the craft. transmedia marketing.

The first time I started to understand this idea without having a name for it was looking at Issa Rae. A pioneer in many ways for our generation, with the release of Insecure, it wasn’t just about the show. Which was, of course, magnificent all on its own but Rae was able to capture her audience via multiple mediums that all led back to the show.

With the release of every episode of Insecure there was a wine down segment that immediately followed the show featuring more insight on the episodes and special guests. Then, about a day or two after, there was a podcast recap, InsecuriTea with Fran of The Friend Zone and Crissle of The Read. They would walk back through each episode highlighting the major moments and give predictions for the next episodes. In addition to that, there was a blog post released after every show as well written by Luvvie Ajayi. They also ended up producing ancillary podcasts based off the shows within the show. This all added to the organic ground swell of viewers taking to Twitter to battle it out over whether they were Team Lawrence or Team Issa.

The point here is, watching that helped me realize she was community building in a way by continuing to tell the story outside of the twenty-five minute episodes we all desperately wished were longer. Fast forward to the Torch Literary Arts retreat in Austin and I learned everything I was witnessing Issa do was called transmedia marketing during a presentation from Dawn Thomas, senior strategist, technologist and storyteller.

Simply put in an article from Inc., transmedia marketing is transporting a story through the use of multiple media platforms. And while there has always been print, radio, online, etc., this era is ushering in a myriad of content marketing into the fold as well. Brands are taking the reins and creating supporting content that continues to help tell their story.

What does this have to do with writing you ask? Well, everything because you guessed it, there are ways to incorporate transmedia marketing into your marketing plan for your work. That’s what Dawn was challenging us to think about at the retreat. How can we tell the story of our characters or our idea (for those writing nonfiction) beyond the pages of the book?

And I mean, I’ve dipped my toe into that arena when I first forayed into self-publishing with my first two books. Coming from music, I thought of my book almost like an album. And with an album comes a tour. You know, finding opportunities to speak would be equivalent in the book world. But the immediate second thing that came to mind for me was merch. So I created Dear Love tank tops with quotes from the book to sell. There were pins, canvas prints. I mean I just let my creativity soar. When I would vend at various events, not only was I selling the book, I was selling the accompanying merch as well. This was the beginning of my understanding of how Issa’s model might apply in a much smaller way to what I was doing.

I think another great example of this transmedia marketing approach is with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine company as well. There are the books for the book club, many of which get optioned for film or television, and an array of content being created around those stories to make them go farther and faster.

We are in a time where a publisher is simply not going to do all the work for us. No matter how big the imprint. And we live in a time where we have to be more creative with getting folks excited about books. Look, the pandemic was an anomaly where everything else was taken away from us so people remembered how great books were. But now that we are back outside, there’s a lot we’re continuously competing with. I can see how we have to show up in the places our audiences live to tell them our stories exist.

I can see you cringing now and it doesn’t mean that you have to join TikTok. I promise you. It only means that once you’re done with the artist part, creating your wonderful masterpiece and you shift into marketing mode, think about different mediums to keep the story going. Currently, I’m working on some ideas for Good Morning, Love, even though we are close to a year and a half out from publication. And you know why? Because everyone still doesn’t know that it exists and so, there is more work that can be done.

Remember, even with a marketing plan your team at the publisher is eventually going to move to their next title. And it’s going to be up to you, to continue to generate ideas to push your book out. Marketing often can feel like a dirty word to creators. But what I realized yesterday is that marketing is nothing more than telling people about the work you’ve labored over. Don’t we want people to know about it? I mean unless we are writing solely for our personal wellness, I think many of us write because we love it and also want someone else to read it. So, if that’s the goal, we’ve got to be willing to put in the work to tell people about it.

And it works! I’ll leave you with this. I was scrolling Instagram the other day and BJ the Chicago Kid literally just had a post that said thank you to all those who said my album is the soundtrack for the holiday. You know what I went and put on while I was cooking? Gravy, BJ’s new album. LOL. We get so worked up about oversharing about our work, but there will always be someone, believe me, even a year and a half in that goes, “you wrote a book?” And you will want to thrash them. But instead, you smile, nod, and send them a link to purchase.

Getting creative through transmedia marketing will help it not feel like you’re sharing the same old dusty book photo every other day. But it can help expand your reach, and truly build community within your marketing efforts.

Writing/Job Opportunities

The Paris Review is opening a call for applications to their paid prose reader program. In 2024, they will begin accepting unsolicited submissions of prose via Submittable and physical mail three times a year, in February, June, and October. They are currently seeking readers to join them for their February reading cycle on Submittable, which will run from approximately February 12 to April 1, with the possibility of staying on for additional cycles. ($875 at the end of a seven-week period.)

New York Magazine is hiring a Culture Editor. ($127-152k)

Bolts is hiring a Staff Writer. ($79-84k)

Meta is hiring a Copywriter. ($94-142k)

UTA is hiring a Manager, Editorial. ($110-120k)