Zarina Macha – On Networking and Connections

Welcome to another feature on The Creator’s Roulette! I am really excited to have Zarina Macha with me today and we are talking about the power of networking. Zarina Macha is an author, blogger and musician born and raised in London, UK. She has independently published five books; three social realist young-adult fiction books and two poetry volumes. She also studied Songwriting and Creative Artistry at The Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. In her spare time, she loves reading and fan-girling over Game of Thrones.

Welcome to Creator’s Roulette, Zarina! What in your mind does ‘networking’ mean? It is such a popular word nowadays!

Networking, to me, means working with others in your professional field (be it music, photography, or in this case, writing), to mutually support and promote each other’s work. This can be through social media promotion, e.g. following each other’s profiles; doing ‘shout outs’ to each other and ‘hashtaging’ each other; saying ‘if you like my stuff you should check out xxxx’ stuff, and liking each other’s pages.

In-person networking is also important; this can be at writer’s conventions, open mics (I have spent lots of time at various poetry events in London which I will talk about more in the next section), or book signings of local authors. Exchanging business cards is a good idea at these places to follow each other’s social media accounts and mention each other’s work on social media.

What are some of your favorite places to network?

StoryOrigin is an excellent (and free) site for independent authors to post newsletter swaps (i.e. mentioning each other’s books of a similar genre in their upcoming newsletter), and to do group promotions of different books, either in the same genre, or at a discounted price (e.g. eBooks under five dollars). It can also be used for giveaways where an author creates a reader magnet (a free book, chapter, or short story that people can download upon agreeing to sign up to the author’s newsletter). I have gained lots of newsletter subscribers and my book sales have increased thanks to using this platform.

Facebook groups are also amazing; I am in a few groups that are a good place to ask questions relating to any author-specific queries. I’ve asked authors in various groups for feedback on my book blurbs and covers; help with setting up Facebook and Amazon ads, or questions about where to get reviews (Booksprout, Voracious Readers and Itsy Bitsy Book Bits Promotions are all excellent platforms that authors can use to gain reviews).

For in-person networking, I spent lots of time in 2019 and some earlier this year (although obviously not now because of the virus) attending poetry events in London. These included weekly and monthly open mics, where I sold lots of physical copies of my poetry books, gained newsletter subscribers, and even sold some of my YA fiction books. They are good places to meet fellow poets and follow each other on Instagram as well as do shout-outs on each other’s stories and swap copies of each other’s books.  

You are an author, blogger and musician. How do networking for each of these differ? How do your goals vary?

When I was at uni, I did more interpersonal networking as I was looking to form a band, record an EP and get gigs to build a music profile. Since publishing my books I’ve become more geared towards online networking. I guess that fits the type of art; music is very social and involves working directly with other musicians and chatting to promoters. Writing is a more introverted career and lots of the networking can be done via a laptop; emailing bloggers, reaching out to other authors, doing newsletter swaps.

Blogging is more of a hobby for me; a way to get my opinions out there and build an online profile. I have been actively blogging since 2017 and engaged in lots of debates and discussions via Google Plus (which unfortunately has shut down now). I found Google Plus to be an excellent platform for rigorous intellectual discussion and debate, or for expressing views on similar interests (I loved a Game of Thrones group which often did polls on various characters). I would probably say Facebook and Google Plus are the best social media sites I have used for networking as an author/blogger.

How important is networking as an author? Apart from other writers, are there other professionals and hobbyists in your networks and why?

Back in 2019, I was scrolling through a group I am in on Facebook; ‘Official UK Bloggers’, and there was a thread to follow each other’s Instagrams. A personal finance blogger named Mrs Mummypenny followed me and saw my novel ‘Anne’ listed on my Instagram profile. She said it looked like a book she would really enjoy, and so I emailed her asking if she would like to read and review an advance copy.

She did and we met in person and I wrote some content on her blog for her as well as getting some newspaper contacts, and I ended up writing an article on online banking security for the ‘i’ newspaper. This is an excellent example of how networking can be mutually beneficial for both authors and other content writers.  

Also, I went to music school, and we were told a lot about the importance of networking in the music business. This is key in finding other musicians to work with; producers, managers, potential promoters. I used to write a music blog and attended lots of gigs where I told musicians about my blog and asked them if they wanted me to listen to and review some of their music.

Networking can sometimes feel as a means to an end. What are some strategies that you use to be connected to your network and genuinely get to know people?

I definitely agree; I think that it’s good to remember your goal when networking and why you do it. For me, it’s about maximizing my book promo and sales potential while also sharing strategies with other authors.

We all have to work together in these creative businesses and supporting each other’s careers only helps to boost yours.

Some strategies that I have used include directly messaging other authors and artists on social media, just to build a little rapour. It’s important to remember that there is a person on the other side of the computer, and they have a whole life history as well.

I also like to sign all the books that I sell to make things feel more personal. There’s something nice about writing someone’s name in a product that they are buying from me; again, it reinforces that sense of humanity, that these are real people and not just numbers on a piece of paper.

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How important is networking to you?

I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Zarina. You can connect with her on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Her poetry ebook is available for free here. If you wish to learn about when she wears her musician hat, check out her latest releases and blog.

Banner Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash