What’s Your Brand?

Randy Ingermanson, a physicist and novelist, has a great discussion about branding for writers going on over at Advanced Fiction Writing.

He has a series of posts on branding, and he’s answering a lot of questions raised by his readers. Randy is a successful author – I love his City of God series.

However, he has come to realize that he would be much more successful in his writing career if he had focused on creating a brand for himself as an author. He’s working on his own brand now and trying to help other authors avoid his mistakes.

Now, I’m nowhere near the level of Randy Ingermanson, but I might be a little closer to that level if I had even thought about branding when I started writing. I’ve written fiction – Stroke of Luck (contemporary romance) and Dream or Destiny (romantic suspense coming out later this year). I’ve written nonfiction on plant care, network marketing, and writing, as well as an inspirational true story of the victim of workplace violence. I’ve written press releases, manuals, and assorted other documents for business. So my brand as a writer? There is none.

As an editor, I’m all over the place. I’ve edited academic papers, fiction and nonfiction books, and business documents of all kinds. My focus is narrowing, though, to helping beginning authors write and self-publish their work. Some of my book-editing clients seek traditional publishing, so editing queries and proposals is also part of my services. But my favorite kind of project is working with a great storyteller who needs help telling the story in writing. Seeing my clients succeed brings me joy.

If you have a brand – as a writer, blogger, or entrepreneur, tell us about in comments. Share how branding has helped you succeed. Let us know how you developed your brand – were you wise enough to brand yourself from the beginning or did it evolve over time?

If you don’t have a brand, why not? Do you have too many passions to settle into one specialty? Are you still trying to figure it out?

If you want to know more about branding, read Randy’s blog.

[tags]branding, writing, Randy Ingermanson[/tags]

Blogger Power: Safeguard the Web for Children

Mig at Pamil Visions’ eWritings introduced me to Blogger Power: Safeguard the Web for Children.

The project calls on bloggers to ask adult sites to require password-protected access to safeguard children from encountering porn. Jon Howard at Force for Good and Michaela (Mig) Lica at Pamil Visions started the project to bring together the power of bloggers to protect children.

Here is Blogger Power’s common-sense request to Webmasters of adult sites:

Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the “warning adult content” on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more “free tours” before a visitor supplies basic information

If you have any doubt about the need for this, read the alarming statistics in Blogger Power’s Open Letter to Bloggers. I hope you will join the project and call on adult sites to act responsibly to safeguard children.

[tags]Blogger Power, safeguard the Web for children[/tags]

Lessons for Writers from the Spurs’ NBA Championship

I am not a sports fan. Even when I was in the high school marching band and attended every football game (about a zillion years ago ), I had no concept of what was happening on the field. Furthermore, I didn’t care. Sure, I wanted our team to win, but beyond that I had no interest in the game. The only reason I was there was to march in the half-time show. The rest of the game, I chatted with equally uninterested friends … or sat in the bleachers totally bored, wondering when the game would end.

The only time I ever pay any attention to sports is when the San Antonio Spurs are in the finals. Even as oblivious as I am to sports, I see what the team means to our city. As David Flores of the San Antonio Express News says: there is a love affair between San Antonio and the Spurs. I watched the last quarter of the game and got as excited as the rest of the city when the Spurs won their fourth NBA championship in nine years.

Listening to the commentary and the interviews after the game gave me insights into what writers (or anyone striving for success in any field) can learn from the Spurs.

• Experience counts as much as, or more than, raw talent. Commentators along with players and coaches from both teams spoke about the poise that came from the Spurs’ experience – they are a mature team that has been in the championships before. No matter how much raw talent a writer has, she will get even better with experience.
• Teamwork is critical to success. The Spurs have “The Big Three” star players, yet they could not have won the game without the other players. Each team member had to perform their role effectively for the team to succeed. No writer can succeed alone – he needs the help of mentors, teachers, agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, publicists, and others … including readers.
• Perseverance leads to achievement in spite of obstacles. The season started badly for the Spurs, and no one expected them to have a good year. The Associated Press reported: “The Spurs weren’t the Spurs earlier this season, and Popovich, ever the task master, criticized his squad, calling it the worst defensive one he had coached.” Writers may receive numerous rejections and spend years learning their craft and submitting before they achieve success.
• Nice guys don’t always finish last. “{Coach} Popovich is ingenious when it comes to adding players high in character and talent,” according to Jemele Hill, ESPN.com. Spurs players support their community and don’t make headlines for bad behavior. I don’t know anything about the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they were gracious in the interviews I heard after they lost the game, which leads me to believe they’re “nice guys” too. Writers don’t have to put success in their careers above being “nice guys” – mentoring other writers and contributing to their community doesn’t take away from their own achievements.

