The Importance of Showing Personality

This might surprise some, but I’m a fan of America’s Next Top Model. I love watching the struggles toward making dreams come true. However, for a long time I didn’t understand why the judging panel would assess the wannabe models, not only on their performances as models, but on their personalities. In my naïveté, I kept wondering why personality should even matter. If the model can do the work, and do it well, then that should be enough.

I’ve come to realise that personality matters a great deal—no matter which profession you choose to take. A good personality will open doors that would otherwise remain shut. A strong personality is remembered over a hidden one. Personality will make friends.

In the comments on my previous post about Overcoming Insecurities to Build a Brand, Denise (L’Aussie) said that she came across a blogger whose response to anyone sharing anything personal about themselves was, ‘No one cares about you. They only want to know what’s in it for them’. While it’s a bleak view of humanity, there is a certain element of truth behind the statement too. And here’s why:

Have you ever checked the twitter feed for any reality TV show? I don’t recommend it because there’s so much nasty there. The haters don’t care about the stars. The TV disconnects them as if the stars were mere characters rather than real people with real hopes and real dreams. Because of this, the haters feel justified saying things they’d never say to a friend or an acquaintance.

While blogging is a little different than reality TV, if we hide behind facts and figures and not share anything of ourselves, then who will care about us as writers, social networkers, or whatever else we do? No one will know us, which means, if we don’t have something specific they want, they won’t have a reason to care, to follow, to support—as they would a friend.

In the same comments, Medeia said in regards to people showing a little more of themselves, ‘It makes me feel closer to the people I’m interacting with’.

Many of us hide behind pseudonyms and avatars, which is no problem if that’s the way you want to go. What’s important is showing personality so the real you shines through.

Which bloggers stand out to you? Why do they stand out?

Photo: My cow slippers, as requested by @BethKanell via Twitter. Go ahead and laugh, but they are super comfy, they keep my cold feet warm, and I love them.

Note: It’s the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, so I’m a little behind on blog visits. I’ll catch up as soon as I can.

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6 Benefits of Blogging

1. To make real connections. Suze at Analog Breakfast tagged me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I've been following Suze for quite some time now and I think of her as a friend. Her posts range from intriguingly philosophical, to wonderfully random and delightfully silly. Plus she feels comfortable enough to call me Lynnie, which is a win. Please visit her and find out for yourself what a great person she is. 

2. To support each other. Three cheers for Nancy S. Thompson who recently signed a book deal with Sapphire Star Publishing for her debut novel, The Mistaken, an adult psychological thriller. Please pop on over to her blog to congratulate her. 

3. To gain a web presence. I can think of a few bloggers who have gained a spectacular web presence. Alex J. Cavanaugh is a stand out. Arlee Bird, the founder of the A-Z Challenge is another. Are you taking the challenge? 

4. To hone the writing skills. Blogging may not be fiction writing, but I'm a firm believer that all writing benefits the writer. In just under two years I've written 250 posts on writing and social media. Those posts have helped to clarify my thoughts, improved my proofreading skills and pushed me to do better. Other great bloggers who offer fab posts related to writing are Carol Riggs at Artzicarol Ramblings, Rachna at Rachna's Scriptorium and Angela Ackerman at The Bookshelf Muse. 

5. To gain opportunities. All my critique partners have been found through blogging. The last two anthologies I successfully sent stories to were found through blogging also. I recently picked up the arc of A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling because of blogging. I've just started reading it and it's great. I also won a copy of the Australian novel, Ellenvale Gold by Amanda Deed via Michelle Dennis Evans. Thank you so much. Plus there are many more opportunities that crop up through blogging.

6. To meet new friends & just relax. I don't know about you but I love visiting some sites which have nothing to do with writing. I might not have found them if I weren't blogging in the first place. They are fun, informative and often bring a smile to my face. A special blogger I want to mention here is Dezzy at Hollywood Spy whose site keeps me up to date on all the happenings in the film world. 

What benefits have you found through blogging?


NOTE: In preparation for the A-Z Challenge I will be taking next week off from blogging. I will return on April 1st when I will be posting six days a week.

