But what about the people sitting right in front of you? What about Ms. Twitter Follower #654 or Mr. Facebook Friend #2209? You might recognize their avatar, maybe even know where you found them or what website they run, but do you communicate with them?

Your platform is not the people following you. It is the people you connect with on some basis. There is a difference. So how do you easily expand your platform? Get to know them!

Twitter @ mention or leave a Facebook wall post for someone you haven’t talked to before. Just say good morning, wish them a nice weekend, comment on a photo. Be genuine.

Comment on a blog you don’t normally follow. Contribute to the informative posts, or send good wishes to a more personal post. Either option is a good way to get to know the people hiding among your growing followers list.

Share an announcement about someone else. Did a follower just reach a milestone with their blog or book? Retweet on Twitter or share on Facebook. People generally like to see when others have obtained even a modicum of success; it gives encouragement they can do it too. So the occasional cheer for someone else is always a nice gesture.

It’s not that bloggers and authors don’t mean these things. In fact, I think it’s safe to say most of them would love to be able to chit chat with everyone all day. But since they simply can’t, they tend to avoid everyone who doesn’t take the initial step. And while it’s okay to continue to strive for more followers, don’t forget to connect with the ones you already have.

Do you find yourself focusing more on numbers than on relationships?

But it’s not really like Facebook, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything.

So what it is? Ning.com is the parent site, where people who wish to build a Ning community sign up. That fee provides the tools and hosting to create a site, which can turn out to be quite huge. I’ve seen many go into the tens of thousands in membership and continue to grow. Signing up to an existing community, however, is free.

Features. The features can vary but usually include: a main forum, groups, profile and friends list, blogging, and private messaging. Many will include chat, as well.

The best part are groups. Most Ning communities allow anyone to start a group, on any related topic. Some are subject to approval from the admins, but that’s usually to keep down the spam. Groups don’t offer a wide range of features, but they have the basics: forum, main “comment” area, admins, and the ability to turn on and off group messages.

Why you should use it. As I said above, many Ning networks are quite large. They are usually created for one particular topic like “blogging” or “book promotion”. the groups which fall under that are related to the main topic. This can turn up all sorts of like-minded people, whether you’re developing fantasy or crafting a memoir. Larger networks tend to have groups exclusive for promoting and networking.

I love Ning networks, and I think they’re a great alternative to the classic forum. There are a few Ning directories, but you probably see the network badges far more than you realized. They are usually a box with the name of the network, sometimes random avatar pictures, and the word “join” appears when you run the mouse over it. For an example, see my Rainy Online page under contact. And hey, sign up and friend me while you’re at it.

What Ning networks do you belong to?

But the question is, should you participate in this?

Some will ask what’s the harm? And others will it’s like panhandling for followers.

My answer isn’t quite that simple, though.

The important aspect to keep in mind is not every blogger has the same goal. Many of us simply want to make like-minded connections. For that, the blog can grow organically or with only simple marketing activities. But there are two other particular groups to consider.

Monetizers. Some people actually make money directly off their blogs. For example, using Google Ads or paid advertising. While I don’t discuss the aspects of running those types of blogs, they do exist. And what drives in the moolah for them? Clicks, of course. They don’t necessarily need a steady list of followers, unless those followers are going to click more than once. They need fresh eyes, and sometimes a follow-for-a-follow or other “check out my blog” activities drives that.

Monetizers are known for coming up with annoying habits, and even spam. But as long as they are honest about the fact they are making money from your click, don’t try to trick you into anything (like changing the introduction to a link to make you think it’s a new article), or overload their site with banners, there’s really no harm from it.

But this isn’t our niche, so let’s move on.

Platform. Oh, now we’re back in familiar territory. Good to be home. Platform is that evil little word all you aspiring overlords and writers should know by now. Whether you self-publish or go through the daunting task of scoring a New York agent, a platform is a must in the handbag of writer’s tools. And yes, it is best if your platform actually reads your blog. But sometimes it takes a little encouragement to get people to click over to see if they will even like what you’ve written. Follow-for-a-follow and such practices are one way to encourage that.

Now, the details:

GFC. When people are asking for followers, they usually mean Google Friend Connect. It would be wise for these bloggers to realize not everyone uses GFC. Some follow via Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or newsletter. So asking your newsletter to add you on GFC can be considered redundant. Choir preaching and such.

Large Blog Follows. If someone has a large list of blogs they follow, does that mean they’re “one of them” and not legit? Not necessarily. First off, just because you follow a blog doesn’t mean you have to read every post. If you use a tool like RSS or GFC to see the latest updates, it’s easy to just select the ones with topics which interest you.

Also, not everyone is a TV fanatic or sports enthusiast. Instead of watching Dexter, they’re reading blog posts. Instead of cheering for their home team, they’re reading blog posts. Let’s not forget devices which handle RSS, so now they can be waiting in the check out line—and reading blog posts. Not everyone who follow a lot of blogs are a scam.

Follow-for-a-Follow Groups. On the surface, this can seem spammy. And it could be. But lets also consider where this request is aimed. If you go to a social network forum and ask for follow-for-a-follow, you are likely to turn up people playing the numbers game. I tried it once, saw the results, did not like. This isn’t genuine, and I don’t advise it.

But what if you ask a writing group to follow-for-a-follow? Now we’re onto something. Since you keep a blog about your writing activities, and they keep one about theirs, you just might have a common ground. This is yet another reason why knowing your blog niche, and being able to sell it in 140 characters is important.

Blog hops. Simply put, a blog hop encourages bloggers to share a widget will display all the participating bloggers on each blog. Certain “rules” must be followed, like commenting on a number of those blogs. One practice that sometimes occurs is making following the other blogs mandatory. This is one of those panhandling techniques I don’t think is in good taste. Asking them to comment is one thing; it encourages you to click over and see if you might like any of those blogs instead of just using it as another directory. But if you like the blog, you will subscribe to it on your own.

Back Linking. This normally refers to links search engines will pick up, and GFC follow lists doesn’t do much for that. But we’ll use this term to also describe links that readers will see. If someone views the profile for a blog author they enjoy, they also see the blogs the author is following. And they might click on them. I don’t even use GFC, and I do this.

I don’t think follow-for-a-follow tactics are any different than insisting on a Twitter follow back. Some people will diss that, too. But I look at this way: time is limited, and I would rather spend time on the people who also spend time with me. This builds friendships instead of readers. Same with follow-for-follow. There are countless blogs out there, so I’d rather read the ones from people who are reading mine.

