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Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience by [Dan Blank]

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Dan Blank

Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience Kindle Edition

by Dan Blank (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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As writers and artists, we feel the drive to do meaningful work, but we get overwhelmed by the process of connecting with an audience. We follow best practices in marketing that never seem to pan out, don’t produce results, and make us feel lost and frustrated. But creating doesn’t have to feel this way. Be the Gateway offers practical, insightful ways to build real relationships with your audience.

If you want to share your voice and inspire people with your writing, art, craft, or creative idea, you must unlock new experiences for them -- not just through what you create, but through the unique way in which you share it with the world. That is the gateway, the one you lead people through to introduce them to your world. This produces meaningful discussions and creates dedicated super fans.

Replace the inclination to promote with the desire to share. How and why you create is a story -- and the best asset you can use to communicate why your work is unique. Rethink your priorities, develop a new outreach focus, and use a practical approach to connect with your audience. Be the Gateway shows you how, with joy and confidence in your authentic voice.

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179 pages
Language

English
Publication date

March 7, 2017
File size

509 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01NAVTDXQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ WeGrowMedia (March 7, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 7, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 509 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 179 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0998645214
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #432,185 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #622 in Creativity Self-Help
- #972 in Marketing (Kindle Store)
- #2,059 in Creativity (Books)

Customer Reviews:
118 ratings

About the author

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Dan Blank

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Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers and creative professionals share their stories and grow their audience through Mastermind groups and private consulting.

He has worked with hundreds of individuals and amazing organizations who support creative people, such as Random House, Hachette Book Group, Sesame Workshop, Workman Publishing, J. Walter Thompson, Abrams Books, Writers House, The Kenyon Review, Writer's Digest, Library Journal, and many others.

Dan's work has been featured by Poets & Writers magazine, the National Endowment for the Arts, Professional Artist magazine, and 99u.You can find Dan on his blog at http://wegrowmedia.com or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DanBlank.

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5 star		86%
4 star		7%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Debra Eve

An Inspiring Roadmap to Making a Difference as a Creative Professional

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2017

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Dan Blank writes one of my favorite blogs for authors and creative professionals who want to “be visible,” promote their work, and connect with their audience. Be The Gateway gathers and expands on his best concepts. In an age where sales funnels and social media numbers dominate the conversation, it’s a refreshing change.

Dan’s strategy involves ignoring the stats and concentrating on connections. That might sound obvious, but few people do it well, or even know where to start. Be The Gateway provides a detailed roadmap and engaging case studies.

The "Gateway" entails guiding people to a fascinating place (your work) that they want to enter and explore further. Dan focuses on three elements: (1) story (be a storyteller, no matter what medium you work in), (2) creator (let people experience their inner world through you and your work), and (3) topics (choose unique narrative themes that relate to your story).

“Instead of framing the value of your work by how it performs in the market, you define it by how other people experience the world through your creative work—the stories and experiences you share, and the topics you talk about.”

Be The Gateway also warns against a practice many artists (especially introverted ones) share—they “hide away in complete silence for months or years and then make a big announcement.” When no one responds, they wonder why. Building a "Gateway" to and through the creative process remedies that awful “sound of crickets chirping” feeling.

Be The Gateway gives concrete instruction regarding:

* How to craft a biography that communicates your narrative.
* Why you shouldn’t immediately jump on social media to promote your work.
* Why “mid-level doers” can teach you more than “influencers” about social media.
* What small, actionable steps you can take when feeling overwhelmed.

My favorite quote from the book:

“A gateway is not a clever pitch to buy a product. Musician and artist Brian Eno put it this way: ‘Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences.’”

Highly recommended for creative professionals who feel intimidated by marketing and wonder if there’s a more inspired way to promote their work.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Teri Case

This book just earned a permanent spot on my writing desk.

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017

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While this book is a resource that applies to any creative person, I am an author, and I just have to say: Finally. Finally here is a book that repositions ‘building an author platform’ in a very personal but practical way that makes sense to me because not only has Dan Blank’s Be the Gateway helped me understand that creatives have an opportunity to help another person make sense of something in his/her world, this books help me understand that this single connection to a reader or follower is the true prize. He points out that the author (creator) and the recipient are sharing a special moment because they are co-creating an experience.

Standing out on the overpopulated world wide web to let my target audience know I exist feels impossible on a daily basis. And yet, Dan’s book offers practical steps and exercises on how to do just that — connect with a single person while leveraging social sites and the internet. He also shares ideas on how to connect with people in person and with specific examples.

This book is helping me identify and communicate my focus — what I’m “willing to fight for”—in my bio, mission statement, projects, and actions. Dan has me paying attention to how my daily life aligns with my creative work.

Happy co-creating to all of you.

