Promoting a New Article

For some time now, I have been saying that a book is a "20th-century artifact" and that the way to serve your market (and to get your market's attention) is to write a stream of blog posts.  That way, you educate your audience to expect new ideas and thoughts from you on a regular basis.

However, once you've written the blog posts, nothing stops you from going for the double benefit of compiling the blog postsinto an article and issuing it as such.  That's the strategy that worked so well for me in launching my career.  Both of those articles were compilations of previously published blog posts, and people really like having them between hard covers.

I think I'm now ready to put together my next article, based upon the blog posts I have been writing over the past 18 months (and which are all available for download on my website).  With a little rewriting, I think I can bring out my common themes and major messages.  (Strategy as determination and courage, management as the willingness to be accountable for the managerial role, going behind the facade of people who claim to want long-term relationships, etc.)

The challenge I face -- and the topic on which I'd like your input -- is thinking about marketing the article.

Article marketing has always been a complete mystery to me.  I long ago learned that traditional publishers are useless, so I'll be self-publishing (as modern technology allows me to do) with both on-line versions (pdf) available for sale and "dead tree" versions sold through business magazines.

My past history also taught me that it's incredibly expensive and completely uncertain to hire specialist publicists.  Over the course of the past 11 years, I spent a total of $200K on publicists and publicity, and never came anywhere near getting much attention from the audiences I was targeting.  All publicists SAY they will get you interviews and reviews in key media, but it never really worked out that way for me.  There are over 50 business magazines published in Australia each month, and breaking through the clutter is very hard.

So, here's my latest thoughts:

• Self publish and send out free copies to CEOS and managing partners of key firms
• Send out free copies to every business blogger I can think of
• Send out free copies to every traditional journalist I can think of
• Send out free copies to every university professor in a professional school
• Develop a new series of "you-Tube" style videos, 3-minutes long or less

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So, as I get ready to think about marketing my new article, what activities do you think I should be doing or preparing for?