Writing for Life

My first excursion to BEA was exhausting, exciting and enlightening. If you love books, and I do, then being in a space with thousands of books, publishers, authors is having a serious case of sugar overload.

Saturday, I was better rested, and prepared. I ate a big breakfast, brought my own cheaper lunch and kept my breath mints handy. My goal was to pick up books, engage some publishers, and meet some authors I would like to interview.

Most people heard of elevator pitches The idea is you have to tell somebody, who you are, what you do, and why they would be interested in you or your product as you ride in the elevator with them. You have anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute (at most) to engage the person. The fun thing at the BEA expo was to create my pitch on the go. I modified it as I visited the hundreds of exhibits. By the end of the day I saw someone I wanted to meet and I was able to go right up to them and in 10 seconds they had my business card and a handshake agreement to be a guest on my show.

I met Kim Dushinski on Saturday when she signed her book, The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns. My learn list included mobile marketing. The book fell into my hands like a gift from above. OK, I was happy.

The thing about expo’s or conventions is that nothing you want to see next is on the same floor. Kim’s book signing was in the back and lower level and I had to meet someone upstairs on the other end of the Javits Center. I think I made 10,000 steps that day. I had ten minutes with my friend and one minute to take a photo with David Mathison of Be The Media (more about him tomorrow) and then I had to run all the way to the opposite side of the convention center on the lower level.

I heard lots of Twitter conversations. Sterling Books, http://twitter.com/SterlingBooks, is a good example of a brand using Twitter to build relationship, mixing casual conversation with value. I heard multiple conversations around convention about Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk at two on Saturday.

When I ran down to hear Gary Vaynerchuk I had learned from my missed connection with Chris Brogan. Gary was up in front chatting with someone and I went right up to Gary said hello, give out my card and ask him to be a guest on my show. The fun moment came when Gary said he saw my tweet that morning and liked my logo. The one problem with social media Twitter and other platforms is that occasional feel of disconnection. You don’t always know if you are being heard. Sometimes you say hello and hear nothing back. There is a satisfaction knowing someone has heard you in a crowded landscape.

Like Chris Brogan, Gary is a down to earth approachable guy. Again he seems truly interested in meeting people. I am posting the video of Gary’s talk here > Gary’s talk . You will get more from hearing him then my synopsis of his talk.

There was some pleasure in learning from my mistake and saying hello to Gary. Even if he had not seen my Tweet about the BEA, I had made some kind of connection. This non-drinker can relate to Gary’s message of following your passion. I would love 10% of his energy and enthusiasm. Gary’s book can preordered here Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion.

Part of this elevator pitch thing is being authentic. You may only have seconds to say something you don’t have to be cold, it can be warm and friendly. I had quite a few nice conversations after my pitch with authors and publishers.

Tomorrow: Be the Media and meeting someone through Twitter.

Friday at the Book Expo 09 was exploratory and exhausting. I was going to attend a couple of workshops, say hi to a couple of friends and get the lay of the expo land. The first workshop was a panel discussion about e-publishing with Mark Coker of Smashwords. Mark was a guest on my show and we had a lively conversation about authors taking charge of their own work. I missed the beginning and end of the panel, but, the conversation was wrapped around how the written word was moving from just a hard copy printed version to include electronic versions.

I know that book lovers mourn the potential loss of held in the hand work. I don’t think we will see the end of printed on paper books, but it will be streamlined and more concise. I also think the rise of smaller print run books will take off. The environment is now lending itself to more and more people who are able to write and print their own books. The computer is now a printing press without the messy ink and plates to muck up our hands. Your Aunt Sue can write her novella about nursing soldiers during WWII and ten people or one hundred can order it online. But Aunt Sue can also get her book uploaded to her families cell phones. Her story may have ended at the family dinner table with her, but now it can continue and reach a broader audience.

My next stop was to hear Chris Brogan talk about being a trust agent, I had met Chris at a tweetup The Roger Smith Hotel in NYC. At that time I didn’t really know who he was. He was just a guy on Twitter who mentioned a tweetup in NY. I knew he had a twitter following but not much more. When I attended the tweetup someone reverently said, “there’s Chris”, at that point I realized I should pay attention. Chris made sure to meet and spend time with each of us at the tweetup. It was not forced. I felt that he was interested in finding out who was in the room with him.

At BEA Chris was in front of the room setting up and I had the thought I should go up and say hi and remind him where we met. I had no expectation that he would remember me. But the opportunity to say hi was there and I did not take it. Later he was signing galley’s of his book but the line was long and I was hungry. I did pick up a book and read it at lunch.

At the end of the day it may not mean much of anything that I didn’t say hello. But the point is I will never know what might have happened from the interaction. When I first met Chris I didn’t know much about him. I did my research and followed his blog and tweets and have become a loyal follower because of what I have read and observed. It was that in-person meeting that made me think I need to pay better attention to this guy. He might have been just a tweet in a vast stream of twitterers, now he is in my group of interesting people to follow.

: Chris Brogan at BEA09

I can’t compare myself to Chris. It’s like apples and oranges and I am the unsprouted fruit. I don’t know if I have anything of value to offer him. Maybe that doesn’t matter. I have been reading a book about increasing your luck. The people who call themselves lucky are the ones who take chances and talk to everyone regardless of the possible value of the interaction. I don’t can’t predict the outcome of any interaction. I have been pleasantly surprised when I have taken a chance and I regret not taking the opportunity presented to me.

At the end of the day I have to reach out and see what the possibility might be in each interaction. It is up to me to create my own value.

Here is the presentation Chris gave at BEA- http://www.chrisbrogan.com/publishers-and-social-media/ His book , Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust is good. I have the uncorrected galley the book is published in August 2009.

Tomorrow: Taking my chance- Shaking hands with Gary Vaynerchuk.

Here is my smashwords ebook: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SandraLeeSchubert

Here is my interview w. Mark Coker of Smashwords: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SandraLeeSchubert/2009/04/28/Wild-Woman-Network-Radio

Creating a Story of Your Own

Meeting Gary Vaynerchuk at BEA 09

Chris Brogan and a missed opportunity at BEA 09