How do you market yourself as a writer? I have always believed that I was a business person and a writer equally, but now I question whether I am letting my business side take over my writing side. I notice trends (we all notice trends) in what is popular today (vampires are dying out, but rebellion is always popular as long as you stick to the new forms.) It's like with movies, and I see how actors follow and make these trends ... happen ... so I can't help but notice a link between my brother and sister writers and the world of actors.
Like an actor, writers represents themselves. Always. J.K. Rowling can move on from Harry Potter (or not, we will see), but when in the spot light and when interviewed, she is J.K. Rowling. She has an agent, I'm sure she dresses up for signings and meet-n-greets, and she has to deal with what is popular at the moment. An actor is like that, except actors usually get themselves in more public scandals, and an actor is considered to make their profession on writing while a writer makes his or her profession on telling the truth—but is this true?
Let's be honest: a writer is the best (and therefore worst, depending on the stance you take) liar. A writer is the greatest actor of them all because, to write a successful story, they must become every single character. Even the minor ones. They must enter each character's minds and hearts to know how they would walk into a room, how they would speak, and what they would speak. How would they react to this situation? And like an actor, their image is the greatest character they will create. Comparisons between actors and writers exist, such as their need to market themselves. There are people who will go to a movie just for the actor, and people will read a book for the author. An author needs an image just as an actor does, and there are ways to create an image for yourself.
Social media is a full-time job, I should know. I literally work full-time (probably more sometimes) for both of my part-time, unpaid internships where I write social media content for two non-profits. You have to be witty. A lot of writers I follow on twitter (I will follow back any fiction or poetry writer who follows my personal account) only post about themselves. They repost the same reviews from their self-published books on Amazon, which is not bad, you should promote yourself, but come on! Who will want to read your tweets? You have to post silly pictures, fun facts, and just random witty and insightful thoughts from the day! You have to make people WANT to read your posts, to get excited when they see your little username on their screen, and then that will make them want to read your work. If you just post reviews and lines from your self-published ebook, no one will want to read it. What sets you apart from all the other self-published ebook writers?
Now, any one of you who checks my personal twitter account right now (@JKShawhan) will see that I do not do that. You should see though the content I come up with for my unpaid jobs. I promise you I am fantastic, I just don't have anytime because social media is a full-time job, so I have to pick the one that will go on my resume right now.
After you spend all your time on social media, there is still more to consider. If we have learned anything from actors Tom Cruise, Woody Allen, Miley Cyrus, and Charlie Sheen, your name is a marketing tool, like your face or style. Your name at the bottom of the cover can be just as important as the title at the top. I've considered changing my name, and there are perks to this:
1. You can pick something catchy or romantic, something related to your genre. That's an obvious one.
2. If you are writing something that your family may not approve of, you can hide it and just live under two names.
3. If you live under two names, it helps you live a private life.
4. You can also hide from those you feature in your writings, corporations or governments you feature (though I think the government will still be able to find you), or you can just hide your wealth if you have relatives of questionable morals.
But, of course, there are also the drawbacks:
1. You don't want to pick something too catchy, too romantic or cliche, such as calling yourself "Midnight" or "Augustus Waters" (sorry John Green, not hating the book, but come on.)
2. People may never know it is you, and if the character you made up gets hit by the fame bus, you may be jealous of yourself. You may blow the secret and be all "It's me, it's me," and the mystery people may have loved would be lost. Or you would realize you liked the fame better when it was a secret.
3. Also, if you hide under a fake name, picking up someone at a bar will be tough. If you want to impress them and tell them the secret that YOU are really the New York Times Bestseller they are currently reading, they will laugh at you. Or glare. Or throw some alcohol in your face.
4. Whether or not if you hide under a fake name or publicly answer to that name, what if you grow to hate your name? Or think of something better? How many times has Diddy changed his name?
5. And lastly, unless you fully embody your new name like an actor, you will not be able to call yourself a writer in public, and I think that is the biggest drawback for people.
Now, after you have the social media and name down, you can work on the rest of your image. It is both very in and very sad right now to type on your mac in coffee shops and be a coffee shop writer, though I cannot promise you success at this. You could also be the vintage writer. You can be Hemingway, Stein, and Fitz and type at your typewriter standing up, then afterwards get too drunk at a Paris bar. Maybe get in some bar fights. Cheat on your many wives or husbands. Become the center of the writing and art world and surround yourself by successful and eccentric friends, or just marry someone eccentric, bipolar, and/or kinda schizophrenic. Or go Ezra Pound, rule the publishing world, and become a traitor to your country. Either way this old way (and particularly 1920s way) is very in. You should try it if you have the typewriter and the free time.
It also helps to be foreign. From a troubled country. Write about the tragedies and injustices happening to the beautiful people from your torn village in the middle of some other countries' wars.
If you can't do that, if you were born middle class white, that is fine, all you have to do is have a nice, dramatic death.
Now, you can go Hemingway and off yourself just as your father and siblings had (and everyone close to you really should have seen coming), or you could Edgar Allen Poe it. This would be unlike Hemingway, who was actually famous before death, since you would have to have your work rejected over and over again, marry your cousin, and drink yourself to death. Now, there is a catch to this: you must be secretly brilliant so that many years later people read your rejected works, realize this, and teach you to middle school children who, on average, couldn't care less about you, just for that one child who does care. And he or she does care.
