Getting on the Branding Bandwagon

Image by kromkathog courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Last week I attended the Indie Recon Marketing Mania, and the first session was with author CJ Lyons. After a wonderful post on how to brand yourself (in practical, easy to understand language), she spent the day visiting people's websites/blogs and giving them feedback. I was so impressed. 

Her feedback on my website is listed below. Some things I can change, and some I can't.

If my blog is going to be geared toward writers (and the name "Motivation for Creation" implies a blog for writers), I should make sure readers know that up front on my website, or change content. Also, I should have the blog open in a new window.

I can't change the way the blog opens, unless I move my blog, and I'm not willing to do that. So, that is a no change. However, I've been contemplating what kind of content I have on my blog for a while. After three years of writing motivational and inspirational posts, I was already trying to come up with a new direction for blog content. So, I have come up with a new editorial calender, writing about things that interest me and hopefully will interest others (including you, who are currently reading this post.)

Funny Friday Photos will continue, with the addition of a post on Tuesdays which will follow this pattern (to be referenced on the side-bar, as well.)

• Week 1 Tuesday: Theme Park (Themes and values found in the stories I write. These can still be the inspirational type posts, or about other things - like parenting and loss.)
• Week 2 Tuesday: Creature Feature (A look at the different creatures found in the different mythologies.)
• Week 3 Tuesday: Something Bizarre Happened... (An anecdote about something strange or funny that happened to me or I witnessed during the previous month, like the time I saw a cryogenics truck driving on the interstate on my way to work. We'll see how this one goes.)
• Week 4 Tuesday: For the Writers (A writer related post about something I found helpful or think other writers might be interested in.)
• Week 5 Tuesday: Off! There's not many five week months, so it'll be a Funny Friday Photos only week

I don't know what to call the blog now. Maybe just my name with a tagline?

The header is generic, and I should create one that evokes my books. She stated twice that the cover art for my book is fantastic (thank you, Ivan Zanchetta). She believes that the portal on the cover implies adventure and fantasy, and as fantasy should be the focus of my branding, my cover art would be a great place to start.

This is going to take a little more time and work. I'm kind of concerned that my cover art is different shades of gray (no jokes!) and might make the website kind of a downer. Also, I don't think I'd like the header and the book to be exactly the same. So, I'm going to have to contemplate that aspect of her feedback for a bit.

I do agree that I should look to fantasy to be the focus of my brand. I turned to my Facebook friends to help me come up with a tag line. (Huge thank you, to Rick Bylina, Jo Eberhardt, Brin Jackson and Cathy Yardley for some great suggestions.) I'm trying to decide which one of five I think would evoke both the magic of fantasy, and the adventure that might go along with the portal. 

So, that's my plan. Don't be surprised if you click over for Funny Friday Photos and find something new and different.

Have you ever changed up your blog or website?

What worked for you?

Help One Another - Writer Style

For the longest time I've felt like I just don't do my share of helping others.

The ways I observe other writers support each other often seems like it would be more beneficial to me than to the person on whom I would focus my helping attempts. (ie. having interviews, guest-bloggers, etc...)  Additionally, I've got some social awkwardness that carries over into World-Wide Web Land.  I wanted to help other writers, but didn't really know how a shy writer with short social media reach could actually provide valuable support.

Photo Couresy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Until yesterday.

Over at The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing, author Gordon Kessler posted on maximizing an Amazon book page.  Besides getting some great marketing ideas, some of the suggestions in the post included easy yet effectual ways authors can help each other with the dreaded marketing issue.

The three ways authors can support each other on Amazon are:

1.  Did you know Amazon book pages have "like" buttons?  I didn't.  But how easy is it to simply click a button as a vote for your favorite new author (whether traditionally or indie published). As Mr. Kessler pointed out, the more "thumbs up" clicks a book has, the more perceived credibility it may have with readers, which can only help anyone achieve success.  Also, the "like" button may figure into the Amazon algorithm to determine ranking and best-seller status.

2.  Reviews, reviews, reviews. But wait, there's more.  We all know positive reviews are helpful. What I didn't know is that on Amazon the most "helpful" reviews are moved to the top of the review list. So, even if we don't have time to leave our own review, we can help our fellow authors by finding the positive reviews and clicking "yes" on the question "Was this review helpful for you?"  If the positive reviews are found to be the most helpful, then those are the ones potential readers are going to see first.

3.  Download some freebies in the same genre as your author friend's book.  The potential effect of buying your friend's book, and then downloading some freebies in the same genre is that it may (no guarantees, of course) put your author friend's book on the "Customers who bought this book also bought..." list on those other books.  This thereby increases visibility for your author friend's book.

What are some ways you support other authors?

Lovely Links

I need to start writing blog post ideas down when they hit me.  For the second week in a row I've had some great ideas over the weekend and then totally forget what they were on Monday night when I'm scrambling to write my post!

Photo Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

My attention is all over the place, which means I've been gathering information on a variety of subjects including editing, editors, websites, marketing ideas and plot development.  Anyone who thinks self-publishing is the easy way out doesn't know all what it entails. Heck, I'm just scratching the tip of the informational iceberg and the amount of work is a little overwhelming.  But, guess what?  I'm really happy and calm about it all.  Just busy.

Since I can't really focus on any one topic right now to save my life, I thought I would share with you a couple of the links to blog posts I've read that have been helpful.

First, I've been working on plot development for a second book using the characters from Finding Meara.  I'd always planned to write more about Hazel and Arden, but thought I'd have some time before I needed to start.  Self-publishing wisdom indicates I need to get a second book out as soon as possible after the first, so I'm casting around the dark recesses of my brain for an interesting, book worthy plot idea.  

http://www.robinlafevers.com/books/

With Nano coming up there have been lots of posts around about plotting, but I found the posts Pre-Writing: It's All About the Character and Growing Plot from Character by Robin LaFevers, author of Grave Mercy, particularly helpful. I've got the characters, I just don't have the plot.  The questions listed in the posts have started my brain whirring.  Besides the great posts, I just have to say I love Ms. LeFevers' website. It's absolutely beautiful!

I've worried about marketing ideas for quite a while, even before deciding to self-publish.  It's no secret that the weight of the majority of marketing falls on an author these days.  With self-published books increasing by 287% since 2006, the competition for a self-published author to gain positive attention and readers is at an all time high.  The post The New Path to Writing Success by Jon Bard on the Writer Unboxed site was both enlightening and uplifting, but the link to the post How to Build a Network of Fans on Mr. Bard's own site was marketing gold.  In the post he gives several practical and not at all difficult ways to connect to the ever-elusive reader.  It was after reading this post that I decided I needed to go ahead and get my own website going, and soon.  Hopefully, before the end of November, I'll have a shiny new website to show off, and can start implementing some of his ideas.

Laura Howard

I've also read several great posts on Laura Howard's blog Finding Bliss, and also The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing (WG2E). If you're interested in all things self-publishing, head over to either homepage and take some time to browse.  The series of three posts A Business Plan for Self-Published Authors on WG2E was a real eyeopener for me.

It's quite fun to list Laura Howard today, because I actually met her through the My Name Is Not Bob Platform Building Challenge in April.  Between then and now her blog has become a hot spot for Indie reviews, interviews and information.  She's also super nice!

Have you read any posts in the last several weeks you've found helpful?  If so, feel free to share in the comments!