10 people found this helpful

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Shirley H. Showalter

A Marketing Book That Overcomes the Biggest Obstacles Creatives Have to Marketing

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2021

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Most authors or artists or musicians care most about being authentic and about making art that expresses that deep longing. They also crave connection to an audience. They know the odds are stacked against them financially, but they would love to "break through" and beat those odds. Many artists find today's methods of finding an audience, especially through social media, completely daunting. Many others worry that marketing and art are antithetical to each other; that asking people to buy your product cheapens not only the product but cheapens the artist.

Dan Blank takes that fear and stands it on its head. Instead of advising artists to "play big" (using tricks to increase numbers of followers, vying for the attention of influencers, or copying "best practices" others prescribe), he focuses on going deep with few, giving before you ask, and being patient as you learn what your ideal audience wants and needs.

I have been participating in Dan' webinars and reading his newsletters for more than a decade. I've been intending to read his book for a long time, but now, with my own book going into production for a May publication date, I have finally read every word. Like other readers, I will want to re-read the book as I get to the final stages before the book launch. The principles are timeless. The book is destined to become a classic -- at least for the group of us who are deeply committed and deeply grateful to Dan for helping us learn how to be gateways, not just gargantuan egos.

Helpful

Bella Mahaya Carter

Dan Teaches (by Example) How to Be "Ludicrously Kind"

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2019

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I purchased this book in the spring of 2017, but didn't read it until the fall of 2019. My loss! I wish I'd read it immediately. Dan Blank's book (and Dan himself) is a treasure. On the second-to-last page of his book, Dan asks, "Why not be ludicrously kind and generous to those who support your creative work or creative work like yours?" This is the tone of the whole book, which is generous, helpful, authentic—and essential reading for creative professionals who want to reach (and maintain a meaningful relationship with) their audience. It's especially refreshing to hear marketing advice that encourages authors (and other creatives) to show up as themselves and not hide behind fancy banners or brands. Reading this book has enhanced my life and work in large and small ways, and it can do the same for you! Give yourself the gift of Dan's wisdom.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Web1design

A terrific read! I found Dan's approach in this very ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2018

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A terrific read! I found Dan's approach in this very helpful book to be really encouraging. He takes it back to the fundamentals, to the heart of what it is to be creative. And it is the 'heart'. We can get so caught up in trying to get an audience for our work, that our passion gets blunted and tarnished. Dan makes a strong case for the principle that the very thing that fueled you in the first place - the passion you have for your creative work - is something to be cherised and shared. To like-minded people out there it is a powerful and personal bridgebuilder. (next in series: 'Be the Bridge'...you can have that for free, Dan :-) )
The author is a great advocate for a people-centric not product-centric approach. (am just making up words now, will take my leave.)
Loads more I could say, but you'll have to just get on and read it! You won't stop saying, "wow, yes, of course!"

One person found this helpful

R E Davidson

If you're an author AND introverted AND want to build a fan-base, this is for you!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

The media could not be loaded.

I'm an author and like a rabbit in front of headlights when it comes to feeling good about promoting my book and building a readership and fan-base. The creative act of writing the books and putting all my heart and soul into the stories is soooo easy when compared to the job of promoting the book. So many marketing gurus are all about the tricksy and the quips and the cheesy stuff. Dan Blank is the opposite of this. He is human, he is personable, he is practical he is positive and confident on one's behalf. This book - and the training course that I subsequently signed up to - is helping me face up to the challenges with my soul-intact and feeling better about doing the necessary work to get my creative work out there being read (which is what all stories need after all! To be read!). Thanks Dan :)

Ruth

One interaction at a time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2020

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The book is about how to share your creative work with others, one conversation, one interaction, one experience at a time. I read it on Kindle first, made tons of notes and bought two paper copies, one for my desk and one for a painter friend. It's liberating. You just have to read it.

Louise

Very useful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book gives an interesting alternative perspective on building an audience for your creative work. I found it practically useful and extremely thought-provoking.

One person found this helpful

Elinor Florence

This is a game-changer

Reviewed in Canada on October 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

I love the basic premise of Dan Blank’s message, that marketing a book is so much more than media coverage or awards or even reviews. It is about connecting with readers on a personal level. He calls this “human-centered marketing.”

I have tried to follow his advice by conducting in-person book signings; appearing at every book club that invites me, no matter how small; asking my newsletter subscribers to email or call me (my phone number is on my website); and even inviting them for coffee if it can be arranged. As a result I have not only sold more books but established some very warm friendships, which have honestly turned out to be more important than the sales.

I purchased this book in January 2019 and have read it several times, but realized I had never written this long-overdue review. I recommend this book to every author, especially those who are shy or diffident about their work. It is a game-changer.

One person found this helpful

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