Once you are done with this, it is time to write, except that social media is a full-time job and if you do all of this successfully you will never, ever, have time to write. So my last piece of advice is to not be too successful at the marketing thing, or you won't write anything above 140 characters.
Like an actor, writers represents themselves. Always. J.K. Rowling can move on from Harry Potter (or not, we will see), but when in the spot light and when interviewed, she is J.K. Rowling. She has an agent, I'm sure she dresses up for signings and meet-n-greets, and she has to deal with what is popular at the moment. An actor is like that, except actors usually get themselves in more public scandals, and an actor is considered to make their profession on writing while a writer makes his or her profession on telling the truth—but is this true?
Let's be honest: a writer is the best (and therefore worst, depending on the stance you take) liar. A writer is the greatest actor of them all because, to write a successful story, they must become every single character. Even the minor ones. They must enter each character's minds and hearts to know how they would walk into a room, how they would speak, and what they would speak. How would they react to this situation? And like an actor, their image is the greatest character they will create. Comparisons between actors and writers exist, such as their need to market themselves. There are people who will go to a movie just for the actor, and people will read a book for the author. An author needs an image just as an actor does, and there are ways to create an image for yourself.
Social media is a full-time job, I should know. I literally work full-time (probably more sometimes) for both of my part-time, unpaid internships where I write social media content for two non-profits. You have to be witty. A lot of writers I follow on twitter (I will follow back any fiction or poetry writer who follows my personal account) only post about themselves. They repost the same reviews from their self-published books on Amazon, which is not bad, you should promote yourself, but come on! Who will want to read your tweets? You have to post silly pictures, fun facts, and just random witty and insightful thoughts from the day! You have to make people WANT to read your posts, to get excited when they see your little username on their screen, and then that will make them want to read your work. If you just post reviews and lines from your self-published ebook, no one will want to read it. What sets you apart from all the other self-published ebook writers?
Now, any one of you who checks my personal twitter account right now (@JKShawhan) will see that I do not do that. You should see though the content I come up with for my unpaid jobs. I promise you I am fantastic, I just don't have anytime because social media is a full-time job, so I have to pick the one that will go on my resume right now.
After you spend all your time on social media, there is still more to consider. If we have learned anything from actors Tom Cruise, Woody Allen, Miley Cyrus, and Charlie Sheen, your name is a marketing tool, like your face or style. Your name at the bottom of the cover can be just as important as the title at the top. I've considered changing my name, and there are perks to this:
1. You can pick something catchy or romantic, something related to your genre. That's an obvious one.
2. If you are writing something that your family may not approve of, you can hide it and just live under two names.
3. If you live under two names, it helps you live a private life.
4. You can also hide from those you feature in your writings, corporations or governments you feature (though I think the government will still be able to find you), or you can just hide your wealth if you have relatives of questionable morals.
But, of course, there are also the drawbacks:
1. You don't want to pick something too catchy, too romantic or cliche, such as calling yourself "Midnight" or "Augustus Waters" (sorry John Green, not hating the book, but come on.)
2. People may never know it is you, and if the character you made up gets hit by the fame bus, you may be jealous of yourself. You may blow the secret and be all "It's me, it's me," and the mystery people may have loved would be lost. Or you would realize you liked the fame better when it was a secret.
3. Also, if you hide under a fake name, picking up someone at a bar will be tough. If you want to impress them and tell them the secret that YOU are really the New York Times Bestseller they are currently reading, they will laugh at you. Or glare. Or throw some alcohol in your face.
4. Whether or not if you hide under a fake name or publicly answer to that name, what if you grow to hate your name? Or think of something better? How many times has Diddy changed his name?
5. And lastly, unless you fully embody your new name like an actor, you will not be able to call yourself a writer in public, and I think that is the biggest drawback for people.
Now, after you have the social media and name down, you can work on the rest of your image. It is both very in and very sad right now to type on your mac in coffee shops and be a coffee shop writer, though I cannot promise you success at this. You could also be the vintage writer. You can be Hemingway, Stein, and Fitz and type at your typewriter standing up, then afterwards get too drunk at a Paris bar. Maybe get in some bar fights. Cheat on your many wives or husbands. Become the center of the writing and art world and surround yourself by successful and eccentric friends, or just marry someone eccentric, bipolar, and/or kinda schizophrenic. Or go Ezra Pound, rule the publishing world, and become a traitor to your country. Either way this old way (and particularly 1920s way) is very in. You should try it if you have the typewriter and the free time.
It also helps to be foreign. From a troubled country. Write about the tragedies and injustices happening to the beautiful people from your torn village in the middle of some other countries' wars.
If you can't do that, if you were born middle class white, that is fine, all you have to do is have a nice, dramatic death.
Now, you can go Hemingway and off yourself just as your father and siblings had (and everyone close to you really should have seen coming), or you could Edgar Allen Poe it. This would be unlike Hemingway, who was actually famous before death, since you would have to have your work rejected over and over again, marry your cousin, and drink yourself to death. Now, there is a catch to this: you must be secretly brilliant so that many years later people read your rejected works, realize this, and teach you to middle school children who, on average, couldn't care less about you, just for that one child who does care. And he or she does care.
Once you are done with this, it is time to write, except that social media is a full-time job and if you do all of this successfully you will never, ever, have time to write. So my last piece of advice is to not be too successful at the marketing thing, or you won't write anything above 140 characters.