If you can’t see, then how do you know where you’re going? How do you know when you arrive?
Without vision, you’re lost.
Although this sounds like banter from a motivational speaker, please bear with me.
Whether I like it or not, I’m the captain responsible for sailing my books out into the marketplace. This is frustrating because my passion is writing fiction and storytelling, not being a sales guy. Yet if I don’t take this on, no one will. I’ve also come to the conclusion that since no one has the same drive/passion for my books as I do, that I’m the man for the job. So I’ve rolled up my sleeves and grabbed the helm.
But to me, marketing is a blinding sea storm of chaos. So many voices shouting, “Do this!” or “Gotta head this way!” and the perilous, “You’ll never make it unless you__”
Instead of feeling like I’m on target, I feel like I am the target!
So I’m going to stop “doing” and “go below deck” to determine what I want and why. Based upon Michael Hyatt’s blog, this is paramount to setting my compass. My subsequent answer to “why” will illuminate my “how to.”
This feels unnatural and even a bit frightening (“If I stop, won’t we sink?” or “Resting constitutes laziness!”) But if I don’t, then I’ll be doing something even worse: sailing blindly into who knows what.
Do you need a vision stop?
Do you have any stories to share?
J.E. Lowder 
It’s a minefield. Promotion and sales dragged me too far out of my comfort zone so I’ve recently cut this activity down to a minimum and refocused on product – namely the writing – which, for me, is the fun part…. I don’t worry too much about the better “marketeers” that I meet, they’ll no doubt have their own weaknesses. Each to their own, I say. 🙂
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Nice to know I’m not the only one in the minefield! Please pass the Kevlar!
I agree with you on focusing on the writing, but at the same time, the one thing I learned in the music biz was that the best musicians often didn’t get the gig! So I need to push beyond my comfort zone.
Oh, and loved the “marketeers” connotation! I pictured a cross between a “Mouseketeer” and a baffoonish Musketeer.
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When we get out of the comfort zone we are accustomed to, we grow. Look at this as a chance for growth instead of drudgery, and you have already won. As writers, we know, or at least learn very quickly, that marketing is part of the process whether we like it or not. The fantastic thing is, once you have gone through this process once, the second time will be much easier.
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I hope you’re right about the “second time!” 🙂
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