Mutually beneficial partnerships can be important to get things done, achieve your goals and grow your business. Thus, it is important that you nurture and protect these relationships.
In my case, I am very open to partnerships with publishers, authors and their press people. They get additional publicity for their book, while I have new content. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us.
One author contacted me a few months ago asking for help in promoting his book. He is self-publishing, which means that he doesn’t have the marketing machinery of a big publishing house. I agreed to help him and promote his book on the site. After several email exchanges, he sent an article, which I published and linked to his site as well as his book. In his last email, he inquired about what our audiences want to see so he can write exclusive articles for us. I was hopeful that it would be a good partnership, as I was very impressed with his knowledge of the topic and of the article he submitted.
Imagine my surprise a few days ago when he sent an email to our general Contact Us form pointing out that we published his article, and that he did not give us any permission to reprint it. But nonetheless, he was impressed with our site and submitted an article for possible publication.
Ego aside that he forgot my name and did not go directly to me, I was just floored that he totally forgot all our previous communications. He even acted as this is the first time he ever encountered PowerHomeBiz!
I sent him all our previous communications and reminded him that he was the one who sent the article for publication in our site when he asked for help in promoting his book. I expressed my disappointment in him. I told him that I don’t deal with amnesiac authors and won’t publish the new article he submitted as he might forget again in the next few months that he gave us his consent to publish it. I also deleted the article he sent a few months ago. I just don’t want to deal with PITA people, especially when copyright issues are involved.
So what’s the moral of the story?
If you reach out and ask for help – and the other party responded favorably – try your best to nurture that relationship. Do not forget about them. And more importantly, do not do anything stupid to offend them. They’ve helped you once; they can help you again.
If you’re really that forgetful, make an effort to list the names you’ve contacted and helped you. Think of it as your virtual Rolodex. When trying to make connections, check first your list if you have previously had any interaction with them. Having a list can also make it easy to do follow-ups later on.
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