Tag: Kimberley Grabas

3 Things to Try on Social Media in January

As with my blog post three days ago, I’m trying something new today. My plan is to blog around the middle of each month about three things I want to try on social media that month. My plan looks good on paper. Time will tell.

Today I’ve selected new things to try on Twitter, my blog, and Quora.

Twitter

In her February 23, 2013 post, “Twitter Marketing 101: For Writers” on http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/twitter-marketing-for-writers/, Kimberley Grabas gives a number of tips for writers to use. (No, that’s not a typo. She posted these tips nearly four years ago. Since I just created a Twitter account in June of 2015, I’m still learning the basics.) The new tip I chose to institute this month was “add a header photo.”

Kimberley Grabas, offers helpful information about author platform building online. In the words of her official bio on her website:  “A Canadian writer and entrepreneur, Kimberley Grabas launched YourWriterPlatform.com in February 2013, where she helps a growing international community of thousands of rising “authorpreneurs” build their platforms, engage their fans and sell more books.” She can be followed on Twitter @writerplatform. Ms. Grabas recommends that you get creative with your header and to think of it as a billboard for your brand. I took this to heart on January 25, 2017, and started planning a photo I could design for my header. The operative words are, “started planning.”

Blogging

@KredBloggers Tweeted a link to “Four Tips to Boost Traffic (and Leads) With Compounding Blog Posts” by Lucy Jones on January 23, 2017, on www.marketingprofs.com. Lucy Jones is head of content at Strategic Internet Consulting, a full-service inbound marketing agency. Ms. Jones recommends that bloggers think of a post as an investment that will return compounding interest like a savings account. Such a blog post is one whose content is timeless or at least offers content that readers will still find useful for months or years to come. It will attract new followers the day it is originally posted and will still attract new followers when it is Tweeted about even at a later date.

I read Lucy Jones’ article about compounding blog posts three days ago and plan to put the idea into practice. Ms. Jones can be followed on Twitter: @LucyJones_SIC. (I can be followed @janetmorrisonbk.)

Quora.com

I created a profile on https://www.quora.com on January 24, 2017, after learning about it from Aaron Marsden’s “13 Vital Steps for Writing Blog Posts that Perform” on http://amarsden.com. He posted these steps on January 18, 2017, and the 12th step was “Answer questions on Quora.” The idea is to help someone, get my name out there, and lead people to my blog.

To quote Mr. Marsden, “Quora is a site where people ask questions and different users around the world respond with answers. Pretty simple.” I’d never heard of Quora, so I looked into it. I wrote my profile and filled out the education fill-in form. Now I wait for a history or writing question to come up that I feel qualified to answer.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. If you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time.

Janet

Have you tried any of the above things on social media and, if so, did you see good results?

My Author Brand Progress Report – Part 2

My post last Friday covered questions 5-9 on Kimberley Grabas’s “Brand Story Worksheet” found through https://thebookdesigner.com and on http://YourWriterPlatform.com. (In fact, I mistakenly gave Theresa Meyers credit for that worksheet. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Grabas, Ms. Meyers, and to my blog readers for my error. I republished the corrected blog post on November 28, 2016 at 10:22 pm Eastern Standard Time.) Using this worksheet was a beneficial exercise. It wasn’t easy or quick, but it was something I needed to do in order to figure out my author brand.

Since Friday, I have designed my business card and ordered them. The new one has the same photo of me that appears on my Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/janet5049, Twitter (https://twitter.com/janetmorrisonbk), and Janet Morrison, Writer (https://www.facebook.com/Janet-Morrison-Writer) accounts. It will take a little longer to change the picture on my website (www.janetmorrisonbooks.com) – which needs a lot of updating.

“Brand Story Worksheet – Question 10

Question 10 on the worksheet prompted me to start making a list of the actions I will take “to create loyal and meaningful relationships with my readers.” The types of things on my list include setting up a way for people to join an e-mail mailing list on my website, writing a newsletter, researching how other authors have done this, and make myself available for personal appearances and even Skype with book clubs. The personal appearances and Skype will have to wait until I actually have a novel to publicize.

