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Interesting how subtle and diverse marketing a book/screenplay can be - without being intentional. Let me explain.

My wife and I do the occasional flea market for extra cash - writers need to eat. We generally set up our stall with antiques and near antiques and of late we also lay down a tarp and display books. All kinds of books, new and old. For anyone who thinks printed books are on the way out, please note. We get constant crowds thumbing through the stack - we sell more books than anything else.

Now, my unintentional marketing/mingling point. From time to time a buyer or looker turns out to be an author and we get into book, writing, publishing talk. I love it. Forget the antiques sometimes, I get so involved. I have written for radio - BBC & CPR/NPR over many years and I'm now on the verge of getting my first novel published. So spending time with authors in this unlikely environment is a wonderful bonus. I learn so much from them, especially about the arduous task of actually getting published - I think we all know writing has become the less taxing part of the process. So here's an example.

At one show I sold an item to this guy and we got talking. Turns out he was a famous Oscar winning movie producer and director. And I had just completed a screenplay! Well, as told me all about himself I thought, fair deal - my turn. But I waited a couple of weeks until his item arrived at his Hollywood home. Then I emailed him about my screenplay and guess what? He said send it to me. He read it and to get right to the climax - he said he'd judged a major screenwriting competition for the last two years and recommended not one of them. Mine, he said, was better than any of them. Things are moving on that front but I'm not saying more right now.

So I guess what I'm saying here is: Marketing can happen anywhere at anytime. It doesn't have to be a cold business-like only process. And it can even be fun.

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