I absolutely do not believe in driving up your numbers with unscrupulous activities such as following without ever reading. Neither do I believe in using the #followback hashtag on Twitter, because you wind up with numbers, not people. It’s best to keep these activities within your niche, so the interest has hope at being genuine.

In the end, it’s really up to the blogger. If they want to amass numbers, than they can. I, however, prefer real people.

Do you ever participate in follow-for-follow? What “regulations” do you keep?

Except Farmville. That doesn’t count, unless your long term plan is to be the ruler of a virtual farm.

Anyway, overlords with a seriously understaffed minion army tend to become so busy overlording, they forget it’s the small things that make a difference.

What are the little things, you ask, barely glancing up from your Twitter dashboard that would strike fear in the hearts of the gods themselves?

Well, for starters, support other people. This can be retweets on Twitter, sharing links to a blog article on another person’s blog, or giving them a random shoutout. There are many ways to support your virtual community.

Don’t forget the “thank you”. I read some Twitter advice that states not to thank people who RT you because it looks “boring”. Um, I disagree. I mean, if that is all you are doing, then yes, your feed would be rather dull. But the issue isn’t with thanking someone (or a lot of someones). The issue is you not being active enough otherwise.

Also, use their name. Of course you don’t want to do this every time, but make an attempt to sometimes use names during interactions. “Thank you for the RT” vs. “Thank you for the RT, Jack”. See how that tiny addition makes things all the more personal?

Ask questions. Again, you don’t want to ask everyone the same question every time. That defeats the purpose. However, a genuine inquiry can go a long ways in the world of automation and monitors. “Thanks for the RT, Jack! How are you doing today?” or “Thanks for following back! Another coffee fan! How do you take yours?”

Remember to comment. Simply congratulating or wishing someone luck—genuinely, where appropriate—shows you aren’t there just to amass followers.

I didn’t discover these “rules” overnight. I’ve always paid close attention to my social media, but I realized later it only went so far if I didn’t take the effort to show I was actually there. I can’t comment on everything, of course, but following these simple guidelines has greatly improved my personal interactions in the community. It’s nothing I wasn’t thinking or seeing before. I now just take the extra step to make it known.

In short, don’t get so caught up in overlording you forget to show you actually are paying attention.

What additional step do you take, or wish others would take to make social media a better experience?

First, an introduction. WordPress is a blogging platform software. This is crucial. It is not a website. It is not a service. It’s a software—that runs on a webhost to create a website.

So, in the left corner we have WordPress.com. This is a community blogging website much like blogspot.com. But, instead of using Blogger (also a blogging platform software), they used WordPress. There are pros and cons to it. Blogspot tends to be more user friendly, and has quite a few more gadgets than WordPress.com has widgets. When you register an account, it becomes part of the WordPress.com community, much like when you register an account with blogspot.com (essentially, Google) you also become part of a community. So when you visit a blog within that community, you have one sign in.

WordPress.com, just like Blogspot, allows you to only use blog features which they make available. That means you can only use the gadgets/widgets on your blog which the site offers. You cannot add your own.

In the right corner we have WordPress.org. This is the website where you can actually download the WordPress software. You do not need to register, and it does not cost anything. However, you do have to provide your own webhost. Again, you are getting the software from them. You have to have a way to run it. And this isn’t software that you install on your computer—it runs on a web server, so it can be accessed via the Internet.

So, you would need a webhost, which costs, roughly, around US$100/year. You would also need a domain name (the “www-thing”) which costs, roughly, around US$10/year. You will then need to upload and install WordPress into your account. Many webhosts actually have it uploaded already and you can bypass WordPress.org entirely for this part and just install it on your webhost with the files they have provided.

Either way, you will still be registering with WordPress, but the account will not be part of the WordPress.com community.

My blog is an example of this. You can register here if you want and log in, but that registration will not be the same as the one you register on WordPress.com even though I am using WordPress. I am not part of WordPress.com. I run my own blog using the software from WordPress.org.

There’s a few more things that complicate matters. One is WordPress MU. This is WordPress Muli-Site. It is, essentially, the software that WordPress.com runs. Whereas a normal WordPress installation on a webhost is a single blog (like this one), MU is a community where users can generate their own blogs (like wordpress.com).

So, if you have the server space and bandwidth, and time, you could actually start your own WordPress.com type service. I don’t advise it. But, they get their software from wordpress.org.

The other thing that confuses many people is the the domain. Normally, a WordPress.com (community) blog has “wordpress.com” in the URL. For example http://rainyofthedark.wordpress.com would be registered via WordPress.com. Much like http://rainyofthedark.blogspot.com is registered via Blogspot.

But, just like with Blogspot, you can register your own domain to point to the community blog, making it appear as if it is a webhosted (commonly called self-hosted or standalone) WordPress blog.

Now, why would anyone want to go through the trouble of setting up their own standalone WordPress blog?

Because a self-hosted (standalone) WordPress blog packs a punch.

While wordpress.com is a great community, and sufficient for many people, a standalone WordPress blog is like training with weights and one of those crazy yoga balls. It has strength, endurance, and flexibility.

There are many things that a standalone WordPress blog can do which the community one cannot. But, as with most things, the usefulness of that depends on what you want to do with it in the first place. Both serve a purpose; no one needs to tap out.

Ding!

Do you or have you used WordPress? Which one? What is your opinion of it?

Some advice will tell you to send your info in direct message, so they are sure to see it.

Um, no. That’s the equivalent of shoving a handful of brochures into someone’s face.

Some say to @ mention your book information so people are forced to see it.

Um, no. This is like shoving a handful of brochures in someone’s face while having Bubba, fresh out on parole, hold open their eyelids.

Some say to repeat your posts several times an hour for those who have active streams and may not see your post.

Um, no. What about the people who don’t have active streams? Well, now they do–and it’s all your message, over and over and over. . .

New authors, eager to roll up their sleeves and get into this marketing thing, often make these mistakes. They mean well, but unfortunately this can get them banned from social network sites. Even worse, their potential readers will hate them.

While it might seem like a great idea to @ mention and DM and shout out the book every twenty minutes, this is now in the ranks of Viagra and hair loss e-mails.

Spam.

Spaaaam.

Yes, I know they don’t mean to be a spammer, but that’s what this is and there’s nothing they can do to change the perception of it.

What they–you–can do, though, is learn better ways to get your word out.

And here’s the funny. . .

It involves next to nothing with your book.

Twitter is a social network. The keyword here is “social”.

