Making Connections for Your Writing Career

By: Bruce Wawrzyniak

It’s ironic that I’m writing this on the same day that I’m scheduled to interview someone I met at the San Francisco Writers Conference for my podcast. Or is it?

As you try to meet more and more people to further your writing career and promote the projects you’ve done and are working on, the organic connections and opportunities should start to seem logical and feel less surprising. If you’re putting yourself out there, those doors will begin to open a whole lot faster than if you sit at home wondering why everyone else around you seems to be moving forward while you’re stuck in the same place.

I recently was at a tradeshow where I interviewed a Nashville-based record producer, audio engineer, educator, and recording studio owner who said that when he first relocated to Music City he overdid it. It wasn’t a reference to working too hard. Instead, he meant he was overwhelming the people he was meeting because he figured he needed to network, network, and then network some more. He wanted to get his name out there and let people know about his talents and his work. Sound familiar?

The problem with the, “Here’s everything I’ve ever done in my whole life,” approach is that it can be something akin to the popular firehose metaphor. After all, who wants to be blasted with a firehose? Few if any of us want that much all at once, right?

This podcast guest told me how he was at an event, met someone that he felt he really clicked with, got excited about their conversation, and went home and proceeded to send them a massively long email. He said that he never heard back from the other person – at all. Eventually he realized that he came on too strong. He told me that his takeaway was that he should’ve focused on just one of the elements of his conversation and written to the person about that and let the relationship unfold from there. Later he could always sprinkle some of the other action items back in.

So now let’s come back around to the interview I’ll be recording later today. When I say that the interviewee is someone who attended my masterclass at the San Francisco Writers Conference this past February, I want you to instead focus on the part where I tell you that on “Now Hear This Entertainment” I interview guests who are having success in entertainment (primarily music). How, then, does an author end up on such a show?

While it’s easy to point to some guests who I’ve had on and the fact that they’ve written books about their music career or the music business, that’s not the case with this individual.

What he did when he attended my session was listened. We all want to talk, talk, talk and tell everyone who will listen all about us. There’s an expression that I like, which is, “God gave you two ears and one mouth. Which do you think He intended you to use more?”

During my masterclass I made references to my “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast and this attendee saw an opening. He isn’t just an author, having a music background that includes being in a band. So, he merely asked the question. But he also waited until some time after the conference to do so. In other words, not only did he not ask me while I was trying to do the masterclass (you can appreciate how many times in my nine-plus years doing the show that I’ve heard, “You should have ME on your podcast”) but he also didn’t send me an email the day after it ended. That did not go unnoticed by me.

You also have to be prepared for a “No” or a “Not right now,” the latter of which I’d indicated to him when he first proposed the possibility of being a guest.

Keep your communication cordial since just because someone says “No” or “Not right now” doesn’t mean they’re done with you. It’s best not to burn that bridge since another opportunity could come at another time. Imagine if I’d said, “Not right now because I’ve got a bunch of interviews already recorded that I need to work on getting out first,” and then seen a “Wow, well, forget it then, Bruce. I guess I’m not important enough for you and your podcast” reply come back. Fast forward to next February and the 2024 edition of the San Francisco Writers Conference. Assuming we both attend, how is that going to go when we come face to face? Exactly.

Someone who saw me speak at the 2022 edition of the San Francisco Writers Conference attended a session and raised their hand and said, “Are you taking new clients and, if so, would you be willing to take me on?” Again, this was an opening detected by listening.

First was having heard the lesson that not all professionals in the industry are always taking on new clients. But just as importantly was having picked up on the fact that I introduced myself as having worked for a National Hockey League team for ten seasons (in public relations) and spent ten-and-a-half years in the Olympic Movement, including having been a Chief Press Officer at two Summer Olympics. Having played Major League Baseball, this SFWC attendee liked the commonality, feeling it would be beneficial to the book he was writing if it was promoted by someone who has worked in sports publicity.

Yes, writers’ conferences are great for the education and the networking. But if you attend and go through the motions or spend more time in your hotel room or staring into your phone while you’re in the sessions, you might miss out on picking up a golden nugget of information that could unlock a door that others sitting in front of, behind, and next to you might otherwise not be able to leverage.

Understand the value of what you might gain above and beyond the subject matter in the sessions you attend. It just might lead you to that publisher, agent, editor, publicist or other professional you’ve been seeking.

Bruce Wawrzyniak is a publicist who heads Now Hear This, Inc., an agency with clients from San Francisco to Tampa and points in between. Visit www.NowHearThis.net for more information as well as for links to his and the company’s various social media platforms. He has spoken twice at the San Francisco Writers Conference and has www.SpeakerBruceW.com for all the speaking that he does at events throughout the country.

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