There are probably many more lessons to learn from the Spurs and the NBA championship, but for now I’m returning to my non-sports-fan writing life.

Congratulations, San Antonio Spurs!

[tags]San Antonio Spurs, NBA, writing[/tags]

Flag Day

June 14th is Flag Day in the US.

I realize many of my readers are from other parts of the world. I hope you take as much pride in your home country and its flag as I take in my home country and its flag.

Nothing Binding: Making a Connection between Readers and Writers

Readers can find books from major publishers fairly easy. It may be hard to sort through all the available titles, but the books are carried in bookstores.

However, finding books published by the authors or small publishers is more of a challenge. You can’t walk into most bookstores and find independently published books. These books are often sold from the authors’ and publishers’ Web sites and perhaps in a few independent bookstores or specialty shops related to the book’s topic. Amazon.com may carry the books, but discovering a new author or a book you haven’t already heard about isn’t as simple as typing in the name of a bestseller or searching for books by a well-known author.

And if finding self-published and small press books is difficult for the readers, getting their books discovered is even harder for independently published authors.

Jerry Simmons spent 26 years in sales and management in the publishing industry, working with several of the major publishers. After he retired and became a writing consultant, teacher, and speaker, he discovered how much more difficult it is for small press and self-published authors to market their books.

Based on his experience with major publishers and extensive research into publishing outside the world of “New York” publishers, Jerry created Nothing Binding. This new Web site, which will launch this summer, is a community for writers and readers to connect. Instead of just listing basic information about their titles, authors can share their inspirations and tell more about themselves and their books. Readers can choose writers and books by genre, mood, or several other options, and they can communicate directly with authors. The building of relationships and community will over time introduce readers to new authors and increase sales for independently published authors.

Though the site has just recently started signing up writers, the last report from Jerry Simmons indicates there were more than 500 titles listed, and I know more have been added since then. However, the goal is to have 5,000 titles by the July 4th launch date and eventually to have at least 25,000 titles. At that point, I understand the site will become an online bookstore. In the meantime, writers can link each title to a point of sale – the writer’s or publisher’s Web site, Amazon.com, Fictionwise for e-books, or anywhere the book is available online.

If you’re a reader looking for books that are different, especially if you enjoy “meeting” the authors, I encourage you to start visiting Nothing Binding and watch it grow. If you’re an independently published writer, now is the time to list your titles and be on the ground floor. If you’re an unpublished writer with a completed manuscript, you’re welcome too.

And if you’re a blogger – as I know many of my readers are – you’re an independently published author, and Nothing Binding is open to you to promote your blog.

Jerry Simmons is upfront that it will take time to build the site to the point writers can expect to make significant sales. But I’m enthusiastic about the future, and I’ve joined and listed my novel Stroke of Luck and this blog. I’ve encouraged my clients to sign up as well.

[tags]Nothing Binding, books, independent publishing, Jerry Simmons[/tags]

Mig’s Vision of My Heart

Mig at eWritings invited readers to send their picture and she would let us see ourselves through her eyes.

Show me your eyes and I’ll give you a dream. I’ll make it a beautiful dream, because this is what a dreamcatcher does: catches the nightmares and releases sweet dreams. So send me a picture of you and you’ll get back my personal vision of your heart.

Here is Mig’s beautiful vision of my heart:

Thank you, Mig!

A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye is one year old today

One year ago today I started this adventure called blogging. Actually I had set up a Blogger site a long time ago but never developed it, and I coordinated a couple of group blogs for Christian E-Authors but never got as much participation as I’d hoped. Although I had helped several clients start blogs, they quit posting after varying lengths of time.

