abby « Robin Writes

I’ve touched on this before, the importance of marketing yourself and your book(s) and how you conduct yourself on social media, but today I’m going to take you step-by-step on how to do this effectively.

Step One:

Who are you? Take some time to think about this. Then think about your book(s). How do you relate to those books you’ve written? Where did the character come from, or the plot? Surely, it’s a part of you.

Step Two:

Think of all the qualities that make up you, and then combine that with the characteristics of your books. Some of you write in more than one genre, so there may be a third combination. The only real difficulty would be if you wrote both children’s books and erotica; that could pose a problem!

Step Three:

As a writer, you’re also a reader. Probably, as a writer, when you read you become the character, yes? Do you ever notice yourself doing or saying something that, at least in your head, SOUNDS like something a book character would do or say?

Step Four:

Create your look. Think of yourself as a successful author of [fill in the blank]. How would you look? How would you dress? Let’s say you’ve been invited to appear on the Today Show. What would you do or say to complement your book?

For myself, I’d still wear jeans and boots and my leather blazer. I write dystopian fiction—I don’t want to look as though I write romance. An author must “fit” with her book. If I DID write romance, I’d opt for probably a pink suit (cliché, yes!), stockings, heels, fancy hairdo, perfect manicure, etc.

How do you picture yourself in terms of your book? Don’t you “get into character” when you write? Quite often, but not always of course, a writer projects much of his or her own quirks and mannerisms into a book and/or character. Use what you’ve got!

Step Five:

Your voice is important too—your speaking voice, not your writing style. Think about all the authors you’ve seen or know of who make professional appearances and study what they say and how they say it. Modulate your tones to complement your book.

Look at this way: if you watched a non-fiction author of, say, an historical tome about the Holocaust, doing a live TV interview, and she was giggly and distracted, what would you think? I would think she’s kind of an airhead and just maybe her book is also full of distractions and possibly not very well-researched. Maybe that’s unfair, but hey, first impressions . . .

Step Six:

Pull all this together and you have YOUR IMAGE. This is it, there may be a few tweaks over time and with more experience (and more books!), but now you have an image and it’s time to plaster that image all over the Internet and anywhere else you can.

Step Seven:

Be consistent.

I already covered the dos and don’ts of Internet promotion, so I’m just going to add that it’s VERY IMPORTANT to stick with this image you’ve created. Even on your “personal” pages and accounts, to a point. Sure, you can talk about personal stuff, but ALWAYS remember your image.

Particularly important are those times you mess up—using “to” when you mean “too,” “apart of” when you mean “a part of,” and other things like that. Frankly, it makes you look like an idiot and really, who wants to read a book full of that?

HINT: If you simply make a mistake, and are not truly an idiot, there is an “edit” button on Facebook and you can delete the Tweet and re-do it. So it’s completely inexcusable.

And finally, stay out of arguments, political, religious, or actual or imagined slights from others online. That person you have a problem with is online, and that person has friends and acquaintances. You could have a huge blow-up, and that’s going to hurt your image, unless, of course, your image is a whiny, self-indulgent attention seeker. But that’s not going to help your career.

All of this sound familiar? It is. And it bear repeating, over and over. Your image isn’t something that just occurs to you one day, and it’s not automatic. It takes work, just like writing. Go do it.

We always seem to think we’re ready for just about anything. Those of you who are, like me, “of a certain age,” probably have the emergency prep down to a science, right? Or do you?

I got caught by surprise yesterday.

First, my son got one of his usual nosebleeds, albeit a little heavier than is typical. And then, HIS EYE WAS BLEEDING!

Yikes—this is something I’ve never seen and it was more than a wee bit frightening. See, there’s a tear duct that usually drains downward but, in some people, it can also go in reverse. Apparently, he is “some people.”

I called a friend, who reminded me of this tear duct, and then I called the doctor. Had to leave a message, natch. The ER was SO NOT HELPFUL. Fortunately, the doc’s office called right back, said it was uncommon but not unheard of, and we got an appointment for early afternoon.

And yes, everything’s fine.

But what if there was no one to call?

Well, after the initial shock, and of course in retrospect, I’m sure my practical side would have taken over and everything would still be fine. Unless it was a major issue, and in that case, well, you don’t really want to think too hard about that because really, who among us would be up for eye surgery?

The point is that, well, in a SHTF situation, some things just aren’t going to be doable. And it’s probably a good idea to accept that right now.

The second thing, yesterday, was that my puppy decided to tear up my shoe. With my foot inside it. And yes, I was wearing crocs, it was hot, we were outside on the patio. Crocs have holes. The shoe if fine. My toe is not.

In spite of my supplies, stored mostly in the garage, and, for some reason, two boxes of Bandaids in the house, in two different places; we are stone cold out of antibiotic cream in an accessible place in the house. No, I don’t have loaded first aid kit in the bathroom—do you? Like most people, I think, I have a few odds and ends, rarely used, in the bathroom, a kitchen cabinet, etc.

And yeah, some of those things are leftovers from hospital stays anywhere from one to five years ago . . .

Anyway, after I hobbled inside and mopped up the blood trail, I washed my foot and stuck on a couple Bandaids. Damn thing hurt all night, in spite of ice and propping it up. Much better after removing the Bandaids when the bleeding finally stopped, and even better after Advil.

Today, I think I’m gonna live.

The point here is that, no matter how much you’re prepared for SHTF, don’t forget to ALSO be prepared for the little things that do crop up from time to time. No antibiotic cream is not a huge thing—someday we may all run out—but you can still wash and bandage, and, of course, pick some up the next time you’re at the store.

NOTE: Yes, you can use other things, like honey, or make your own antibiotic cream using herbs and oils. And right now, I have honey on my foot. Not as glamorous as it sounds, believe me!