What you should be doing, then, is socializing–constructively. The fun part about your book is that the people who will probably be interested in it, are people who you would probably be friends with anyway. Or, at the very least, have something to talk about with them.

Figure out your audience. What genre(s) would they like? What other specific titles?

Now find them and—socialize. Say hello, check out their blog, ask them questions. You know how when you meet someone in real life, you shake their hand? Say “pleased to meet you”? Ask how they’re doing?

Even though the environment has changed, the social conduct is the same.

Well, except you can be in your pajamas while on Twitter.

What you are really wanting to do is connect with readers, not shove virtual brochures in their face.

So, take a breath from the sell-sell-sell and try to connect-connect-connect. When you catch someone’s interest, they will click over to your website all on their own.

Mostly. You do need to make your link visible. Make sure it’s listed on your Twitter profile. Make sure when you have a new post or something interesting to announce, you actually announce it. Don’t go the opposite of utilizing Bubba’s thumbs, and not show off your book at all. That doesn’t do anyone any good.

But the difference is “talking about your book” and “selling your book”. You can talk about it. Stop trying to sell it.

What Twitter tactics have you found work the best for you?

However, I did notice my subscriber list dropped to 0. Minor heart attack ensued.

Upon a little investigation, I did discover that yes, you can still backup your Feedburner subscribers–even if it shows 0.

Here’s how:

Go to Publicize – Email Subscriptions.

In the body to the right you will see “Subscription Management”.

Scroll down all the way to the bottom.

Underneath your subscriber total, click the link, “View Subscriber Details”.

That will drop down options.

Click “Export: CSV”

This will save a list of your subscribers so you may import them into another newsletter.

As far as RainyoftheDark goes, most people were using the blog’s feed anyway. Next month, I will provide a new option for newsletter subscribers.

What Feedburner services did you use? What is your backup plan?

Now I’m going to show you a very simple way to embed a website into one of those tabs. You can embed your book information page or even your entire blog.

First off, this tutorial assumes you have already followed the directions for creating a tab and are fairly familiar with the Static HTML app by now. If not, please read those other posts before continuing.

In the public box, type:

<script>location.href="LINK"</script>

In place of LINK, type the full URL to your website.

Save.

Tada!

You thought it was going to be difficult, didn’t you?

What website did you or will you embed?

Now we are going to talk about two more aspects of this. Today we will discuss how to add another tab, because the feature is sort of obvious and not at the same time.

Next week, we will talk about embedding a web page into your Facebook page.

So to get things rolling:

If you have already installed Static HTML (per the previous post), then simply do this:

On your Facebook page, click your Static HTML tab. It was called Welcome by default. You may have renamed it. It must be a tab created by the Static HTML app, not any other app or default on Facebook

Click “Edit Tab”. It’s a big blue button in the upper left.

Click “How To”. It’s a big yellow button with a question mark on the upper left.

In the list that comes up, under the heading “How To” click “Add More Tabs”.

It will return a list of all the tabs you can create. If you have only one from Static HTML, click on Second Tab.

No, this isn’t just steps to the how-to documentation. Those tab links will begin the setup process for the new tabs.

What features would you like to add to your Facebook page?

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter at the bottom or top of this page to be notified when the next article comes out!

Are they just pulling up their big girl (or boy) pants?
Are they just fluffing up harsh reality to make it more comfortable?
Are they just lying, plain and simple?

I don’t think this is the case with any author who really gets what’s going on. Here is why. . .

As a reader, long before I delved into the writing community, I knew a few things:

Nothing is universally loved. Believe it or not, some people even dislike chocolate. Gasp!

My tastes and opinions are my own.

Some people lie.

So, when I go to purchase something, especially if I have not yet made up my mind, I always do one thing–read the negative reviews.

Does a negative review turn me off?

Not at all.

What about ten?

Nope.

The first thing I do–and I dare say I am not alone in this–is weigh what the negative review is actually saying. The book took too long to read? They didn’t like the main character’s sarcasm?

Well, guess what? I like long books, and I like my characters to be somewhat of a jerk off. It’s all about the anti-hero love, folks.

Anyway, reviews which complain about these things no longer have any value to me.

Now on the flip side, if the negative review says the book is filled with grammatical errors, no amount of five-stars will convince me I want to read it.

I feel that it is the author’s duty to make sure their book is up to standard.

Now let’s back up and pretend there are no negative reviews at all. I come to one of two conclusions:

This book isn’t receiving much attention, perhaps for a reason.

Someone is lying.

In short, negative reviews give readers important decision making facts. One, if the questionable part of the book is something that means anything in their opinion or not. And two, the book has received enough attention that someone, somewhere doesn’t like it.

This doesn’t hold true just for books. I honestly believe if you don’t upset a few people here and there, then you’re doing it wrong. Whatever ‘it’ is.

So don’t go Nazi over your book reviews. If you receive a negative review, be silently thankful. Someone like me just might buy your book now.

Has a negative review ever convinced you to buy something? Have positive reviews ever convinced you NOT to buy something?

This happened to be the latter.

We have talked before about the reality of picking a blog name. Not only are many domain names taken, but there is a line between working under an SEO-driven URL and a name about which you are enthusiastic.

My own domain name is an example of this. I never intend RainyoftheDark.com to top Google’s search results for book related articles. What I wanted was to connect with people as an individual. I (hopefully) provide useful or entertaining content because I like to feel I’m doing something productive with my time. And I like to share what I do know.

Had I wanted to take Google by storm, there would be a lot of changes, including a renaming. However, Rainy of the Dark has a particular meaning to me, which will become apparent as time goes on (and it has nothing to do with music, religion, or fashion). For me, the domain name is well worth the points subtracted from Google.

Now, back to the group blog discussion.

I followed the emails because I happen to like everyone who was on it. Some of my most favorite people were there, actually. I have no intentions of being a part of the group blog—I have enough projects in front of me as it is—but I do know a few things about SEO, having been devouring geek-ism for my entire life. How many people do you know actually check the ranking of keywords on a regular basis? Yeah, it’s a sickness.

Anyway, someone else chimed in about SEO. This individual knows someone who makes websites. Hmm.

Unfortunately, there were two desperate problems with the information provided by this well-meaning individual’s friend.

First, this individual’s friend was obviously not up to date on the changes that have occurred with Google. If they’re in the market for selling internet dreams, they probably should brush up. Just saying.