I had also been maintaining a devotional blog for my church and a blog for an Army chaplain who used to be our priest. But I don’t write for either of those blogs; the priests write the messages, and I simply post their messages and moderate comments.

In my first post, I said I’d be sharing news of my projects, writing and editing advice, and information about electronic and small press publishing. I hope my readers have been introduced to good books written by my clients, learned more about publishing (including self-publishing), and gained some helpful tips on writing and editing.

However, rather than primarily educating my readers, I have gained far more than I have contributed and far more than I could have imagined a year ago.

I discovered that my blog is not just a place to share what I’ve learned. Blogging is a large city with hundreds of small neighborhoods. It’s a place to make new friends, a place to learn and share. It’s synergy that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts.

When I realized that my blog was not a platform for teaching or preaching but an arena for learning and sharing, I began to expand the topics I cover. Some topics (like my faith and support of our troops) have evolved naturally because these are important to me, part of who I am. Other topics were instigated by bloggers who challenged me to memes/group writing projects or those who inspired me or made me think in their own blog or in comments here.

Thank you to my blogging friends old and new, including Alicia, David, Doris, Edith, Harmony, Helen, Howard, Hummie, Jeanne, Julia, Karen, Laura, Lisa, Liz, Lori, Matt, Merry, Michi, Mig, Theda, Thomma Lynn, Vikk, Yuwanda, Yvonne, and more. These 24 people who have inspired, educated, motivated, and encouraged me are listed in alphabetical order - each one is special and unique.

Thanks also to each one of you who has visited my blog, especially those who have commented and participated in the community.

One year, 159 posts, 544 comments, and 13,914 spam comments (since I installed Akismet in January!), too many mistakes to count (including one major goof) later, I’m addicted to blogging.

Now I’ve decided to take the advice of Mig and Jeanne and others who write about SEO. Blogging has been a wonderful experience so far – it’s bound to get even better if more people find me … and I make more friends.

Oops! I goofed!

As Webmaster for my church, I post our rector’s liturgy lessons to Devotionals from Father Chip every week.

I create posts in BlogDesk and upload from there. This week, I accidentally posted Liturgy Lesson for the First Sunday after Trinity: St. Barnabas, the Apostle on both Father Chip’s blog and my own.

When I got a comment on the post, I realized the mistake and deleted the post from my blog – I certainly didn’t intend to take credit for Father Chip’s message.

I’m leaving the comment relating to the liturgy lesson with an apology for the confusion and a recommendation that anyone interested in Christian messages read Father Chip’s devotionals.

Blogging Metaphor: Blogging Is a Large City with Hundreds of Small Neighborhoods

Liz Strauss at Successful-Blog started a group writing project: What’s Your Blogging Metaphor?

A number of great posts have already been submitted. My favorite is How Do You Explain Blogging to Your Mom? by Char at Essential Keystrokes.

To me, blogging is a large city filled with hundreds of small neighborhoods. When you first start to blog, it’s like moving to a new city.

Perhaps you already have family and friends in your new home; a new blogger who has friends or associates who are  blogging starts out like you – already part of a small community.

But maybe you moved because of your job, and you don’t know anyone in the strange city that is now your home. A new blogger who steps into the blogging world without any established relationships starts out like you.

Regardless of how you start out, though, soon you’ll be meeting new people. You meet people at your job; you get acquainted with your neighbor at the grocery store; you make friends at the church you join; you find golfing (or quilting or reading or …) buddies at the country club, quilting club, library reading group, or … As a blogger, you meet bloggers in your niche market by visiting blogs on your topic; you get acquainted with your blog neighbors as you check out other blogs in your community; you make friends and find buddies that share your interests through various social networks.

One day, you may be waiting in line at the post office or attending an office party or returning a book at the library. Your neighbor or your coworker or your reading group buddy introduces you to their friend, who soon becomes your friend. As a blogger, you will be introduced to lots of new blogging friends through the blogs you read.

