SCBWI or Bust

We are on a countdown here, people. Seven days until SCBWI in LA. For the last year, I’ve made numerous friends in the online world through Twitter and the AW forums. Sometimes I feel like my entire life is happening online. I’ve had way too many awkward moments when I was telling a co-worker/sister/IRL friend “Well, Kate said this…” and then “Dawn said this…” after which my co-worker/sister/IRL friend says “Who are these people you’re talking about?” And then I hang my head in shame because I feel like I’m a ten-year-old who’s just admitted to having imaginary friends. Or being a closet World of Warcraft/Dungeons & Dragons player. Completely geektastic.

But all of that is changing. I’ve met Dawn in person, thank you. And we had drinks with Kirsten. And now, on Thursday, July 29, there are 20+ of us meeting at the SCBWI National Conference.

And I pray that the awkward greetings pass quickly. That the people I’ve had deep and meaningful conversations (frequently about RPatz’s sparkly manchest or my mad Photoshop skills), when confronted by my utter silliness and snarky idea of humor,  will like me just as much in person. Kate and I have joked about this a number of times, but I’m not sure if she knows I’m 89.9% serious. It’s so much easier to be myself online. In person, I can be kind of like a cat – quick to love you if we hit it off and standoffish if I think you might step on my tail. Which is an odd comparison because I think cats are evil and frequently share how they will eat you if you die alone. True story.

Proof cats are EVIL

Are any of you nervous about meeting in person?

#WritersRead: Twitter Book Club – TONIGHT!!!

Do you love talking about books?

Have you read Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green (@realjohngreen) and David Levithan? Then you must show up TONIGHT for #WritersRead – A Twitter Book Club!

Time:
TONIGHT, Thursday, May 20 at 6:30 PST

Where:
Twitter. Use hashtag #writersread to join the conversation.

Social Media and What the Experts Had to Say

I’ve worked in marketing for the last seven years. I’ve appreciated how that experience is going to help when it comes to my writing career. Yesterday, as part of my job, I attended a Network of Executive Women event and had the opportunity to listen to some amazing speakers on utilizing social media to advance your career. A lot of this applies to building a personal brand, so I took copious notes to share with all of you, of course. Please note: I’ve paraphrased a lot of what is said and applied it to publishing. The original thinking is property of the speakers.

Topic: Building Your Individual Social Media Strategy

Keynote: Steve Knox (CEO, Tremor)

Panelists:

Katja Presnal (Community Manager, Collective Bias)

Kristen Rovai (Inside Sales Manager, Advertising Sales, Facebook)

Michaela Prescott (Head of Search Marketing, Google Inc.)

Nate Johnson (Director of Consumer Marketing, LinkedIn)

What they had to say about Social Media Strategy:

• Your Social Media Strategy isn’t restricted to Online. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google are great tools, but you need to build a presence offline, too.
• P.I.E. Theory of Leadership applies. PIE stands for Performance, Image, and Exposure. All three are required for people to take notice of you.
  • Performance is expected – it’s the bare minimum of what readers, agents, and editors expect of you. If you rely on performance to get the word out, it will be a long time coming.
  • Image is how people perceive you – how are you presenting yourself on Twitter, forums, Facebook, and your blog? Are you negative and lingering on your failures? Are you focusing on ways to help other writers? What do you want people to take away about you?
  • Exposure is where the rewards lie – this is where a strong network can do wonders. Are you getting your name out there? Do agents and editors know who you are based on what people are saying about you or the content you are posting?
• Know Your Foundational Truth. If you want people to trust you/your brand, you need to know what you stand for. If you want others to advocate for you (like readers spreading the word about you), they need to know they can trust you. For example, if you sell yourself as a family-friendly author and you suddenly deliver a book filled with sex and drugs, you may destroy a trust readers have developed. Know what you are about.
• Disrupt schemas.
  • People develop “schemas” about the world – it’s the way we expect to see the world. If your message fits within the schema a person has developed about the world, people won’t spread the word about you. Your message needs to disrupt their schema.
  • A disruption should be mild, not wild – or it may violate your Foundational Truth.
  • Apply this to Twitter – do you retweet conversations that say what you expect to hear, or things that vary from the norm and surprise you?
• Word-of-mouth buzz is worthless without advocacy. Buzz marketing doesn’t work if people can’t remember the brand/individual. Your marketing efforts should be relevant to you and drive recall of your brand.
• Google yourself often. Aside from feeding your ego, you need to know what people are saying about you. If…ahem… inappropriate pictures are showing up on Facebook, you should know about it and be ready to deal with the repercussions (i.e. untagging yourself or changing your privacy settings).Before you search, try logging out of Facebook so you can test what the world is seeing.
• Facebook can help you get the word out. With over 400 Million users (over 50% of which log in every day), Facebook has a lot of potential to help you build awareness.
• LinkedIn works hard to help you network with other professionals.
• Google Tools to tap into. Google Alerts will help you keep track of what’s being said about you online. Set up your Google Profile – this tool will rank high in a Google search, and will help you to control what people read about you first.
• Don’t drunk tweet.
• What to do about the negative – If you google yourself and discover negative content, get more of your own positive content out there. Do interviews for other blogs. Interview other popular people on your own blog. The more positive content with popular rankings, the lower the negative content will rank in a search. You can also contact the poster of the negative content and politely ask them to remove it.

I hope this tips help you! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me (corrinelj at gmail dot com) or leave a comment.

Moving Day

Welcome to my new home!

I’ve spent the last two days making the hike from wordpress.com to my new blog housed at www.corrinejackson.com. This process was every bit as painful as you can imagine it was*. My reasons for making the move had a lot to do with my plans for marketing myself and my work. I work in marketing, and I’ve done a lot of thinking about how to market myself now and in the future. WordPress.com didn’t provide the level of customization I needed to grow my blog. It didn’t fit me, and I realized there is a connection between planning to market yourself and making a big move. Here are some moving day/self-marketing tips.

1. Make a list. A move can be intimidating when you think of all you have to do and know there are probably thirty things you won’t remember to do. Marketing yourself can feel the same if you don’t know where to begin. Twitter, forums like Absolute Write (AW), blogs, Facebook, and similar tools exist. You need to make a list, and think about which of these avenues fit your lifestyle because you can spread yourself thin trying to do all of them. A blog is the best tool to get your name out there, but it requires a lot of upkeep to keep an audience. Can you make that time commitment? Decide what’s important to you and focus your efforts there.
2. Have plenty of supplies. To pack up a home, you need boxes and tape. To build up an audience, you need content. In case you missed that, YOU NEED CONTENT. How many times have you heard bloggers asking for topic ideas? It’s hard to come up with new ideas, especially when there are hundreds of other writers out there writing about the same topics. It’s even harder when you need to post on a Monday and can’t think of a thing to talk about. Strategize. Develop a pool of ideas to blog or tweet about. You’ll appreciate having these in your back pocket when the well runs dry.
3. Color coordinate. Color coding boxes by room can help you find your belongings a lot sooner in a new home. Your online presence works the same way. If you use one user name on a forum, another user name on Twitter, and then blog under your own name, you are doing yourself a disservice. While some people may want to maintain the privacy of a user name, there are advantages to working under one name. You may even want to use the same avatar/picture and theme so people can begin to recognize your online presence by the look and feel of the site they are experience. This is Branding 101. BTW, I hereby admit I did not follow this advice because I didn’t plan ahead. I am hereby working on it.
4. Pack ahead. In a move, the more work you can get done before moving day, the easier your moving day will be. The same can be said for planning your marketing strategies ahead of your book contract or even signing with an agent. Agents and editors are savvy. They look to see if you have an online presence before they sign you. Decide now how you want to present yourself to the public. This can be a difficult thing to figure out. It’s why companies spend thousands of dollars researching how consumers feel about a logo tagline. Branding is important, and so is your public image.
5. Have friends to help with the heavy lifting. Most of you know a moving day can go a lot faster with the help of friends willing to work for pizza. Self-marketing is 90% networking with other writers, agents, and editors. Now, I often feel shy about approaching people, but I’ve made a lot of friends on Twitter and AW. When my blog was born, my AW friends became my first readers. They linked to my blog, and their readers became my readers. See how this works? I know when my book is published, those same AW friends will be my first reviewers. Networking is a slow process so begin now.

