Recently, the Smithsonian Channel aired a documentary about The Doors album, LA Woman. Being a fan of the band, this had me thinking of the cult that has sprung up around Jim Morrison. Here was a singer/poet/songwriter who knew how to brand himself, even making a anagram of his name: Mr. Mojo Risin' and calling himself "The Lizard King."
Ah, branding. It's not a four-letter word, but, like "platform," many authors would probably prefer running a marathon than deal with it.
This past Saturday, Charlene Burke, of Search by Burke, was the guest speaker at our local Sisters in Crime presentation, and she talked about this very topic. She gave me some ideas, like starting a Facebook page for my book and revitalizing character blogs I'd abandoned. Readers want to connect to characters as well as authors.
I know I need to work on my marketing platform. One of the things I've been considering is moving my stories into a different genre, given the current ones are over saturated.When you're an unknown author, you have to work harder to get noticed, and sometimes it's like being out in the middle of the ocean and holding up one finger. Yeah, who's going to notice that?
I see authors with banners touting their catchphrases, and I think how cool it would be if I could come up with one. Well, I have one, but it'd probably raise a few eyebrows. I'd share it, but I want to tweak it and run it by a trusted friend or two, before I unveil it.
Getting ready to start working on my marketing plan, not just for my upcoming book, but for my overall writing persona. And maybe I haven't yet discovered who that is.
Maybe I've been looking in the wrong place. Maybe I should study singers and bands and see what marketing ideas they've come up with.
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