Most authors, even though they may not be inclined to admit it, really and secretly want to be rockstars. I get that. I really do and frankly, I’m right there with you. If you’d like to be a rockstar, I’d love to help you get all or part of the way. But here’s the thing: sometimes you only get one chance and if you don’t make the most of it, you might spend the rest of your career being someone’s opening act.

Today I got an email from someone pitching me something for my mailing list. Candidly it was so poorly written I don’t even recall what it was, what I do remember is that the email was full of typos. Now, why on earth would you send an email, asking for someone to participate in something you’re doing and then not at least run spell check? Isn’t that pretty basic?

If you were applying for a job, would you ever send a resume to a potential employer that had errors in it? Misspelled words? Incorrect dates? Wrong employer listed? Doubtful, right? Well why should your marketing campaign be any different? Remember, everything you do in book marketing is part of your resume.

Now, maybe I’m not worthy of a spell check and maybe, just maybe all of the pitches she sends to Oprah and the like are all letter perfect. That might be true but as a good friend once told me, as someone does one thing they do all things.

Sometimes you only get one chance to be a rockstar. Regardless of who you’re pitching remember that you never know where your pitch will end up or who might end up seeing it. You could be in the running for a major talk show and one misstep could take you from front-runner to “not on your life.”

Everything is your resume. If you abide by this rule, you’ll be a step closer to rockstar-dom and I’ll be in the front row cheering you on.