“This post is a part of the Double Your Followers blog tour to spread the word about April Bowles-Olin’s upcoming CreativeLive course. Does hearing the word ‘marketing’ make your armpits start to drip with anxiety? Are you terrified of sounding salesy or like you have the personality of a dead blowfish? If so, come join me and 2,500+ entrepreneurs who’re taking April’s latest CreativeLive course, Double Your Followers with Creative Marketing. You can RSVP and watch for FREE. Yep, free. High fives, wildflowers, wine samples. Who doesn’t love free?”
As some of you know, I flew out to San Francisco last year to attend April’s CreativeLive courses on creating digital products and making your business uniquely creative. It pretty much changed my life. I learned a ton (including how to make the digital product that I am about to launch…get excited) and, more importantly, met the most AMAZING people (who then introduced me to MORE amazing people…join the love train, everyone). So when April asked her audience to participate in a blog tour for her class on marketing, I knew I had to join. Because, like the Sting song suggests, every little thing she does is magic.

I am especially pumped about this class because marketing is hard. Really hard. Especially if you are just a freelance writer/writing coach/author whose main interest is young adult novels. There isn’t as much interest in hearing about how awesome Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl is and how it will change your life (seriously, go read it) as there might be about a blog post that tells you how to make five figures in a month or get a billion followers on Instagram. What I am trying to talk about does not have much fiscal promise, but, as my Classics professors liked to say, “it is good for your soul.”

It is frustrating to hear Don Draper-esque business coaches (except they rarely wear those suits and smoke) telling me that I have to promise cash for a chance to be heard in the Internet crowd. But not April. She watches out for the artists and creators who just want to make the world a prettier place. She, like Obi Wan Kenobi, gives me hope. She will teach me how I can be heard and how there is hope that I can get people to eventually notice the little novel I am writing. That I can learn non-sleazy techniques and tricks to get teen girls to read my novel. They will pick my book up and hopefully learn that abuse is not ok and sometimes you cannot help people who are being abused. That it is ok to be a strong female and that life is complicated and confusing, but also beautiful. This class will help me be heard so teen girls can also learn to be heard. I am most excited for that.

So, April, to quote another Sting song, “I’ll be watching you.” And I hope those reading this post do too.