Second, there is a huge difference between technicalities and reality. One aspect their friend was correct is that content is king—what you post to a blog, or moreover, continually post to a blog, will build up more SEO (aka brownie points with Google) than just the domain name. This is correct, but close to irrelevant.

Don’t get me wrong, content really is king. You can’t win over Google by simply choosing an awesome domain name. You need to provide. And then provide some more.

But there are two major realities here that tend to get brushed under the rug. One, this is the book community. There are countless blogs already providing. If you’re going just on content alone, then you have more than your work cut out for you. There are book blogs that have been around for years. A new book blog is going to find itself in the great cyber abyss if it’s not careful.

Two, this particular blog being debated was meant to be a part time project. The goal was to generate as much SEO as possible with as little time or effort as possible. Remember those bigger, better blogs? Yeah, many of them have staff writers who fine tune each post to be SEO friendly. . .and they do that several times per day, not week.

So what does this mean? Essentially, a new book blog is going to have to bring out all the dirty weapons to reach some form of recognition. There are many things that cannot be changed with a few clicks. For example, how long the domain has been registered. Nothing but patience will help that one. Another example, how much time the contributors can donate to writing clever articles.

There are, however, a few things they can control which makes a difference. One of these is the domain name.

If your goal is to snag as many visitors from Google as possible, then why would you overlook such a relatively simple, less time consuming factor that you can, in fact, control? That makes no sense to me.

Of course, if you’re just wanting another blog to pitch to the same audience to which you pitch your personal blog, then by all means, be frivolous. My own blog is frivolous, so I obviously have nothing against that.

But don’t be surprised if it takes more work to be visible to new people.

Which aspects of SEO did you purposely go against? Which do you wish you hadn’t? Which aspects do you strive for?

I have three. The fact I’m not dead by their own hands, er, paws is a miracle in and of itself. I can’t say other breakables around the house have had such luck. The oldest beast enjoys few activities more than jumping onto a shelf and promptly knocking an item to the floor. He watches the fall and delights in the crash, no doubt imagining that is me and the stairs. . .one day. . .

Either way, I decided enough is enough (oh, boy) and went on a quest for the Holy Grail known as museum glue. Or museum wax, or putty. Or earthquake gel. Whatever name you prefer, not a single hobby or craft store in my neck of the woods seems to carry it. They have this awful green fake plant clay goop. No, thanks.

Now, if you’re not familiar with this stuff, it’s simply a clear adhesive that holds knick knacks or whatever in place, but allows you to remove it and reuse it.

So, I hit up Amazon. After researching–because I am the kind of person who even researches glue–I found the one I wanted. I go to press the happy check out button except. . .it’s nowhere to be found.

What?

Now, this isn’t my first round with Amazon by any means, but I have never run into this before. We all know about the shipping program, where you get free shipping for $25 worth of items. Apparently, there is a sub category to this—shipping add-ons. These “special” items, will not ship without a $25 qualifying order. If you try to add something else, and then ship, it will throw this “special” add-on item back into the queue to wait for a $25 qualifying order.

Most of these glues fall into this category. A few do not, but neared $20+ anyway. Some have no information. And some simply wouldn’t work on the surface I plan to use, which happens to be antique.

I’ve never used museum glue before, so I really just wanted the little $5 set to try it out.

Buying glue should not require coffee, or bring on the urge to smoke.

Anyway, I’m kind of stuck in Amazon’s game without going to some questionable website.

So, you know how you always have this list of stuff you want? Yeah, my mind saw that one coming and jettisoned the entire list. I know what it was thinking: I am not playing this, Amazon.

Except, even I knew that was a lie. Like I’m never coming back to Amazon? Pfft, right.

What should have been a five minute task of purchasing glue, turned into an hour of browsing on Amazon.

I did reach the amount with qualifying items ($25.60 thank you very much). I did finally have the option to include my glue. And it did finally ship.

Unfortunately, everything I bought is going to require more glue. . .

Ready?

See how I have to pad this post with a vain attempt at anticipation, just because this tip is so easy?

Write your sentences in chronological order.

Wait, that’s it?

No, I don’t mean write sentences in order–though that’s a goood idea too. I mean, in a sentence with two related events, write those events in order of occurence.

She screamed after someone knocked on the door.

Instead use:

Someone knocked on the door, and she screamed.
She blushed when he smiled at her.

Instead use:

He smiled at her, and she blushed.
She kicked the alien after it stuck its tongue out at her.

Instead use:

The alien stuck its tongue out at her. She kicked the closest of its eight shins.

Why?

Readers tend to visualize scenes in their head as they go along. While there’s nothing grammatically wrong with writing a sentence out of order, it causes a subtle, yet annoying, thing to happen. The reader briefly rewinds that moment and plays it out in the order it happened. These few seconds have jarred the reader from the story.

Like all writing tips, there are exceptions to the “rule”. However, unless you have a justification for confusing the order, try implementing this concept and see what happens. It is especially useful when handling complex or fast paced scenes.

Do you find yourself writing sentences out of order? Do you have an example of when it’s better to do so?

Anyway, admit it–sometimes you want to see the actual number. Twitter used to show this. . .and now it doesn’t.

Why?

Who knows.

But there is a better solution than counting them.

Hopefully you read this article before embarking on that epic quest.

To get started, the tools you will need are:

A TweetDeck account. It’s free.

Oh, and a Twitter account helps too.

Moving on.

Once you are logged into TweetDeck, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in your user name.

Warning: You May Begin Googling Yourself Too.

Press enter and click on your name in the stream.

Your profile information will pop up, including how many times you are listed.

Please ignore the “Tweets” number. Thank you.

And there you have it, leaving you with more time to find out you’re on a sea monkeys collectors list.

How many lists do you belong to? Are you even the list bit frightened by how many times you’ve Tweeted?

See, if you are signed into Google or Blogspot, and then comment on a Blogspot blog, your link is automatically added. So you get the backlink, the chance someone might click on it, and all those fun perks of commenting, besides the interaction. But some settings on Blogspot force everyone to utilize a third party Google to leave a comment. This gives no control over what link is added. And sure, we’re going to comment anyway. At least, I know I will. But it would be nice if we all allowed each other to share our real blog links, and not the one imposed by settings.

So how do you, the blog owner, fix this? Just sign into your Blogspot control panel, click settings — comments. Change “Who Can Comment?” to “Anyone”. Don’t be alarmed; this doesn’t remove the spam fighting captcha. It just means even if we’re not part of a community network, we can still comment–and leave our link, like most other blogs allow.

Thanks for playing.