Remember, it’s never too early to start getting your name out there. When your book sells, you’ll want to have a fan base willing to help you spread the word. We like to refer to these people as brand advocates in marketing speak.

*I’m still working on a few clean ups. I lost my categories and tags for old posts so be patient with me while I fix the problem.

Tweet, Tweet: A Writer’s Love Affair with Social Media

I work in marketing. Day in and day out, I live and breathe advertising, promotions, and social media. Many companies are weighing in on the benefit of using Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other online methods to spread the love about the products/services. I believe in the power of social media as a marketer. As a consumer, though, I didn’t want to be a lemming jumping on the latest bandwagon. Personally, I like to feel superior to the lemmings because I would never (gasp!) be on trend. That’s right. I’m original. (I say this in between talking on my totally unique, one-of-a-kind iphone in my leggings and boots. Nope. Nobody else in the world is doing that. And if you are, stop copying me.)

I have been known to mock people who spend their free time on forums (get some friends, losers). I blacklist anyone who seeds me a hug or Easter Egg Hunt via Facebook. And don’t get me started on those self-important people who tweet about getting a Diet Coke from McDonalds (we know you also got a large fries and a Big Mac. You’re not fooling anyone!).

And then, I finished my novel and twiddled my thumbs not knowing what to do next. Thankfully, I found a virtual community to help provide guidance. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the online masses converted me from an original I-turn-my-nose-up-at-following-trends to hi-my-name-is-Cory-can-I-join-your-club?. Insert mockery here.

1. I’m on Facebook – I still ferociously hate people who send me apps (you know who you are). Do not even think about asking me to play Farmville or Mafia Wars. I’m also not sure it’s the best idea in the world to reconnect with those who knew me as a cheerleader in high school. Still, it’s a great way to spread the news about your writing and befriend anyone who is willing to listen to find out Cory is: (a) sick, (b) tired, or (c) sick and tired of being asked to take a quiz because 6 of my other friends did.
2. I blog – What’s not to love? Insta-feedback on my writing via Teaser Tuesdays. Sharing what I’ve learned about craft with other writers through red marks my professors leave on my pages. WordPress stats that feed my obsessive need to know how many people are visiting me on a daily basis (love me, love me, love me!).
3. I read blogs – Reading the Teaser Tuesdays of other writers and their writing tips can only help my writing to grow. See? I’m at least a millimeter taller.
4. I chat on forums – Really, I abuse the other AWers with my version of humor. Amongst all the LOLs and Twilight jokes, we sometimes manage to offer each other encouragement and loving criticism.
5. I tweet – This one wasn’t even on my radar. Only needy, narcissistic people tweet. Lesson #87 of the week: I’m needy and narcissistic. Who knew? Personality disorders aside, I’ve also learned that agents, editors, and writers galore are out there offering invaluable tips on the world of publishing. Plus it’s another way to spread the abuse to my fellow AWers.

Please excuse me now while I update my FB status, check my blog stats, read the AWer blogs, wreak havoc in the forums, and then stalk my friends on Twitter.

*Runs off to make a tee emblazoned with “I’m an original @Lemming. Follow me.”*

BTW: If you just looked up that address on Twitter and it exists, it’s not me and you are probably one of those people who send me Facebook apps. Stop it. Seriously.