This is my story about how a Facebook conversation led to meeting one of my favorite authors (Brad Meltzer) and getting mentioned in the Acknowledgements section of his recent book release, The President’s Shadow. Even though I am an avid reader there are only a handful of authors that I am a diehard fan of and that I hurry off to purchase their newest book on release day. This is about one of those authors.
Just over a year ago Brad Meltzer posted a question on his Facebook page about gardening and types of flowers readers liked and why they liked these. My Facebook friends will find it no surprise that a post like this caught my eye. I frequently talk about quilting and working in the flower gardens around our home, share photos of my flowers, and talk about which posies were picked for a fresh vase of flowers on my desk. This day Brad was asking to get some ideas for a passage he was writing for his book in progress. Like many others I decided to leave a comment and shared how for me gardening is a trip down memory lane in remembering family members and friends who are no longer with me physically but their memories live on through the flowers they’ve shared with me and that I continue to nurture, raise, and share with others.
I shared a brief story about having coral bells from my grandmother’s farm that have been shared over the years to grow in flower beds at my home, at mother’s home, at my aunt’s, and at my cousin’s home. We each have pieces of grandma’s love of flowers with us wherever we live. As we’ve moved from home to home the plants are dug up and transplanted at the new place. As I look about the many flower beds across our lawn I not only see plants of all varieties I see living remembrances of family and friends.
I didn’t anticipate what happened next. I got a private message asking if we could talk about flowers and gardening. I agreed. Over the course of time we talked several times via email or by phone and I became one of his resources for gardening. When he said he’d mention me in his upcoming book I was honored. Seeing the book in print, holding it in my hands, well, that feels surreal. As a dear friend commented “it’s a reason for a little giddiness.” Absolutely! And the bonus, I got to meet one of my favorite authors beyond the bio and headshot photo on the book jacket. Incredibly cool.
Takeaways You Can Use By Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. This is exactly what took place via the Facebook post and what I commented on. When you are stuck or searching for some fresh ideas the answer could be a question away. So ask. Make use of tapping into the insights of others and build your next step off this newly gathered information and different perspectives. You never know where a catalyst for your next idea may come from.
The magic happens in what you do with the information gathered plus finding new resource people to connect with. Networking is all about getting to know people and having them get to know you.
Being a Resource
Becoming a resource person for the media or for reference projects is actually much easier than you may imagine. It’s a matter of getting to know people, being available to share information, and being willing to share the information that person needs.
If you’re interested in connecting with journalists then join HARO – Help A Reporter Out –and receive free daily digest emails on topics journalists are writing about. Sharing your expertise about business or hobbies or special interests could be exactly what someone is looking for. Journalists are actively looking for knowledgeable people to be their source. That person may be you.
If you would like to be a source for an author – a best-selling author, one in your industry, or for research reports – then follow them on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn to get to know them better and join the conversations they are hosting.