Do you refrain from commenting on a blog if you can’t enter your real link?

I’ve taken to using Hootsuite. I’d heard about it, poked around it, didn’t care much for it. Then one day all the social media just snowballed out of control and I had to give this management thing a go again. And I really like it.

If there’s interest, I’ll write more about it later. This post, however, is an introduction.

Hootsuite allows you to have up to 5 tabs, and each of those tabs connects to a different social networking site such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. And yes you can have mulitple of each (if you’re crazy enough to have more than one account on the same networking site–like I am). And yes, you can connect both Facebook profiles and Facebook pages.

When you add a tab, you can customize the streams. That is, what is shown. For example, on Twitter I have my home feed (the timeline), my mentions, pending Tweets, and sent tweets. On one tab I even have the hashtag #rainyofthedark so I can keep track of where my blog posts go.

Some of the drawbacks with Hootsuite are: you can’t connect some accounts that I’d personally love to, such as Goodreads, Triberr, or Google Plus. Okay, that last one isn’t entirely true. Enterprise users can connect to Google Plus, but Enterprise accounts run about US$1,500 a month. I have no idea who decided on this, but I hope one day they’ll release Google Plus to all users. Or, at least, Pro users.

Pro accounts allow, among other things, more than five tabs (and thus, more than five accounts). It runs, currently, about US$6 a month. Much more managable for the average user.

Hootsuite offers an array of other featurs, but we’ll get into those another time. For now, Id strongly recommend checking it out. It’s awesome.

Do you use Hootsuite or another social media management dashboard? Have you used the Pro account? Enterprise? What do you like or don’t like about those? What social networks would you like to see added? Do you have any information on why Google Plus is exclusive to Enterprise users?

When joining sentences with different, but related, subjects.

Cecil made dinner, and his minions ate it.

Because the person who cooked and the people who ate it are different, a comma is added before “and”.

Now, if Cecil is just starting out his world domination mission and has no loyal henchmen yet, then he is eating comma-free.

Cecil made dinner and ate it.

Before the final “and” when making a list.

This one is actually controversial. Technically speaking, you don’t have to add the comma before the final “and”, as long as the meaning of the sentence is clear without it. Some people, like me, prefer it for the most part. The thing is, while the meaning of the sentence might be absolutely crystal clear to you, it may not be to the reader. Tacking on that last comma takes such little effort to prevent confusion (or being snickered at behind your back).

Let me give you an example of how confusion could arise:

Cecil invited over two potential minions, Jack and Lucy.

Now we have a problem. Did he invite over two or four people?

Consistently using a comma before the final “and” in a list will clarify that there were, indeed, four people, two of which we already know their names:

Cecil invited over two potential minions, Jack, and Lucy.

Naturally, context helps a lot, but it doesn’t solve everything.

Setting off unnecessary information.

This one can be a bit misleading, because it’s not what is unnecessary to the actual text, but to the grammatical structure of the sentence. Oh, no. Did I just say grammatical structure? Just keep reading. It’s not too difficult.

Cecil, an aspiring overlord, made pancakes for breakfast.

Now, it might be useful to know Cecil is planning to take over the world, but the sentence is just fine, grammatically, if you wrote: Cecil made pancakes for breakfast.

There are many more comma rules and nuances, but we’ll stop at these three and let Cecil get back to entertaining and recruiting minions.

What punctuation mark confuses you the most?

Software proved to be another problem. Part of the justification here included the cost of software, which sometimes runs hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Add on the fact the development companies don’t often scale down the price to fit the local economy, and we have ourselves a product for pirating. Things become a bit more tricky here, because we can’t usually break down software and sell it in functional increments. Also, the cost of development is not paid in royalties—programmers work for wage or salary, after all.

Movies continue to be an issue. Some are even leaked before the theater has a chance to wring your bank account for tickets and popcorn. Inexpensive and ad-sponsored online streaming has helped alleviate this, though the issue hasn’t gone away entirely.

And rounding it up, we have images. Whether photographs or computer generated, images belong to the artist. Whether you go all out and actually remove the watermark yourself, or happen to find a clean copy on Google Images, the artist holds the sole rights to the image. They can charge any price they want, and they can restrict its use. For example, most artists are very generous with their creations for personal use. Understandably, they tend to want compensation for commercial projects though. A commercial project is likely to make money, so why shouldn’t the artist?

Now, with the advent of ebooks, we have reached a new yet all too familiar problem. Ebooks are being pirated. There is much debate between those who believe it is wrong, and those who believe an author should be even flattered that someone appreciates their work so much to make it available to the questionable part of the internet. Some authors even think it helps boost sales in the long run.

I’m not going to argue or validate any of those points here. What I am going to discuss, however, is the unintentional hypocrisy occurring among artists—all artists.

When you decide to sell your book, you have become a commercial entity. It doesn’t matter if you sell your book for 99 cents, self published, run free promos, have a business license, give your royalties to charity—you are a commercial entity and you are expected to act accordingly.

I don’t mean your media personality, but the laws you are to abide. This means if an image is free for personal use but not commercial—you cannot use it. Not as your book cover, not as your web design, and not as your book trailer. This also goes for music, by the way.

Creative Common images for non-commercial use should not be used for your book .And please, stop using popular songs on your official book trailer. Just because a song is played on every radio station across the nation does not mean you have rights to use it. In fact, you do not. You are a commercial entity, remember? If you want to use that cool Evanescence song, guess what? You have to ask permission (which usually involves a hefty fee). This also applies to movies, by the way. Don’t mash together clips to make your official trailer.

Remember, anything which comes out as an official representation of your book must abide by commercial use laws. Fan creations tend to get a little more leeway (though usually only because it’s not worth the effort of the lynching mob).

What about fair use, you say? This is a fantastic argument, which is rendered almost pointless when it comes to selling your own product. And that is what you are doing, selling a product—your book. Fair use is a very gray area, but it leans heavily in favor of education, review, commentary, etc. Not “struggling author attempting to sell their book”. In general, the less profit–or intent for profit–and more positive social impact from the result, the more likely it can be passed off as fair use.

If you want to be taken seriously, you should know the laws. And if you feel that your book is too small for a hit band to realize you used their work without license, then you really have no right to complain about those pirating your e-book. Think about it.

Do you feel using or distributing copyrighted work without permission is ever justified?

