This week I'll be going to Nebraska for a few weeks. As it turns out, it's sort of bad timing for me as a lot is going to be happening here in LA, but it's important. I've seen the results over the past few years of building a base from which to grow, and I need to do that here with Two Gun Hart.
I was lucky enough to grow up in a town that is the perfect size for this sort of platform building. Large cities, especially ones like Los Angeles and New York, tend to overlook the little guy, especially if he's not connected to a celebrity. So even though you have massive audiences there, it's almost impossible to get press coverage, or a speaking engagement at a bookstore or library. Even a city like San Francisco, which claims to pride itself on independence, books, and local artists, don't tend to support any of them unless the person in question is somehow famous or has already built a platform elsewhere. Alternatively, though a small town where everyone knows you will support your efforts, there are few people to see your work, and you wind up with only a handful of people getting to know your work.
In Lincoln, though, I've gotten a lot of support from many bookstores and radio hosts. Some have ignored me, but most have given my work a shot, especially when it's relevant to their listenership and customers. There are enough people to get the word out to that they'll spread the word, and it will be effective. I've seen my work get discussed on social media, where it starts in Nebraska, and spreads out to other areas of the country.
My hope with this is that I'll be able to do what I haven't been able to accomplish before, to use that initial buzz as a launching platform to start the conversation in other areas of the country where I can then get speaking engagements that turn into sales. We will see.
No comments:
Post a Comment