A Tangled Web to Weave

I am in "business" mode this week. What does that mean? I am thinking about marketing and web design and "brand" and head shots and more.

Why? I think it is important to have the bones of my marketing world in place before I get "the call." And here's why. I know it will happen one day and when it does, I don't want to get bogged down in all of this heavy thinking when I need to concentrate on what is important: THE WRITING. I have a bit of time now. I have some wiggle room to work in all of these other elements. And it's okay if my brain isn't fully focused on the development of my stories 100% of the time.

When I get "the call" I won't have that luxury. And believe me this time and wiggle room is a luxury. I've been slowly building my base, not in a crass way, but in my usual way: be friendly and kind and the world will return the favor. I don't push hard for followers or facebook friends or twitter peeps. I think I just  need to be myself and eventually my base will grow as a result.

I don't want to be that hamster on a wheel running and running and running in circles singing "look at me and look at what I can do!" when I get "the call." I believe my books will speak for themselves and my readers will love them. I want to have time to connect with them in an authentic and real way. That's why I am "branding" myself now. That's why I am building my network and my web pages now.

Yesterday I spent about two hours talking with a wonderful person who runs THINK FLOW DESIGN. Florina Craven knows how to design pages. She knows how to connect all these marketing dots. This is what she breathes for air. Me? Uh, not so much. But I don't have to know everything. I just have to know enough to get her started and she'll run with my brand and my ideas and my story themes and build me a beautiful and spicy website with 4 pages to start.

And for a fee I can have her design a logo which I can use for all my future marketing needs. Wow. Really? That's awesome. That beats me taking the time to do it because if I spend all my time trying to make something half way pretty for a design guess what I won't be doing? Right. The writing.

I love to write stories. I love to get to know my characters and build their worlds. I love cutting out pictures from magazines and storyboarding. I love revising and reshaping my stories. I love the craft of writing. I love learning about it and talking about it. It energizes me.

Talking about passwords and overlaying codes and widgets is something I have to do now so I won't have to do it much later. And I am so glad I found Florina and her company. It helps that she knows me and we have connected at conferences on a personal level. She understands me and knows my personality. In fact she knows my personality so well that when she suggested the colors for my website I was floored. They're all over my house!!

I am embarking on a journey. One that will be fun and a bit scary for me. But I am not embarking on this journey alone. I have a professional with me. One who has my best interests at heart. One who understands writers. One who will bring my worlds to the web far better than I could possibly imagine.

As I embark on this journey I want to know what kind of questions or experiences you have had in marketing. Do you have web pages? Are you intimidated by trying to "brand" yourself? Do you know where to start looking for designers, photographers, marketing tools?

Post your questions here. I plan to interview Florina and would love to incorporate your ideas and questions.

And for one lucky commentator, I have a fun prize. A book called WE ARE NOT ALONE by Kristen Lamb. If you haven't got this book and you're dedicated to building a writing career, this is the book for you. It gives you a great place to start building your career one step at a time!

Blogger Oz

I've just finished taking an amazing social media class with Kristen Lamb via Candace Havens website. I've learned a thing or two about branding myself (ouch, that could hurt) and social networking because of this class. And, ouch again, I have decided to retool my blog space to reflect the lessons.

Super ouch again because I am also going to *gulp* learn more about social media and branding myself via a book I ordered. Kristen Lamb's book WE ARE NOT ALONE: The Writer's Guide to Social Media is recommended by editors and agents to newly contracted authors.

I'm  not contracted yet. But I had better learn how to use social media to sell my books and my name if I want to make it in this business. The writing world is huge, the business is changing every day, and I need to get savvy about utilizing this FREE network.

I have dabbled in it before, but never pushed too hard because social media can suck up a lot of time. Facebook is not for playing farmer games or finding treasure. Well, in a way it is. I'm farming for future readers and digging for future treasure in sales when the day after my book hits shelves finally arrives.

Yes, dear readers, the MILLS & BOON contest definitely brought the concept of self-promotion home to me. If I want to sell books, sell novels, sell my stories I have to be bold, fearless and courageous about marketing.

I'm not in Kansas anymore. And Oz is a bit frightening. There are a lot of wild characters and new lands to explore. There are wild colors, terms I don't understand, witches and wizards of writing promotion to conquer. Oh, I am nervous. But I am not going to crawl back into the back corner of the house I just flew in to get here and hide from the experience. I'm going to embrace it.

During his workshop at the Georgia Romance Writers of America Moonlight and Magnolias Conference, Michael Hauge asked each writer to examine her/himself in terms of this question: I'll do anything to be a published writer except ??? because THAT'S NOT ME.

Well, I can fill in that blank. Before that workshop, I could say, I'LL DO ANYTHING TO BE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR EXCEPT SELF-PROMOTE BECAUSE THAT'S NOT ME. It's not. Not totally. After all, that's called "drawing attention to oneself" and I have my own reasons for not wanting to do that to myself. Sure, those who know me will say I am outgoing and gregarious. But if you really spend time with me and get to know me, you'll notice that what I am actually doing is getting people to TALK ABOUT THEMSELVES. I'm PROMOTING OTHER PEOPLE to draw attention away from myself.

Good self-preservation trick, eh?

Hehe.

Now all this eye-opening self-awareness at a deeper level than I had ever examined of myself before isn't going to stop me from continuing to motivate and encourage the people I love and admire to achieve their goals as writers, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, husbands, students.... ah the list goes on. It's an amazing feeling to see the people around me grow and become who they have the potential to be in this great glorious life. I'm just adding one more person to the list. Me.

Don't worry if you see your blogs falling off the sidebar and little nuances of change in the blog. All will be redone and done well (hiring the darling teen to help me out with this!). I'm tweaking my blog and reworking the layout while following my own Yellow Brick Road to publication.