Your Blog or Author Website (no purchase links): http://evergreenandindigo.blogspot.com/

Your Twitter (if applicable): https://twitter.com/CourtneyPrivett

Your Facebook (if applicable): https://www.facebook.com/CourtneyMPrivett

Your GoodReads (if applicable): http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5778694.Courtney_M_Privett

How would you describe yourself? I’m a thirty-year-old mother of two, a classical percussionist with an engineering degree, a former analytical chemist, and an obsessive writer.

How would you describe what you write? My books are epic fantasy set in a fairly modern world. I don’t write about dragons, elves, evil sorcerers, werewolves, or vampires, but I do write about superhero-like mages and priests. The Geophorian priests each have a single inborn ability, spend their lifetimes learning to control those abilities, and are unable to learn any other ones. Some are weak, some are strong enough to destroy the world, and some have powers which gradually destroy their bodies or minds. For example, I have priests with fire talents, one who recalls the memories of others at the expense of his own, and one who sends the people around him into a state of euphoria just by being close. The Geophorians fell from their golden age upon the ascension of a king and are persecuted in one country and warily accepted in others. I started with an idea for a single book at the age of twenty-one, and it is currently an octet comprised of a trilogy and five stand-alone books stretched across about 8,500 years of Maloran history.

What inspired you to start writing your first book? I wrote short stories as a child and teenager but I didn’t write my first book until I was in college. I was bored between the spring and summer semesters and had a random idea to write a book. I got about 80 pages in before we got hit by a multi-day power outage and I lost my momentum. I stopped writing it but it lurked around in my head for a couple of years. I was working a temp job in insurance and had too much repetition to keep my mind engaged. I was listening to Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations album at work and had an epiphany about how to finish the book. I finished it and then wrote my trilogy, which was inspired by a cautionary tale within the first book.

Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla? I usually prefer vanilla over chocolate, but I’m more adventurous in flavors than chocolate and vanilla. I love fruit, so my favorite flavor of the week was a blackberry lavender snow cone.

What authors influence your writing? Every author I’ve ever read has influenced my writing somehow. I take note of both the good and the bad in what I read, so I try to let the good inspire me and the bad teach me what not to do. I look to Tolkien for his world-building, Stephen King for his realistic characters, Ray Bradbury for his poetic prose. Before I had kids and a fierce writing habit, I read 5-7 books a week, so I’d pick an author and read his or her entire catalog unless I became bored.

What one writing tip do you have for new authors? Just write. Writing well takes practice, so just write and don’t worry at first if it isn’t any good. I recently went back and rewrote my first book since it’s a great story I’d like to publish eventually, and the writing was terrible. It was cool seeing how much I’ve improved over the years, and it’s because I kept pushing myself and didn’t stop writing. Don’t worry about editing during your first drafts because that distracts you from the moment. Rewrites and edits can wait until the first draft is complete and set aside for a couple of days or weeks so you can see it more objectively. But mostly, just write. You’ll never get any better if you don’t.

Did you self or traditionally publish, and why did you choose that route? I chose to self-publish because I’m impatient. Well, not so much impatient, since I must have some patience to have finished these books, but at least running on limited time. I have two children under three years old so waiting years for anything to come of my queries didn’t appeal to me. I like having control over the process and working on my own deadlines. I’m not very good at marketing myself, but as with writing in general, that is something that takes some practice and failure to be good at.

Do you have a blog, and how has it helped with your promotional efforts? Yes, I have a blog. I started it a couple of years before I published, so it’s content has morphed over time. It is kind of lonely over there at times, but I still use it to update my readers about promotions and progress and post excerpts from my books. There is some content on there you won’t find anywhere else, such as the Volle dictionary, and I’ve done a couple of author interviews which have brought traffic to my blog.

What one thing are you OCD about, in general? If my characters aren’t awesome, I don’t have a story. I have to both love and hate them, and their motivations have to make sense. There are no good and evil in my books, only a rainbow of deeply flawed people. I translate this expectation to the books I read and poorly written characters ruin the book for me. My husband thinks I’m overly critical, but I think it’s just that I spend so much thought perfecting my imperfect characters that I wish others would do similarly.

What is the most creative way you have promoted any of your books? I’m still searching for creative ways to effectively promote. I’m new to the publishing game and focus more on the writing than the promotion, so I’m still lost.

What would you do differently if you had to start over? I’d learn how to promote before I published and published my first four books separately instead of all at the same time and with a little more thought than, “Hey, I just clicked publish. Check me out!” I’ve put a little more time into pre-promotions for my fifth book, but I still don’t feel like I’m doing it right.

Where do you hope to see yourself in the next five years? I’m kind of an oddball because I’m more interested in the craft than making money off it because I don’t need to earn a living from my writing. I’d like to have steady sales and plenty of feedback. I think five years from now I’ll have the second trilogy published since I have it partially finished now, and hopefully I’ll have written myself out of Malora and into a new book or series, but I’m not counting on that. There is way too much material still hiding in the shadows of my world and I have a feeling I’ll be lost in Malora for a long time to come. My single book turned into a quartet, then an octet of books in different eras of the same world, so I may be wandering my own personal Discworld.

What are the first three rules you would make if you took over the world? The same rules I give my children: No hitting or biting, no touching others without their permission, and share your toys.

Want to be interviewed? Click here!

Selso Xisto

Your Blog or Author Website:

http://selsoxisto.wordpress.com

Your Twitter (if applicable):

@selsox

Your Facebook (if applicable):

Selso Xisto

Your GoodReads (if applicable):

Selso Xisto

How would you describe yourself?

A classic homebody! I much prefer sitting indoors bashing away on my laptop than going to a beach; which goes some way to explaining my love of writing.

How would you describe what you write?

Fast-paced, character-focused, high-stakes, thought-provoking adventure.

What inspired you to start writing your first book?

I think like most writers, reading a lot of amazing books in my chosen genre. Being taken to so many amazing worlds and on such breath-taking adventures by your favourite authors really sparks the imagination. It’s like a muscle in your head; great writers give it a work out but after a while you want to go off and create your own exercise and hope to have that effect on someone else.

Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?

Ok, controversial here but I say vanilla. Gets a really bad rap as the ‘plain’ flavour but I think this is grossly unfair! Chocolate as a food in and of itself wins every time, but as a flavour… vanilla is more refined.

What authors influence your writing?

Peter F Hamilton is the biggest influence, in particular his style of telling galaxy-spanning epic scifi from the perspectives of many characters from different sides of the conflict. Thematically, Arthur C Clarke, Greg Bear and Yokinobu Hoshino gave me a lot of ideas.

What one writing tip do you have for new authors?

