Sep 24, 2015

POST-MORTEM, DAY TWO

Managing a campaign like the one you need to succeed in something like the Inkshares/Nerdist writing contest is incredibly involved and time-consuming. If you’re going to attempt it, you should be planning what you will do several months in advance.

I learned about the contest two days after it started, and entered on an impulse. All of the organizing I was able to do was, therefore, done on the fly, on an ad hoc basis, which is the polar opposite of ideal. Had I had the luxury of time, I could have built relationships with people who might have been able to help me instead of just asking for help and hoping for the best. I could also have built a better premium structure. And had the cover of the book completed before the contest started. And so on, and so on.

One other advantage of starting at least a couple of months in advance, is that you will get a good idea of whether or not you have the support to make trying something like this worthwhile. If you’re realistic about the responses you get in the pre-planning phase, you could save yourself some embarrassment.