In your new physical home, you’ll make friends faster if you reach out to join clubs, participate in community activities, and introduce yourself to people who share your interests. In your blog home, you’ll make virtual friends faster if you visit and comment on other blogs-introduce yourself and continue the conversation.

Suddenly, you’ll look around and realize the city that seemed so large and intimidating when you first moved in is really lots of small communities made up of people and businesses with something in common. The city comprises hundreds of these neighborhoods, but you may be part of a dozen or two. In the same way, the new blogger will look around and see that the blogosphere that seemed to large and intimidating is really lots of small communities made up of people and businesses with something in common.

In the physical location where you live, you probably stay within the communities you’ve come to know, enjoy, and find useful. But if you venture out of your familiar neighborhoods, you might find new friends and new experiences … just as you did when you first moved to town.

In the blog world, you’ll find new friends and new experiences if you expand beyond your familiar neighborhoods and carry the conversation into new communities.

[tags]Blogging Metaphor[/tags]

What I Learned from Working for the Government

Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings has instigated a group writing project. The rules for the project can be found at What I Learned from … The topic has to relate to the world of work.

In my first two jobs after college, I worked for the government. First, I worked at a military base as an inventory manager for crankshafts for an aircraft that was an important part of the Air Force at the time. Then I found a job related to my degree in sociology, as an employment counselor for the state employment commission working in the federal government program back in they heyday of the War on Poverty.

I learned similar lessons in both of those jobs. The specific things I learned about working for the government also apply to life in general.

