Follow the Dots

There are times when I think I am a bit slow. There are other times when I KNOW I am, but that is a story for another time.

As you well know, I talk about networking…a LOT! What I haven’t really mentioned is that when you meet one person, it is a great idea to also learn who they know.

Allow me to illustrate my point.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Ian at Deux Voiliers Publishing. He had stumbled acrossGet Publishedand asked if I would be interested in interviewing some of Deux Voiliers’ authors. I am always looking for guest so I said yes. I also asked him if he would appear so I could get the publisher’s viewpoint for the show. He agreed and forwarded me the name of two other people for the show: David from Red Tuque Books who does distribution for Canadian authors and Nicole Chardenet, the author of Sumer Lovin’.

When I interviewed Nicole (Ian and David’s interviews are coming up), we talked about humour and Canadian writers and Nicole suggested I get Ira Nayman on the show. She put me in contact with Ira and, I’m excited to say, he will also be coming on the show.

For those of you counting, that is now four people I now know through a single email.

If you just said, “Big deal!”, you aren’t thinking this through. First of all, David from Red Tuque Books does distribution to Canadian Independent Booksellers and Libraries. THAT is a big deal. Ian is a publisher. You never know when you might have a book he would be interested in. Nicole is a very active blogger and has many friends, contacts and followers (and she is pretty cool even if none of those things existed). By all accounts, Ira is equally cool.

Now do you see my point?

Let me give you another example.

I have known about Mark Leslie for many years. I first heard about him on The Writing Show with Paula B. I had the chance to finally meet Mark at WFC 2012 in Toronto. We talked a few times and I got a chance to know him. For those of you who don’t know, Mark is an author, editor and he happens to work for Kobo. After WFC, Mark talked to his Canadian Merchandiser and mentioned my book, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. The merchandiser was impressed and featured Mik Murdoch. Since that time, the book on Kobo has been outselling Kindle by a MASSIVE factor. That wasn’t intentional by me. Just the kindness of Mark and Kobo, which I really appreciate.

So, my point, and I do have one, is this: when you meet someone, get to know them. Get to know them well-enough that they want to introduce you to their friends and colleagues (but don’t meet them JUST to get the introductions). You never know where that meeting will take you.