  

The Social Media Advantage

In the post I left open for questions (found here), many of you asked about the importance of social media to an author’s career. Today, I will answer Suze’s question: If an author had zero social media presence, but had all her other ducks in a row, do you believe not having a presence in social networking would be the dealbreaker if she wanted to go the traditional publishing route?

One of the panel sessions I attended at a writers’ festival, Zoe Walton, publisher of children’s and YA books at Random House Australia, said that it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker. One of her authors isn’t comfortable with social media but he is great with answering the emails of his readers. The publishing house has also set up an author page for him. The point of social media is to have some kind of connection with your readers.

There is another point to throwing yourself into social media before you get published – it shows agents and publishers that you are active and willing to do a lot of the hard work. It shows them that you would be easier to market than an author with nothing. As my hubby says, ‘It’s like an ogre with many layers.’ An author has the choice to do a little and hope their stories speak for themselves, or do a lot and gain an advantage.

So, in short, while avoiding social networking will unlikely be a dealbreaker if you have an exceptional concept and story, it can only help.

I expect some may disagree with me on this one. Times are changing rapidly where it’s becoming almost essential to use social media to get anywhere. What is your opinion?

Note: I will tackle some of the more specific questions regarding social networking in another post.

Platform Building

What is a platform?
There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth since the days when writers just wrote. We can no longer stay in our artistic dream dimensions to weave genius into our words. We have to step out from our creative cocoons and tell the world we have arrived. So, what is a platform? It’s all the relationships we form and all the things we do to announce our presence to the world.

Why do we need it?
We need a platform because the hard reality is we must prove to publishers our work will sell. We need to show them we have the know-how, the connections, and the motivation and drive to do what it takes to sell a book. And we need to do it before we start to query. The sooner the better because it takes time to develop relationships.

How do we build it?
There are many ways to build a platform. A popular, effective, and inexpensive way is to plunge into social media. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and forums are all free, fun, and informative. The writing community is a generous one, full of wonderful people willing to help each other out. The main thing we need to remember, though, is that social media is about the relationships. This means the benefits of the connections should run both ways. Give back. Be generous. Offer people help, advice, encouragement. If you promote other people’s work as much as you promote your own, then it will become a rewarding experience.

Another way of building relationships and finding connections is to get involved. Join your local writing group, attend writer’s conferences, offer to teach writing or take part in speaking engagements. I’ll be attending the Sydney Writer’s Festival in May. Send me an email if you’ll be in the area for it.

How have you built your platform? When did you start? How important do you think it is?


Note: This post is part of the A-Z Challenge. To learn more about the challenge click the image on my sidebar.

Reminder: Please vote for my blog here. I’ve entered it into the bonus People’s Choice Award as part of the Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blogs Award 2011. My blog is listed under W.I.P It: A Writer’s Journey -- Lynda Young.

Author Photos: Are They Necessary?

Many of us hide our faces while we blog and only post our true photos when we sign with an agent or publisher and sometimes not even then. I’ve only ever given out my photo when it was a requirement to accompany an article or short story that's been accepted for publication.

Many believe the author photo is needed to build the author brand, to offer people an association when they think of you as a writer. Many also believe those who use a photo come across as more professional.

What are your thoughts? Do you think a photo is necessary before an author gets signed? If so, should we pay for professional photos? Do you need to know what an author looks like? Do you need to know what a blogger looks like?

I’d like to hear your opinion.

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Reminder: time is running out to enter my giveaway celebrating 500 followers. If you haven’t entered yet then go here and leave comment letting me know you want to enter. I will announce the winners in my next post.

Thanks: I received the Stylish blogger award from Lisa M Potts. Thank you so much!  I also received the Liebster Blog award from Olivia Green. Again, thank you. 

Writers Platform-Building Crusade

Gone are the days when publishers did all our promotions for us. As writers, we need to be more proactive. We need to build a platform to show our potential agents, publishers, readers, we are here, we are authors, and we are passionate about our work.

Rachael Harrie at Rach Writes has come up with a fantastic idea that will help us to do this: the Writers' Platform-Building Crusade. Her plan is to bring writers of all levels together to help build each other’s online platform. It’s a great initiative.

