Personal branding, especially as a writer, is complicated, confusing, and—unfortunately—completely necessary. While your presence and brand online aren’t the only factors that contribute to your publishing dreams or successes, your personal brand does have a huge impact on how both readers and publishing professionals alike will see you. We’ll let you in on a little secret: you’re easy to find on the internet. And yes, we do check.
community
Normalizing Queerness: Tips on Inclusive Editing for the LGBTQ Community
By Meagan Nolan
The role of an editor is to ensure throughout each stage of the editing process that the writer communicates their view of the world to the reader in the best way possible. With such a responsibility, editors should look at the ways in which the language and manuscripts they edit affect the world around them. Editors should look at how the representation of life and people on the page shape and change society’s understanding of real people in the real world. To gain further distance on the path towards impartial inclusion, here are some tips for inclusive and mindful editing in regards to the LGBTQ community.
Brief Art Lesson on the Bookstagram
By Sadie Verville @sadieverville
Keeping a consistent brand, no matter how personal the account, is so important. People want to follow accounts that they can trust will post fairly similar art, because they like that art. You wouldn’t commission an artist who gave out a different-styled piece every time someone requested their services; in a similar way, people will not give you that follow if you remain inconsistent and unpredictable.
Accessibility: Just a tweet away.
By Brittney Finato @finatography
With a small change, an entirely new community can have access to “see” your pictures, just in a different way. All you have to do is change your accessibility settings and, when you post a picture, describe the posted image.
By Word or By Bird: Acquisitions through Twitter
By Alyssa Schaffer @alyssalschaffer & Joanna Szabo @Joanna_Shwaba
As we are both primarily internet-dwelling creatures, the natural progression was to explore Twitter. But seriously, from the time we spent on Twitter, we noticed a large community of agents, editors, authors, and more using the Twitter community to broaden their reach and visibility. The community of writers and publishing professionals on Twitter is vast, but there are a few aspects of the engagement that we thought could help us spark new connections: manuscript wish lists, Twitter pitch events, and personal branding (find us @alyssalschaffer and @joanna_shwaba).
The Writer and the Myth of Solitude
By Peter Sanchez
The editor must help the author express their art as truly as they can while balancing the vision of the publisher, and by extension bring the truth of the community back in the form of a published work. And, like any intimate relationship, it is not always easy, nor quick and painless.