Brand Story Worksheet – Question 11

Question 11 addresses an author’s need to associate with other writers. The Queens Writers Group, of which I was a member after completing Judy Simpson’s fiction writing course at Queens University of Charlotte in 2001, disbanded upon Judy’s death. I have not joined another writers group. I probably should look for another group to join, as well as joining the Charlotte Writers Club and the North Carolina Writers Network. To date, money has stood in my way.

Brand Story Worksheet – Question 12

The 12th question on the worksheet asks, “How does your brand story position you for future growth as a writer?” I think my story positions me to write southern historical novels in addition to the manuscript of The Spanish Coin – whether they be stand stand-alone books or sequels to The Spanish Coin.

Writing a Brand Story & Strategy

After answering the 12th question, the instructions are to write one’s brand story, concentrating more on how you say it than what you say. You’re supposed to think about how you’ll incorporate your story into your marketing plan – every aspect of that plan. This was a daunting task but, once I settled into it, my story and strategy came together fairly easily. I reviewed my responses to the 12 questions on Ms. Meyers’s worksheet, and my story quickly jelled. I will share my story and strategy on my blog on December 2, 2016.

My Author Brand Map

Although I had trouble translating my love for geographic maps to an author brand map, here’s my first attempt. It looks more like a chart than a map. The important thing is for my map to make sense to me, even if it does not look like anyone else’s author brand map. I didn’t have an example to follow, so here it is. I hope you can read it.

My attempt at an Author Brand Map.
My attempt at an Author Brand Map.

 

Author Message Points

Theresa Meyers wrote in her “Message Points” article on http://www.bluemooncommunications.com/white_papers/message_points.htm) that in order to attract media attention today, authors must find their message points. She wrote, “Three strategies will interest the media the most:

  1. Identify a problem. . .;
  2. Point to an opportunity. . .; or
  3. Explode a myth. . .

“Of these, Meyers continues, “exploding a myth gets the best response. . . . When pitching a producer or editor, in thirty seconds or less you need to hold up the myth and then shoot it down.

“Research has shown an audience will remember no more than three key message points. Everything you say, everything you speak about, needs to connect back to those points.”

Ms. Meyers then asks 13 questions for the aspiring author to answer in order to “come up with three statements that you want to repeat over and over again as part of your brand.”

My Three Message Points

  1. ?
  2. ?
  3. ?

As you can see, this part needs some work!

A Place to End This Blog Post

This seems like a good place to end today’s blog post, since I’ve run out of answers.

If you feel led to Tweet about my blog, Pin one of my posts on Pinterest, or comment about it on other forms of social media, I thank you for helping me get the word out about my writing. You’ll find social media icons below.

Check out my blog on December 1, 2016 for the possible “reveal” of my three message points, my “sound bite”/reductive phrase or sentence, and my author brand story, and my strategy going forward.

Until that next blog post, I hope you have a good book to read and, if you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time. Thank you for coming along on my journey as an aspiring novelist.

Janet

My Author Brand Progress Report – Part 1 (with CORRECTION)

This blog post contains a correction in the first paragraph. Otherwise, it is a reblog of my last blog post on November 25, 2016. I apologize to Kimberly Grabas, Theresa Meyers, and my readers for my error.

In my last blog post, “More Thoughts about Author’s Brand,” on November 22, 2016, I ended the post with comments about the first four questions on the 12-question “Brand Story Worksheet” written by Kimberley Grabas (not by Theresa Meyers as I mistakenly stated) and found through https://thebookdesigner.com and on http://YourWriterPlatform.com and the promise to “work my way through the remaining eight questions on the worksheet, I’ll start drawing my author brand ‘map,’ and I’ll do some research on ‘message points.'”

Question 5

The fifth question on the worksheet prompted me to consider how what I have to offer in my writing is different from what anyone else can offer, and how I will make an emotional connection with readers. That’s what I was supposed to do but after evaluating my lifelong love for the history of the geographical area in which my historical mystery manuscript (The Spanish Coin) is set (the northern piedmont of South Carolina and the southern piedmont of North Carolina) I forgot to address the emotional connection with my readers. Nevertheless, this exercise has helped me know that this is where my writing needs to be geographically. I guess it boils down to the old saying, “Write what you know.”

Question 6

Perception as a writer is addressed in the sixth question. To answer it, I had to imagine how my ideal reader would perceive my writing and how she or he would describe my work. I have concluded that I want my ideal reader to describe my work as “spot-on” historically and beautifully-written. I want my ideal reader to say my work my books are “real page turners” with memorable characters that they remember years after reading my books. I want to be perceived as an honest writer.

