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How to use your writer's brand: Editor's Notes #176 December 15, 2014 |
| Hello, and undervalue what they are. --Malcolm Forbes In this issue: 1. Put your writing brand to work 2. Tickled my funnybone 3. Interesting Web site ========== 1. Put your writing brand to work This issue will be longer than most because there is more material to cover on this topic, so if you are used to whipping through an issue while you multitask, you might want to put this aside until you have time to read a longer piece. Previous issues showed you how to discover and articulate your personal writing brand(s). If you haven't read issues 173-175, I suggest you do that first. You will find them at https://www.writershelper.com/Editors_Notes-backissues.html. Put your brand out there where publishers, sellers, and readers can see it. Create a blog or Web site for each brand. Keep it professional. This is no place to chat about your cat or your breakfast unless those topics are part of your brand. If you blog, be prepared to keep writing regularly. Consider creating a separate Facebook page for each of your brands. This is completely different from your personal Facebook page. You need a personal account first. Once you have one, click on the triangle at the top right and choose Create Page. Review issues 167-168 and 172 in the archive. Issue 172 shows a good example of a page that uses a brand. The others rely on personal pages. Both work, but I like to keep my own separate. You can always share something from your branded page on your personal page if you want to. If you have a Twitter account, you can also create an account for each of your brands. Twitter can be demanding, so do this only if you are already on Twitter and know what to expect, or if you have lots of time to give to a new learning curve. The technicalities are easy on Twitter. Financial success is another thing entirely. Put links to your branded sites (blog, Web page, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.) in your email signature and in the footer of written correspondence so interested folk can stalk you in a good way. Associate with groups that match your brands. This includes both your potential market and professionals like yourself. (If you are reading this and haven't already done so, start calling yourself a professional writer today.) If you write about ferrets, find ways to hang out with ferret owners. Also look for groups writing about animals or at least writing non-fiction. If you live in a very small community like I do, you may have to join online groups to get one with a focus truly matched to your brand. All of us can use some other writers in our lives, so if the only writers you can find are poets who write about technology, join them anyway, and be creative about how you adapt what you learn from the members to your writing about ferrets. Hang out in forums related to writing and to your topic. When you feel comfortable doing so, contribute. Do not sell yourself at this point. Just be helpful. Many forums allow members to include links in the signature or to include a tag line. These often quietly sell for you. Create a list of media related to your brand. When you are sure you have a good match, engage in conversation, not to pitch your writing at first, but to become a credible source for each medium. The more value you add to conversations (letters to the editor, emails in response to programs), the more open these people will be to your approach when you make it regarding your writing. In fact, these people may actually approach you as an expert. Notice that this is down on the list. You want to have a solid online presence if possible so those links I mentioned above speak well of you. Keep a written version of your brand (see issue #175) by your phone in case you get a surprise call and your mind goes blank. Finally, slide your brand (see issue #175) into conversations where appropriate. Definitely use it when you communicate with publishers. And if you self-publish, use it when you sell your book, both in promotional material and in your verbal sales pitches to retailers. =========== 2.Tickled my funnybone Night falls; day breaks. =========== 3. Interesting Web site Hoot Suite is free and allows you to manage social media. For example, you can create several posts at once or tweets and tell Hoot Suite when to make them live. https://hootsuite.com/ =========== Join Writer's Helper Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WritersHelperEditor Follow me on Twitter @AudreytheEditor =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
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