So Iz Mazano, that poetic one ;-). His first collection is on the way. The only challenge is we now don’t know when it will be out. He initially had the launch set for February this year, then June, then September. He’s really close to me, but even I can’t keep up with this.
Iz has asked me to help him with the marketing side of things. He doesn’t have much of a social media following and has asked for advice to help him do a big ass launch on a low ass budget. I told him it can happen.
Most authors who make it big don’t have huge social media followings when they start. If social media gets in the way of getting your actual work of writing your book done, put it aside for some time. Get the book done then put together an awesome schedule of activities to launch it.
Write the best book you can. That’s the most important thing. Everything else can ride on the awesomeness of your book.
So the plan is to do this very thing for Iz. We’ll use him as a guinea pig, hehe, to show that the stuff we’re talking about on Valley of Writers actually works. We’re going to fire up all the cylinders for this because he needs this as a poet, I need it as his coach, and we need it as a case study for Valley of Writers.
In the meantime, I am encouraging him, pushing him, twisting him, to produce the best first collection of poetry that he can.
We’ll see how it goes.

Writer | Digital Storyteller | Web Developer
I believe that every serious artist should be able to make a living from their work if they want to and I’m on a mission to find the best tools, ideas, and resources to help artists succeed. I experiment with business models, monetization ideas, and new technology in my own creative process as part of this journey of discovering.