Recognition. In this business, identification is everything. I cross paths with many authors and writers in the blogosphere. Maybe I haven't met them face to face, but I *know* them by their blogs, comments, and pictures.
Create a brand. Make it your own. For me, it is colors and my avatar. On my blog, Spirit Called, I use burnt orange. Not many blogs have this.
My avatar or icon is unique. Created by my brother, it is a photoshopped picture of me as a one year old.
An author headshot is great. A must in this business. But create something out of the norm as well so folks know you instantly.
Feedback. Comments on my blogs are sent to my email inbox so I can respond to questions or posts. Do you want a personal response in answer to a question? A private critique?
On your profile, enable your email so you can be contacted.
I realize that privacy is king. But if you want to be an established author, you must have name recognition. To do this, people must be able to contact you. Get a Gmail account rather than a personal one if you want.
But create a contact point.
7 comments:
Great advice. And your picture is awesome! :)
Great post - branding, creating recognition of name and face and associating those with product - essential. I love your little pictures! Happy New Year!
Amen! I might not always get back to my blog to respond to comments, but I try to always respond the them through email--since that's where I read them. It's sad when the email is a no-reply. We miss out on some great conversations when we can't reach those who ask questions or make intelligent comments.
My brand is sort of boring right now, but it's been my face for so long I don't know if its too late to change. Thoughts?
I replied to a follower via email leaving a detailed critique of her submission.
I never heard back from her.
Then *face palm* I noticed the 'no-reply' function was enabled.
@Melissa, did you know you have the 'no-reply' function on your email? Just curious.
@Charity. Your recognition is your author headshot. No problem. I chose a different route.
CURIOUS About Something: Does my personal blog stand out? Unique? Different?
http://spiritcalled.blogspot.com/
I love your blog's color scheme and layout.
Yeah, I love to be able to respond to comments via email. I didn't know I wasn't until someone wrote a blog post about it. That was a few years ago now.
I think people know my icon now. Which is good - I really didn't want to do a headshot!
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