The Crusade will run from February 1st until April 30th. It’s never too late to join. Just click on the link to find out more.

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Secondly, I’d just like to let everyone know I finished reading Alex J Cavanaugh’s CassaStar. In fact, I read it so fast, I think I inhaled it.

I loved it. Loved it! If you haven’t read it yet, go pick up a copy, sit back in your favourite chair, and enjoy.

All in a Name

Talli Roland had a great post last week about pen names. This topic has been on my mind a lot lately because I’m so uncertain about it.

It’s not like using a pen name is an unusual thing. Science Fiction writer, C J Cherryh, put an “h” at the end of her name because her publishers felt that otherwise her name sounded too much like a romance novelist. J K Rowling used initials because her publishers didn’t want to scare off male readers with a female author name on the books.

If I had an unusual name I wouldn’t worry so much, but it turns out my name is more common than I thought. And, what is worse, a woman of the same name, same spelling, has published children’s health books and another whose first name is spelt with an “i” has published faith books.

With today’s growing need to build a platform before we try to get published, I’m nervous about promoting a name that may have to change. This uncertainty factor is why I don’t use my name in my blog title.

What are your thoughts? If I stuck to my true name would I become just one of many, lost in the crowd? Should I stick to this name for now and wait until a publisher tells me to change it, or should I change it now and hope the publishers like it?

I know some of you use pen names. What are the reasons you decided to change your name? Why did you choose a particular name? Do you think a name matters that much?

Protect Your Rep

For those of us who blog, twitter, or spend any time on any form of social media, we must always be mindful of the reputation we are building – and we build it whether we are purposefully attempting to promote ourselves or not. It is a precious thing. And it is fragile. In the words of Warren Buffett: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. Think about that, you’ll do things differently.

So, how do we safeguard our reputation?

Always be positive. Positivity is attractive. Who wants to hang out with a complainer all the time? You will gain respect and followers when you are positive.

Be helpful. We tend to remember those who make themselves available in a helpful and encouraging way. And we often want to respond in like.

Avoid controversies. Some might think that even bad press is good press, but this is a dangerous game to play. More often than not it will backfire in your face and you may never be able to recover.

Don’t do the burn. Remember what our mums used to say to us: If you can’t say anything nice about a person, don’t say anything at all. I recently read a blog post which listed a whole string of a successful author’s failed sentences. As amusing as some might find this, it opened up a world of trouble for the writer of the blog. Because she burned someone, the readers felt it was then okay to burn her. It wasn’t pretty.

Grow a thick skin. Sometimes no matter how careful you are or how respectful you try to be towards others, someone will find something negative to say about you. If this happens I think it is crucial not to react back in a similar way. There is no justification for being unkind and you’ll end up looking worse than your attacker.

What are some things you do to protect your reputation? Do you even feel it needs protecting?

Twetiquette: Twitter Etiquette

All writers who want to get published should work on building a platform from which they can promote themselves and their work. One way of doing this is using Twitter.

Twitter is about promoting yourself and your work, but it’s also about community. At first it can seem daunting. Your tweets can seem to get lost like the chirps of a single bird in a flock of other chirping birds. How then can you get noticed? How can you get it right?

Some basic rules of etiquette need to be followed:

It’s not only about you. If you only post about yourself, your work, and what you are doing, then you will be noticed, but not in a good way. With any kind of community involvement, it takes time and interaction to build your place within it.

Seek moderation. Be a shooting star, but don’t storm the twitter sky with your tweets. If you post a tweet every five seconds, you will lose followers. No one wants to be bombarded.

Be creative. Regurgitating endless quotes from famous people doesn’t help to promote who you are and it doesn’t help anyone else either. Make your tweets interesting to read. Make them positive. And mix them up.

Be polite. Never ever, ever burn anyone in a public forum. Ever. It’s easy to gain a bad reputation and so much harder to build a good one from there.

Be helpful. The thing about any community is that you are best loved when you share. Retweet other people’s tweets. Be generous. Link helpful sites - not just your own.

Can you think of other helpful twitter etiquette rules? Do you even like twitter?

picture taken from here