1. Many workers take advantage of the Civil Service system that makes it difficult (impossible?) to fire incompetent workers. In the Civil Service job with the Air Force, I was given more responsibility in my first year on the job than some of the workers who were nearing retirement. When someone else made a serious mistake, that person was given easier work, and the botched-up job was turned over to me or another of the workers who took our jobs seriously. Government employees aren’t the only workers who don’t always give their best; many people do the least they can get by with.
2. Many supervisors are too willing to cover up problems rather than take any risks. As an inventory manager, I noticed a pattern of increasing condemnation rate of crankshafts when engines were overhauled. I raised questions, but my supervisors told me just to accept the failure rates turned in by the government contractors and request additional funds to purchase of the $5,000+ items (in late 1960s dollars). As an employment counselor, I suspected applicants were trying to get into the government program (which paid a small stipend while the “hard-core unemployed” were receiving training to improve their employability). My boss told me we weren’t authorized to investigate – we had to take the applicant’s word for everything. We’ve seen lots of cases of corruption in business, education, and just about any field you can name because leaders or peers don’t want to get involved or are afraid to rock the boat.
3. One determined (also known as stubborn) person can make a difference. I raised enough questions to enough people (and other determined people with their own suspicions were doing the same thing) that, unbeknownst to me at the time, the FBI launched an investigation of the engine overhaul facility. The owners of the facility and the government inspectors there were indicted and convicted of condemning crankshafts in good condition and selling them to Israel. In the poverty program, in spite of my boss’s instructions, I was able to find evidence of fraud by several applicants who used phony names and experience to get in the program more than once simply to draw the stipend, with no intention of ever going to work. I refused to admit them to the program. There are always people willing to stand up for what they believe in any situation, and they can make a difference.
4. Some people don’t like to have their plans thwarted; some just have no respect for the law or the rights of others. I had my life threatened by one applicant that I turned away from the program. He said he would be waiting for me at the end of the day with his “piece” – my boss sent me home early, and the guy never came back. Another time, the wife of one of the counselees came to the office asking to see me, but when the receptionist saw a gun in her purse, the manager told her I wasn’t there. Once again, she never came back. Our office was located in the block that was notorious for having the highest crime rate in the city, and my car was broken into and vandalized. All of our offices had openings rather than doors that closed so we wouldn’t ever be alone with the clients. Crime exists everywhere, and the world can be a dangerous place.
5. Many of the “hard-core” unemployed have serious problems that interfere with their ability to work. I was working in the poverty program in a minority neighborhood around the end of Vietnam War. I saw way too many young men who came back from the war with serious mental problems and many more addicted to drugs. We were supposed to be working only with people ready to go to work, but since we weren’t allowed to access records or ask for any documentation, young men told us they had no problems only to demonstrate their problems almost immediately. One disturbed young man didn’t show up for class all week, and when he came to pick up his check on Friday, he was required to report to me for counseling. He told me had been to Houston to try to get his wife to come back to him – she had left him because he didn’t have a job or any money. Based on the behavior I had observed in the short time he had been in the program, I was sure she left him because he was mentally unstable. I referred him for counseling; it was late on Friday afternoon, and his appointment was early Monday morning. That Friday night, he went to a fast food restaurant right after closing. He had worked at the restaurant for a short time, and when he knocked on the back door, the manager let him in. He pulled a knife, slashed the throat of the manager, and stole the day’s receipts. The manager lived, and though he couldn’t talk, he identified his attacker in writing. I seemed to be the last person to see this troubled man before the robbery, so I was interviewed about his state of mind. I didn’t have to testify in court because he was sent to the state hospital for the criminally insane as a result of a plea bargain. People like him needed more and different help than our program was equipped to give them. The world is filled with people with serious physical and emotional problems that need treatment, not a handout.
6. Even programs that are supposed to be for the benefit of people in need don’t always serve the needs of those they are designed to serve. All of the participants in the poverty program went through a two-week training program on how to find and act on a job – employability training, it was called. During that time, the counselor and the client created an employability plan for the client to reach his or her goals. Unfortunately, specific job training classes were scheduled based on funding. We had to fill the classes when they were held, and we couldn’t offer training when there wasn’t a class. If an auto mechanic’s class was scheduled, we were pressured to come up with students, whether or not we had anyone who had the interests and aptitudes for that career. And if a few months later, we had an ideal candidate for auto mechanic’s training but there was no class … too bad. That person either got no training or had to fit into a different slot. One time, everything seemed to come together. A class in clerical training was being offered, and I had three ideal candidates. One was a Vietnam vet who had returned from war addicted to drugs but who had been through a program and was clean and sober as well as being very intelligent, extremely interested in working in an office, and highly motivated. Another was a welfare mother who had been through a series of medical problems and surgeries but was now in good health and eager to build up her minimal clerical skills to be able to support her children on her own. The third was a high school dropout who had gotten his GED and had an excellent work history in unskilled jobs who was ready to learn skills to advance to a more secure future. I spent time with each one, telling them that in spite of the challenges they had faced in life, things were now changing for the better. They were all excited and ready to improve their lives. Then on the Friday before the training started on Monday, the funding was pulled from the class. No explanation – just a message to inform the students they wouldn’t be getting training after all. Although I was not typically defiant, I flatly refused to break that disheartening news. I told my boss he would have to tell them because there was no way I was going to go to them and tell them to forget I’d told them their life was changing for the better. My boss did talk to the clients for me … and I decided I could no longer stay in this position because I believe we helped too few people and damaged too many. Good intentions don’t always translate to effective programs, actions, or laws.
7. In spite of flaws and inefficiencies, sometimes we made a difference … and every time we made a difference, we made the world a little better. I had one client who had worked for one company for several years but had been out of work for quite a while after her employer went out of business. One day she didn’t show up for class, and later in the day I got a phone call. She was in jail, arrested for probation violation. That was a shock, because I had no idea she was on probation. It turns out that she had been convicted of marijuana possession and been given probation (five years if I remember right). She had failed to report to her probation officer once – I don’t remember why. But then she was afraid to report the next time because she feared she’d be arrested for not reporting the last time. So she just quit reporting. She had not been in hiding – she had lived at the same address and had worked for one company for several years. Then about a month before her probation ended, while she in our program trying to get back into the workforce, she was arrested. While I certainly don’t condone her failure to report to her probation officer, I could see no reason to throw a productive member of society who had stayed out of trouble during her probationary period in jail. I was determined she wasn’t going to go to prison for five years. I contacted the state representative for her district, and he and I went to visit her in jail, and I went to court and testified on her behalf. She was released, given credit for successful completion of her probation, and placed in a job. Even if there were more failures than successes, I’m thankful for the successes we did have. No matter how small, any time we help someone in need or stand up for what we believe, we make the world a little better.

And that’s what I learned from working for the government.

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