Question 7

The seventh question asked what people are saying about my writing. I was encouraged when I remembered how people raved about the local history column I wrote for six years for the weekly Harrisburg Horizons newspaper. Also, I received compliments on my short story, “Slip-Sliding Away!”

Question 8

Emboldened by my reflections on question #7, I jumped into the next question; however, it was not so easy to answer. It was about signals my brand sends. This is going to require more thought, since I’m still trying to determine what my brand is and how to project it.

Question 9

The ninth question also addressed things that I don’t have yet since I am still figuring out my brand. I have a website, business cards, and a head shot, but I didn’t know until last week that my website and business cards should match or at least blend. The head shot I had made to appear on the back cover of my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, is not on my website. The purpose of the ninth question is to prompt me to make sure everything I do is a positive reflection of my brand.

What’s left to do

That leaves three more questions to be addressed, as well as the writing of my brand story and strategy, my brand story map, and my message points. I’ll see how much progress I can make on those items before my next blog post in a few days.

If you feel led to Tweet about my blog, Pin one of my posts on Pinterest (yes, I know, most of them don’t have a photo to Pin), or comment about it on other forms of social media, I thank you for helping me get the word out about my writing. You’ll find social media icons below.

Until that next blog post, I hope you have a good book to read and, if you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time. Thank you for coming along on my journey as an aspiring novelist.

Janet

My Author Brand Progress Report – Part 1

In my last blog post, “More Thoughts about Author’s Brand,” on November 22, 2016, I ended the post with comments about the first four questions on the 12-question “Brand Story Worksheet” written by Theresa Meyers and found on http://YourWriterPlatform.com and the promise to “work my way through the remaining eight questions on the worksheet, I’ll start drawing my author brand ‘map,’ and I’ll do some research on ‘message points.'”

Question 5

The fifth question on the worksheet prompted me to consider how what I have to offer in my writing is different from what anyone else can offer, and how I will make an emotional connection with readers. That’s what I was supposed to do but after evaluating my lifelong love for the history of the geographical area in which my historical mystery manuscript (The Spanish Coin) is set (the northern piedmont of South Carolina and the southern piedmont of North Carolina) I forgot to address the emotional connection with my readers. Nevertheless, this exercise has helped me know that this is where my writing needs to be geographically. I guess it boils down to the old saying, “Write what you know.”

Question 6

Perception as a writer is addressed in the sixth question. To answer it, I had to imagine how my ideal reader would perceive my writing and how she or he would describe my work. I have concluded that I want my ideal reader to describe my work as “spot-on” historically and beautifully-written. I want my ideal reader to say my work my books are “real page turners” with memorable characters that they remember years after reading my books. I want to be perceived as an honest writer.

Question 7

The seventh question asked what people are saying about my writing. I was encouraged when I remembered how people raved about the local history column I wrote for six years for the weekly Harrisburg Horizons newspaper. Also, I received compliments on my short story, “Slip-Sliding Away!”

Question 8

Emboldened by my reflections on question #7, I jumped into the next question; however, it was not so easy to answer. It was about signals my brand sends. This is going to require more thought, since I’m still trying to determine what my brand is and how to project it.

Question 9

The ninth question also addressed things that I don’t have yet since I am still figuring out my brand. I have a website, business cards, and a head shot, but I didn’t know until last week that my website and business cards should match or at least blend. The head shot I had made to appear on the back cover of my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, is not on my website. The purpose of the ninth question is to prompt me to make sure everything I do is a positive reflection of my brand.

What’s left to do

That leaves three more questions to be addressed, as well as the writing of my brand story and strategy, my brand story map, and my message points. I’ll see how much progress I can make on those items before my next blog post in a few days.

If you feel led to Tweet about my blog, Pin one of my posts on Pinterest (yes, I know, most of them don’t have a photo to Pin), or comment about it on other forms of social media, I thank you for helping me get the word out about my writing. You’ll find social media icons below.

Until that next blog post, I hope you have a good book to read and, if you’re a writer, I hope you have productive writing time. Thank you for coming along on my journey as an aspiring novelist.

Janet