Dust in the Wind Marketing ~ R.K. Mortenson

RK Mortenson is a Navy chaplain who has served in the Persian Gulf, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hawaii, Brunei, Indonesia (Surabaya and Bali), Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.

In 2004, Mr. Mortenson and his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Randy currently serves as a Protestant staff chaplain at Naval Station Mayport. He serves the sailors assigned to the base, as well as the civilian employees, and their families, and he also ministers to the congregation at the Chapel by the Sea.


It’s time once again to face that 500-pound gorilla in the room.

Marketing.

Ugh.

But I just want to write…

Join the club. Oh, you already have joined. I’m a card-carrying member myself.

I didn’t get into writing so that I could one day market and promote and seek publicity for my books or for me as “the author.”

I take that back. I did dream of sitting behind a beautiful mahogany table in a glitzy bookstore as hundreds—nay, thousands of adoring fans waited eagerly for me to sign their clutched-lovingly-to-their-chest copy of my latest bestseller.

And, okay, I thought a guest spot on David Letterman would be kind of fun. “Hi, Paul and the Band!” And if Oprah’s people called? Sure, I’d be willing to fly to Chicago for a chat. Could definitely work my busy writing schedule around that.

And now, back to reality.

I did not get into writing dreaming of working in the business side of it. That is, of being involved with the publishing and marketing aspects of books. I got into writing because I love to write! And my love for writing grew from my love of reading. Words, words, words. It’s all about the words. I love words! I’m getting dizzy just thinking about them now. Finding the right word, the word that is most apt, most apropos, most fitting to the occasion at hand. What occasion? A sentence. A paragraph. A page. A chapter.

A…book. (Everyone sigh with me: “Ahhhh….”)

I love books.

And let’s get this clear right up front. It is all about the book. A good book. A great book. Filled with words that take the reader on a wondrous journey that ignites the imagination and elevates the soul.

That is the goal. Write the good book. Write the great book. And then…will they come ala Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams? Uh, no. Not necessarily. Not even probably. Hence the word dream as part of that film’s title. We could say this is R. K. Mortenson’s field of writing dreams turned empty parking lot of writing reality. Write it…and they will—hey, where is everybody? You there, come back! I’ve written a book! Don’t you even care? Several hours later I’m still sitting with my table full of books listening to the crickets and counting the stars—if indeed they can be counted. Wait, that’s another story. Sorry.

No one cares. That’s the starting point. Why should they? They’ve got their own busy lives. What’s another book among the already millions of titles out there? And there are millions. Most people don’t even read one book a month. Many don’t read a complete book in a year. Makes you want to cry, doesn’t it? (Here’s a tissue; I’ve only used it once. Go ahead.)

Ahh, you say waggling a finger at me. Ahh…(all right, I get it. Put the finger down.) But we’re not looking for most people or even many people—in the big scheme of things (meaning the entire population on the planet). We’re looking for readers. Those book-lovers like ourselves who gobble up words for breakfast and finish a novel for dinner and skip lunch because they’re too engrossed reading.

I love books! I love readers! We love books! We love books!

Yeah, well, those readers already have their favorite types of books and their favorite authors, and if you’re not on their list or you’re coming out with your first book (in which case you’re not on their list by default, duh), then even the readers won’t be interested in your book. They won’t care.

Unless…unless…they somehow hear about your book or maybe even about you the author, and something in what they hear catches their interest. Suddenly, from out of the blue, they think: Hmm. Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Riddle. They nod. Nice cover. They flip it over. Their eyes scan left to right, left to right. The world around them fades. They turn the book over again and…

And…

(I’m holding my breath here…)

They open the cover. Their eyes are roving. Their brain is engaged. They flip a few pages, snap the book shut, and head toward the checkout counter—with the book!

And there was much rejoicing.

Okay, I actually skipped over a bunch of steps there, so eager was I (where did Yoda come from all the sudden?) to get that book into the customer’s hands (customer? Did he just say ‘customer’? What happened to our beloved ‘reader’? Oops.) and get that customer/reader/wonderful person to the checkout counter. What did I skip over? Only everything I was going to talk about here regarding distribution and marketing and promotion and publicity. The 500-pound gorilla—as it were. Instead, how about we say this has been an example of what can happen when a writer lets his stream-of-consciousness voice take over his topic? I’ll save my not-patented-or-copyrighted-or-protected-by-any-means Dust in the Wind Marketing plan discussion for next time. In the meantime, don’t be shy about telling people about your books. You never know what could happen. You might even be invited to share your marketing expertise with fellow writers via a renowned blog called Novel Journey.

See? Some dreams do come true.



R.K. Mortenson's next book will be out Oct. 2006:

Landon Snow finds himself on a wild adventure at sea. When a huge, ark-like vessel emerges, Landon-and his sisters-join a quest to find the Island of Arcanum, where the animals of Wonderwood are imprisoned. With the help of his old friends-a horse named Melech, elfish valley folk, a girl named Ditty, and the poet/prophet Vates-Landon seeks to unlock the island's dark secrets and escape with the animals. But he must battle storms and the villainous Arcans-pirates who hoard animals as treasure. Will Landon ever make it back to Wonderwood alive?