Thursday, October 9, 2014

Alumni magazines might just want to feature you...

Here's an idea on how to promote your writing: contact the alumni magazine of any and all colleges or universities with which you have been affiliated and see if they'd be interested in writing a feature about you and your creative endeavours.

Even if they're not, they will likely want to mention you in their "Books by XXX School Authors" section.

It's cheap and fairly easy. And I'm as surprised as anyone to find myself writing that.

I was back in Ontario this past week, you see, and thought, "Why not?" So first I dropped in on the editorial people at the alumni magazine for the law school I attended in the early 1990s. I expected yawns and suspicion.

What I got was keen interest, a modicum of excitement and a tape recorder dropped on the table in front of me for an on-the-spot interview. How exciting!

And when the editor told me that, once the article was written and published (both online and in the print magazine), it would be her job to try to interest other media in the story, including national media like the Globe and Mail and CBC TV and Radio.

Wow. I never thought they'd take that on for me.

Emboldened by that success, I then approached the alumni magazine of the University where I earned my undergraduate and graduate degrees in English. Would they be interested? Certainly would. It might not be until sometime next year but still...

I know the fact that my books are published to raise money to support a historic and architectural gem probably makes the story all that more enticing but I think it is still worth a try even if you're writing and publishing for your own benefit.

And you get to meet some interesting, talented writers along the way!




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