Get a real editor! You’ll NEVER spot all the problems and mistakes yourself no matter how many times you pore over that manuscript. Also, get advanced review copies out BEFORE releasing your book. This was a mistake I made and it seriously affects the momentum of your release. Also, write what you love! I think of writing as a joyful hobby, the second it becomes a chore or I feel like I’m writing to try to please other people, I’ll stop.

Did you self or traditionally publish, and why did you choose that route?

I self-published partially out of impatience. I didn’t want my work lost in years of submissions and chasing. Because this first book was such a labour of love, I didn’t want to change half of it to meet some marketing-led guidelines. It was my little piece of art, and I just wanted to share it, not make money from it. Having said that, I did get it properly edited as I take the quality very seriously and wanted it to match anything on a bookstore shelf. I can’t guarantee everyone will love it, but I can put my hand on my heart and say I wrote a book I, myself would love to read.

Do you have a blog, and how has it helped with your promotional efforts?

I don’t think my brain is capable of blogging! I write at far too glacial a pace to make an impact in the blogosphere! As I’ve seen with a few indies though, this is a shame as I think it would help enormously.

What one thing are you OCD about, in general?

Erm, everything? Aren’t most writers? I do tend to write and re-write most sentences in my fiction several times over, often to return to the first draft, but again that’s normal isn’t it? My weirdest OCD thing I guess is making sure the Robocop figurine on my desk is always pointing his gun correctly; he’s getting limp-wristed in his old age and it drives me to distraction! I’m also obsessed with how my writing looks on the page. That’s one thing that drives me crazy with the Kindle! I can’t control the font size or page layout of the reader! Argghhh… my paragraphs are shaped just so…

What is the most creative way you have promoted any of your books?

I’m still working on that! I’ll be working on my own book trailer soon, using my various nefarious TV-industry skillz to conjure something up. This is not as easy as it sounds without TV-money!

What would you do differently if you had to start over?

ARC!!! Advance review copies would have saved me the anxiety of staring at an Amazon product page without a single review for so long!

Where do you hope to see yourself in the next five years?

Well, I can’t afford to quit the day job, but my dream is to have a small but loyal following of people who love Particle Horizon. Hopefully, this group will motivate me sufficiently to pull my finger out and write a sequel! My dream would be to have a nicely sized group of ‘fans’ genuinely excited to read my next book.

What are the first three rules you would make if you took over the world?

Ok, deftly dodging all serious issues of human rights and politics, I’d say:

1: No more trolling. It takes no creativity or skill to trash people’s work, particularly if you’re not brave enough to put your own creative efforts out there for others to judge; make love not war!
2: NEVER, EVER use the same knife you spread your butter with in the peanut-butter jar. In my administration this would be a hanging offence.
3: Related to number 1, but of particular importance, stop slagging off Robocop 2. It is an awesome and under-appreciated sequel and the common assumption of it being rubbish winds me up no end – Robocop rides a motorbike, dammit! How much more awesome can you get?!

Want to be interviewed? Click here!

Right. Movin’ forward:

There is a 2,000 follower limit – kind of. That is, you can click away following people until you reach two thousand. Then you are subject to a ratio, which is tailored with an algorithm to each account. The short version, though, is people need to start following you first before you can follow back or follow others. While that might seem like a strange rule, it does help prevent follower churning, a method spammers would employ—if Twitter allowed it. The only thing that needs churned is butter.

There is a reduction in @ mention noise. When someone types a user name (prefaced with @), it shows up in the status stream and the target user sees the update under the @mentions tab. It’s a bit like “tagging” someone, so they know you are speaking to them instead of scrolling through all the updates to find it. However, to reduce the amount of clutter (noise), only mutual followers can see that status. For example, Person A, B and C are all following each other. If A sends a message to B, then C can see it. The same applies to all of them. However, let’s say person A sends a message to Person D, who neither B or C is following – then neither B or C will see it. Too bad that doesn’t work in real life settings.

There is a legit use for the bio. I know, Twitter ruined all the fun by limiting characters in your personal profile. Surely there’s more to you than 160 characters, but don’t despair. Fill out the bio anyway. And pick words that really describe you and what you Tweet about (which should be more or less the same thing). When someone performs a search on Twitter, your bio is scanned for keywords—helping potential followers to find you.

This one is unconfirmed, but seems logical—and prevalent—enough to necessitate mentioning: regularly using more than three #hashtags in a post might possibly put up a red flag that you are a spammer. I know it does for many users. I mean, how many people even really read an update full of hashtags? By all means, don’t stop using the nifty little #. But consider whether what you’re doing might make Twitter raise an eyebrow—and, perhaps just as importantly, if it makes your followers’ eyes glaze over.

See, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, you should feel armed with some back end knowledge of Twitter and hopefully use it to help reach your goals.

Want more information about Twitter limits and policies? Click here for official information.

Did you spend time crafting your Twitter profile bio, or just typed in what sounded good at the time? Are you considering revising it now?

This post originally appeared on Rainy of the Dark.

Keryl Raist

Your Blog or Author Website (no purchase links):

www.topublishornotto.blogspot.com

Your Twitter (if applicable):

KerylRaist

How would you describe yourself?

About five four, 120, pale skin, my hair is a new color every other month, and eyes that are greeny-brown.

How would you describe what you write?

Character driven and dialog rich fantasy.

What inspired you to start writing your first book?

One of my friends had been working on her book, and reading it reminded me that I had stories to tell. Eight months after reading her piece, I had my first draft done. Eight months after that I had my first novel out.

Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?

Chocolate as a food. Vanilla as a scent.

What authors influence your writing?

Robert Heinlein, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Larry McMurtry, Harry Turtledove, Roger Zelazny, Frank Herbert, Dave Barry… So many authors have made me the writer I am, it’s impossible to list them all.

What one writing tip do you have for new authors?

Story editors/beta readers. It’s not enough to have your buddies read your story. You want other writers, who write the same sorts of stories you do, who you genuinely think are good at it, to read and go over your story. I’m avid enough about this to say that if you don’t have a circle of competent beta readers, then spend your money on a story editor rather than a proof reader. (You can learn good grammar more easily than you can see the plot holes in your own work.) Readers will forgive occasional wonky punctuation and spelling in a fantastic story. They will not forgive out of character interactions, lost plot threads, and clunky dialog, even if it is written with pristine grammar and punctuation.

Did you self or traditionally publish, and why did you choose that route?

