Hello everyone, reading Henrid/Heinrich's posting on 'Where to Send Scripts' reminded me of a useful strategy that I remember from my business life, and which could be very useful for all of you who are hoping to find an agent and get published: viral marketing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this idea, it's basically the internet world's version of 'word of mouth.' A good example of which is the amazing publicity whipped up by the Belle du Jour blog (I promise you, that's not me!). I've read several comments on this site by people who seem dispirited that they don't know anyone in publishing, and so believe that the important doors will always be closed to them. As the recent story on Clive Woodall shows, you just need to know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody (in his case a bank manager who knew a producer). But of course for your information to flow down these channels, you need to let everyone you ever meet whatever it is you want to share with the world- e.g. that you're writing a book that you hope to get published.

Do any of you remember that wonderful play/film, Six Degrees of Separation , whose premise was that we're only six links away from knowing everyone in the world? Viral marketing has been shown to be a very powerful sales tool, so why not try it yourself?

I am still working to finish my novel before launching my own viral campaign,as I would feel more comfortable trying to sell a finished product, but there's nothing to stop anyone going out there with work-in-progress.

Good luck everyone!

Al.

Glad to see from Sue H's posting that the publishing industry also seems to think that word-of-mouth is the best form of marketing.