writers.

They’re not.

An editor has as much
or sometimes more influence
over how good a story is
as the writer does.

Many viewers think
the success of shows
like The Big Bang Theory
is due to the actors.

It rarely is.
It’s often due to the writers,
the director, the producer.

We rarely find success on our own.
If you’re the front person,
remember the people behind the scenes.
If you’re adjusting salaries,
allocate some of the money
for the key yet less known people.