Taking Over the World

[Or, an absurd take on the Insecure Writer’s Support Group]

Holy COW! Is it first Wednesday again? I almost blogged on… well, same topic, actually, but I had no plans to cleverly link it to insecurity and support for my fellow writerly sorts… but here we have it. A perfectly appropriate topic!

Be sure to get around to OTHER insecure writers today, too. You will make all of us feel more loved…

Branding a la Tart

So you know how they tell you when you talk about publishing that you need to BRAND yourself? And how they don’t mean burning an image on your skin, though somehow that sounds far less painful?

And you think about what you want people to think of when they think of you?

Well I have a secret. This is BACKWARD. You don’t want people to think of STUFF when they think of you… You want them, when they think of STUFF to have their mind pop to YOU! Then you will ALWAYS be on the brain! And see, isn’t that better than having the mind wander off to another topic when they think of YOU?


So here is the strategy. Find some obscure thing and OWN IT.

I mean it doesn’t have to be THAT obscure… in fact you WANT it to be something that comes up in their life somewhat regularly. But find a couple oddball things you are really enthusiastic about that people might encounter every once in a while…

I will use myself as an example (knowing all my obscure fetishes and all)

NAKED (and hating pants)
LLAMAS (and alpacas)
MISATTRIBUTING (meaning intentionally misunderstanding to create innuendo)

I am vocal enough about loving these things that pretty much anyone I encounter more than a couple times thinks of ME when they cross these topics. I get Facebook posts on my wall ALL THE TIME.

Or take our fearless leader, Alex… I can’t encounter Kate Beckinsale or Ninjas without thinking of Alex.

Now this may not seem like the most sophisticated form of branding you’ve ever seen, but it sure is fun and easy. And you know what? When strangers you meet in person can rattle off a few things that you love? That is REALLY gratifying. And if they think of YOU when they hear about something, they will get regular reminders to see what the heck you are up to… is your book out yet? Have you achieved fame and fortune?

You see, you are tapping the WORLD as your advertising.

And that’s just smart.

Did I mention easy?  Always best to be easy. *shifty*
(THAT was misattributing)