DJ,

I’ve been told I need a PR company to help sear Imagine This into peoples consciousness.  Today I did the unthinkable, I came out of my shell to network with a group of women who belong to an organisation called Women in Publishing.  I got the email, because as Webmaster for the Women Writers Network (WWN) all email is diverted to my inbox.

The invitation popped into my box on Friday – short notice – so I didn’t bother advertising it on the WWN website.  I forgot all about it, until yesterday when I was clearing my inbox.  It was around the same time I was making the resolution to grow an extra layer of skin and put myself out there.  Before I could change my mind I picked up the phone and invited myself along to their buffet dinner cooked by some reknowned chef I’d never heard of.

So I’m sitting down to dinner with a bunch of strangers and silently wondering what I was doing there.  The usual questions ensued, ‘what’s your name?’ ‘What do you do?’ ‘Where are you from?’  By the time a 6th person had asked me those questions I was seriously losing the will to smile and be merry.  My jaw started to ache and I had a permanent grove on my cheeks from the foundation I’d layered on. (Another resolution – make an effort to look feminine.)

Anyway moving on, Penny (she’s an author of some sort, never got to find out what) turned up drunk as a skunk and without introducing herself, proceedes to tell me that she’s late because she was at the House of Lords with a man she was having an affair with but spent most of her time drinking champagne cocktails with another man she wanted to get naked with.  I smiled some more and asked the girl sitting next to me who she was.

Penny I was told was the woman to speak to, I just needed to wait for her to sober up.  Which she did a little, after a plate of asparagus, boiled egg, caramelised onions, melon and cheese. (I thought I had serious eating habits.) I proudly show her a copy of Imagine This and told her I need tips on selling the book. Apparently I’ve got it all backwards, it’s not about the book, it’s about me. I have to go out and sell me, (hence the reason I need a PR company) I need to find my USP – I did wonder what that meant – Unique Selling Point, and that is what I need the PR company to sell. Hmmm

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Find your USP