Black Writers' Guild Workshop - "Marketing Boot Camp for Writers" Presented by Kira Ming

On Saturday, October 5, 2019, the Black Writers' Guild of Maryland presented a workshop by Kira Ming titled “Marketing Boot Camp for Writers.” The audience included writers working on creative projects and published authors like myself looking for new ways to market ourselves and our books.

Kira shared her background with us and how she started her magazine (Graffiti On The Wall) before graduating from Bowie State University. From then she has made strides as a writer, editor, author of Small Business, Big Business, contributor for Huffington Post, Entertainment Journalist and the list goes on.

The workshop was chock full of marketing strategies. Here are some that Kira talked about:

Branded emails (make sure folks know who you are and what you write).
Create flyers to advertise your books and events (Canva, etc.).
Create original quotes or use quotes from www.brainyquote.com.
Have an email list where folks opt in to follow you as part of your email marketing campaign (Aweber, Zoho, etc.).
Measure what’s working and what isn’t (look at statistics based on number of followers and engagement, etc.).
Learn how to keep notes and outlines (Evernote app, etc.).
Learn what to use for scheduling tasks and managing workflows (Outlook, etc.).
Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Make sure to use hashtags and blog frequently so that your content can appear in searches.
Have a website which is your digital real estate (About page, Connect with You, etc.).
Create FB groups (keep people engaged, etc.).
Newsletters (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc.).
Power of personal branding (your best friend especially if you don’t have a traditional publisher).
Prepare lead magnets (freebies like a short story or a poem).
Know the difference between warm market (family and friends) vs. cold market (folks outside of family).
Social media (develop a schedule, create engaging posts, cross reference links, etc.).
Get offline and meet people (network, attend events, have readings, etc.).

Overall, it was a great presentation. Kira gave us valuable marketing tips and advice that could be implemented immediately. While I currently have a blog, a monthly e-newsletter, a website and I post on FB and other social media sites, I can still use some of these marketing tools to boost engagement.

Here are some photos from the workshop:

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