I self-published. As for why, it came down to a matter of time. From everything I could see, getting an agent and having that agent sell your book, and then getting the book into the shape the publisher wants, takes years. I figured I could have my first, second, and probably third books all out in the same amount of time that it would take me to get the first book out if I went the traditional route.

Do you have a blog, and how has it helped with your promotional efforts?

Yes I do. It’s called To Publish or Not To. I’m not entirely sure if it has helped my promotional efforts. At least not directly. I don’t think anyone has read my blog and thought, “Wow! This lady is an incredible writer. I need to go read her book!” But, I am slowly getting a reputation as a good reviewer, and I’m getting to know other writers. I think having a web of contacts in the writing community is useful, and I think as the blog grows, that having my name out there will come in handy.

What one thing are you OCD about, in general?

I’ve recently gotten into 3d rendering, in my unending quest for better cover art, and I love booting up a pic and watching it render. Sitting there watching the picture slowly emerge is addictive.

What is the most creative way you have promoted any of your books?

Alas, not a lot of creative promotions from me. There are things I am creative with, and unfortunately this is not one of them.

What would you do differently if you had to start over?

I’d vet my editor better. I learned the hard way that if you don’t know enough grammar to know if your editor is doing a good job, find someone who does, and make sure they check his work before you send him any money.

Where do you hope to see yourself in the next five years?

I’d like to have at least five novels and a bunch of short stories out. I’d like to be making a profit on them, and if not rolling in vast piles of cash, at least be able to pay my mortgage. I’d like my blog to have a good reputation as a review and writing site. And, in my heart of hearts, I’d like to be able to lurk on fan fiction sites and see stories dedicated to my works.

What are the first three rules you would make if you took over the world?

My husband and I have a running joke about how we’d be assassinated within seconds of taking over the world (We’re not very mainstream politically.) but… First and foremost, I’d kill Daylight Savings Time. (As you can probably guess, I’m a mom with small children. DST is not fun in that situation! But it’s also an utterly useless waste of energy.) Next up, free trade for everyone, no more trade barriers at all. And, if I really had the power to do it, I’d declare that everyone really does own his or her own body. My body, my choice, on everything.

Wrap it up. If you opened with a joke or a bit of humor, end with it. If you planted something in the beginning, pay it off at the end. Most importantly, remember to add a final paragraph which brings a conclusion. A simple way to do this is to re-iterate the points made in the body of the post.

What’s next. Consider if there’s anything worth mentioning that’s upcoming, such as a related post, online conference, or book. This won’t apply to all articles. It is a good idea to keep in mind, however, so that you can encourage further visits and draw attention to other projects.

Ask a question. This aspect of ending a blog post is important. You want your readers to participate, right? So ask them a question. Try to make is specific, to use as a jumping point for conversation. And make it about them, what they have experienced, read, or thought.

Ending an article on the right note should not be overlooked. It can make or break the content, and how satisfied a reader is that they let you lead them in with the opening. Adding a sense of completion, a sense of future, and a sense of interest can go a long way with you reader wanting to knock on your blog door again.

Do you have difficulty ending blog posts?

This article original appeared on Rainy of the Dark.

Patience is a virtue when revising and editing your manuscript. Impatience is a virtue when writing the draft. That is, not waiting around for inspiration to strike.

Patience is a virtue when waiting on an agent. Impatience is a virtue when seeking an agent, as opposed to waiting for one to find you.

Patience is a virtue when waiting for your marketing efforts to pay off. Impatience is a virtue when spreading the word; be eager to find as many potential fans as possible.

Like many aspects of life, it is important to know when waiting is the best option and when enough is enough.

When else is impatience a virtue?

This article originally appeared on Rainy of the Dark.

This is one of those questions that the answer is rather bittersweet. The sweet is because you find out you’ve been probably doing it mostly right, and bitter because, well, you’ve probably been doing it mostly right.

But let’s break it down a little.

The term “visibility” gets used quite a bit in marketing to the point we sort of gloss over it.

Visibility is, of course, being seen. But more so, it’s about being recognized.

You can be on every social network on the Internet, but if people don’t recognize you, your effort has far less value.

This is where branding comes in. We talked about it before, but here we’re going to talk about from the angle of increasing your visibility.

The visual part of branding starts with simple things, like your avatar. It needs to be consistent. People will come to recognize it as you, no matter where you are. That little avatar is like a beacon, signaling your profiles across the internet.

Second up is your name. Again, consistency. You don’t go around introducing yourself as Mary to one person and Joan to another and Esmeralda to a third. Okay, maybe you do, but it’s confusing. And it makes it more difficult for others to connect about you.

What?

Think of it this way. If someone is talking about Mary and another about Esmeralda, it’s going to take longer—if ever—to connect it’s the same person. And even worse if your face is a lolcat on one account and a picture of a turtle on another.

There are other aspects of being visible which aren’t, um, visible. For example, your message. This starts at the core of deciding who you are. Unless Mufasa appears in swirly clouds to lay the smack down, you probably need to figure it out for yourself. And most of you probably already have, but it’s important to actually articulate it.

I am a (an)_____, who_____.

I am an aspiring author who writes horror.

I am an aspiring author who has an obsession with buttons.

Whatever.

Businesses use this information to know what they promise their customers and thus, what their customers are expecting. Artists use this same model to also know what they’re promising their customers (fans), and what their customers (fans) are expecting.

I’m more of a doomy, symphonic, metal-rock type girl. But I have to give kudos to Lady Gaga just from a marketing standpoint. She is bizarre. Many people watch for a variety of reasons: inspiration, fascination, horror, or simple can’t-look-away syndrome.

Her clothes are bizarre, her songs are bizarre, her music videos are bizarre, her live performances are bizarre.

Look at some popular actors.

Angelina Jolie ranges from strong-willed down to kick-ass.

Kevin James is the chubby, dorky, but lovable guy.

And I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Jennifer Aniston’s characters are all similar to each other.

Of course, there are actors who vary their roles, but it’s easier to market to a niche.

Now that you know who you are, you have to find your message. This needs to feel right for your image, your work, and your audience. Whether it pairs nicely or provides interesting contrast, the point is to know what you want to say.

Then keep saying it.

Say it everywhere. And more than say it, show it.

This is your visibility, not just having a Facebook and a Twitter and a Google Plus and a Goodreads and ten Ning accounts. It’s about establishing yourself so those who haven’t met you before know who you are, and those who have, recognize you from afar.

How do you make yourself visible?

 This article originally appeared on Rainy of the Dark.