The Set Up:
Retail sales has paid the bills for me for almost forty years. During the mid-eighties, I got out of pharmacy and got into REAL sales. In fact, it was straight commission sales.
Ask those who know, and you'll find out that a job in straight commission sales can be the highest paid job available. It's also one of the highest turnover positions because it's practitioners cannot cut the mustard.
If people are writing books full time, well, they're in sales. Unless they can get into a situation where they get advances on their work, they're definitely in straight commission sales.
My snippet this week comes from a blog I wrote that appeared on my publisher's site, HERE. Maybe the excerpt below will inspire you to read the entire article.
This week's snippet:
Over the years I’ve heard many euphemisms for people in sales: account rep, consultant, advisor, broker, agent, customer service rep, and one of my favorites, vice president.
I’ve crossed trails with many people who haven’t done as well as they would like to have had in their chosen field, simply because they couldn’t sell themselves or their products: accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, ministers, photographers, artists, painters, editors, doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, pharmacists, teachers, nurses, coaches, retail store managers, and the list is endless.
In fact, everyone is in sales -- especially authors.
Everyone is selling something and it’s usually themselves or their skills or services.
Sometimes, we blame our low self-esteem on others: the used car salesman in a plaid sports coat, the door to door brush salesman in a polyester suit, the cosmetics sales lady in an old car.
Baloney.
Name a profession that hasn’t had it’s share of unprofessional perpetrators of perpetual sleaze.
Want to change the perception?
Start with the person you see in the mirror.
What next?
Sample the work of dozens of other great writers representing a cross section of genres HERE.
If you're an author languishing in anonymity, remember the old adages, "There's safety in numbers," and "Sales is a numbers game."
Get busy growing your network of contacts, both in real life and online. (How many connections do you have on FaceBook & Twitter?)
