Networking Tips for Indie Authors - A Guest Blog by Mary Jeddore Blakney

Cooperation is essential to success in today's business world. And as Victoria Dougherty points out in her article "Rivals, Colleagues and Friends," this wasn't always the case in publishing, but it is now.

I met Ray Flynt several years ago after posting a review of his political thriller Kisses of an Enemy (which I loved, by the way). That eventually led to his hiring me to line edit his latest book, Final Juror. After that, he referred me to his friend Thomas John, who hired me for his novel The Healing of Reverend James. And the chain goes on.

Here are five networking tips I've learned from Victoria, Ray, Thomas and others:

·         Don't spam or harrass. There's probably no quicker way to get dropped from a great network than by sending out "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BUY MY BOOK?!!!" messages. An ancient sage once said, "Let another man praise thee," and that's the beauty of networking. As humans, we're much more receptive to recommendations than self-promotion. Go ahead and let people know you wrote a book, but let others do the praising.

·         Sincerely help your colleagues. As much as we may tend to see fellow writers as competition, the fact is that readers really do read more than just one author. And they're usually eager to get their hands on a book that has been recommended by a writer they love.

·         Be honest, diplomatically. On the one hand, it pays to help your fellow authors promote their books, because you want them to do the same for you. On the other hand, you don't want to ruin your reputation by recommending a poorly-written book. So what do you do?

o   You can often find something positive but true to say about either the book or the author. ("Roger Writer taught me everything I know about Smashwords, and now his own book is coming out. It's called Undermining Elephants," or "Roger Writer's new book Underming Elephants: I just love the cover!")

o   You can say something neutral. This works for books you're not familiar with, too. ("Congrats to Roger Writer on his new book Undermining Elephants!" or "How do you undermine an elephant? Undermining Elephants by Roger Writer is coming out in three days."

·         Invite your colleagues to write guest posts for your blog. Yup, that's why you're reading this here. That's why Thomas John has a post on this blog, too. And that's why Ray has written for my blog. It's win-win: we both get more exposure this way.

·         Share some of your book space with other authors in your genre. An excerpt of Luke Bellmason's The Canterbury Tales appears in the back of my upcoming book, Damage Control. That helps Luke by marketing his book to my readers, and it helps me by adding value to my book. Just be sure of three things before you do this:

o   The story you're sharing is in the same genre as your book and would be of interest to your readers.

o   You have read the book and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

o   You have the author's permission.

It all comes down to the Golden Rule: networking is about keeping your mind open for opportunities to help others, and letting others help you, too. 
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Thanks, Mary for good advice! The image above is for Mary's upcoming novel. But you can visit Mary's author's page at Amazon to see her other books/stories. It's all about networking.