Sometimes I am blessed with opportunities to share about the Traveler’s teachings in the midst of doing the nitty gritty of business things like giving a presentation on marketing plans. Recently I was invited to be part of a panel at the Publisher’s Association of Los Angeles that were presenting to the membership the value of marketing plans. I was invited to bring any materials and books with me that I wanted so I brought some books and brochures such as, When Are You Coming Home?, Spiritual Warrior, the Introduction to Soul Transcendence brochure, Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens brochure and the Mandeville Press catalog.
The meeting’s location was in a pretty humble setting, the Felicia Mahood Senior Center, on Santa Monica boulevard–fluorescent lights and school cafeteria/gym atmosphere. The participants and their interest warmed the place as the evening progressed. The coordinator for the panel, Robin Quinn, greeted me, helped me set up my Mandeville Press display and introduced me to some of the association members. They had set around 30 chairs and these all filled up, with some people standing in the back. Soft drinks and cookies were on the back table for munching. The group was made up of small publishers and author/self-publishers for the most part. There were a few veterans there but only one hand went up when I asked the group how many had sold over 5000 books. At first I felt like I was in a room with a collection of strangers, but by the end of the evening something magical had happened–there was a gleeful enthusiastic, “we’re one” kind of energy present with lots of gratitude and thanks being expressed personally to the event’s organizer, to me and the other panelists.
Our panel’s focus was to present about marketing plans–their value, why use them, what do they consist of, what works/doesn’t work about marketing plans. (The other panelists were: Jim Riordan, Publisher, Seven Locks Press; Patricia Fitzgerald, Author/Publisher of The Detox Solution an IPG Small Press Bestseller; and Penny C. Sansevieri, a Book Marketing and Media Relations Specialist). I had been requested to speak on our marketing plan for the Coming Home book. As it turned out, the first panelist, Jim Riordan, publisher from Seven Locks Press, did such a good job of outlining marketing plans, that he set the foundation for the rest of us three speakers to present the keys of marketing that work for us. As I started my presentation, I complimented Jim on laying out the basic outline of a good marketing plan, and several times I referred to points he’d made. I briefly reviewed the When Are You Coming Home? marketing plan and then I talked about the value of radio interviews, identifying the key message points and sound bytes, book clubs, salons, what advertising did and didn’t work for us, and the importance of connecting with people, the contacts, keeping the joy in what you’re doing. After I talked, both Patricia and Penny in their presentations also referenced points that I had made which gave to me a neat “we’re a team” of presenters quality to our presentation as a whole.
Robin, the moderator, introduced me by telling the group about her experience of being at our “center” (Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens) and having tea at our beautiful place. All the Peace Awareness Labyrinth brochures but one were taken by the end of the event and a number of people came up and referenced how beautiful the gardens/place/labyrinth looked. Robin also told the group I was a minister and so I was able to give a little personal information about being on staff for MSIA and learning from the ground up about publicity — how it is to promote books on spirituality and Soul Transcendence. As I looked around the room throughout my presentation people were smiling and holding eye contact with me, nodding their heads, being very responsive. At one point I thought how wonderful it is to be able to talk easily about knowing oneself as a Soul, as a spiritual being while being human, in the midst of speaking on the nitty-gritty of how to market/sell books.
Questions were asked along the way so when our panel’s time was called to an end, the formal part of the evening ended and we went right into schmoozing and networking. One lady came up to me to tell me she had done USM and had found out about this evening because it was posted on one of the USM website bulletin boards–I thought that was pretty neat. Half of the books I brought were taken, all my business cards, including the generic Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens business cards were taken. Many expressed thanks and appreciation for being inspired and wonderful appreciation of our books and brochures. People particularly seemed to like the Spiritual Warrior book which I had held up as I talked about how we launched Spiritual Warrior at the Bodhi Tree bookstore and how the tremendous sales from that launch contributed to Spiritual Warrior being #1 on the L.A. Times Bestselling List.
I have since received several thank you’s and notes of appreciation which is great to get, and Robin, the moderator, asked to come back and visit Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens again. I’m glad the evening went well, and I think it was a good outreach event. I saw lots of improvement opportunities for me to fit in information or refer to PTS/MSIA/IIWP if I do any future presentations (I did get in a sound byte about the Urth Caffe coffee and teas though). Thank you for your support, loving and Light which I felt present with me throughout the entire evening.
