Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand

By Dan Schawbel 

Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.

In the past few years personal branding has been discussed exhaustively throughout the Net.

The difference between today and over ten years ago when it was first mentioned by Tom Peters, is the rise of social technologies that have made branding not only more personal, but within reach.

From the corporate brand (BMW), to the product brand (BMW M3 Coupe) and down to the personal brand (car salesman), branding is a critical component to a customer’s purchasing decision. These days, customer complaints and opinions are online and viewable through a simple search, on either Google or through social networks. There is no hiding anymore and transparency and authenticity are the only means to survive and thrive in this new digital kingdom.

Many people think that personal branding is just for celebrities such as Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, yet each and every one of us is a brand. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make these celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them.

We can also have just as much presence as most startups and mid-size companies and products. Social media tools have leveled the playing ground and have enabled us to reach incredible heights, at the cost of our time. Today, I want to share the personal branding process, so you can start to think about what face you want to show to the world and how you want to position yourself for success!

1. Discover your brand

The single biggest mistake people make is that they either brand themselves just for the sake of doing it or that they fail to invest time in learning about what's in their best interests. The key to success, and this isn't revolutionary, is to be compensated based on your passion. In order to find your passion, you need a lot of time to think, some luck and you need to do some research online to figure out what's out there... read more

How Keywords, Categories, and Amazon’s Algorithms Help You Sell More Books

Written by Stacey Magneson on June 11, 2014. Posted in Business Growth Events, Member News, Upcoming Events

Amazon can help you sell more books — if you know how to take advantage of its features. Amazon

uses an algorithm, similar to Google and Bing. Think of Amazon as a giant search engine: when readers conduct a search on the site, it alerts Amazon’s algorithms. Keyword searches, category searches, or an increase in book sales that extends beyond 48 hours, can propel your book to the top spot in searches and recommended buy lists. How can you make this happen? Build out your Amazon book page and Amazon Author Central Page, and strategically use keywords, book pricing, and categories. Here’s how:
...read more

Charlotte, NC Writers Retreat Hosted by Queen City Writers Network

QCWN Writers Retreat

4122 Providence Rd #B Charlotte, NC 

NOVEMBER 2nd 2014 10:30am - 5:30pm

Queen City Writers Network is excited to launch our One Day Writers Retreats starting with this Fall Retreat.

You can join us for the whole day or from 1:30pm - 5:30pm.

Registration online:  https://1dayretreat.eventbrite.com 

EARLY BIRD

- whole day - $55.00 

- half day - $40.00

FULL PRICE

- whole day - $65.00 

- half day - $50.00

You can register in person by attending any of my meetings/classes or at the door if you paid your preregistration fee (bring receipt).

You are encouraged to bring a sandwich (lunch). I will have a side, cookies and a water bottle waiting for you.

Retreat Schedule: 

Starting from Scratch to Success! This retreat is a one-day workshop designed to help you build a foundation for your writing career and also develop your platform based on your gifts and your audience. 

You will learn about social media, brand development, and the importance of blogging, networking and how to impress or sign up with an agent or publishing company.

10:00am – arrival, check in and networking (bring your business cards) 

10:30am – 1st class – Let’s talk about Foundation – branding, social media and agents 

11:30am – 2nd class – Social Media 101 for Writers - Understanding the power of the word of mouth –

12:30pm – lunch, Q and A and networking – pick Shiloh’s Brain

1:30pm – 3rd class – Branding and Writing for your Target Audience

2:30pm – 4th class – Advanced Social Media for Writers Part 1

3:30pm – 5th class - Advanced Social Media for Writers Part 2

4:30pm – 6th class – Developing An Attractive Platform in The Industry So That Agents Line Up

5:15pm – clean up and closing

QCWN is excited to host a one-day retreat every 3 months offering up to 6 classes. On occasion I (Shiloh) will be hosting a one-day writing retreat with one or two classes on creative writing.

Get in the Game

The only way to win at anything is to first be involved. You will never succeed if you don't first try. The world of writing can be a fun experience but also a challenging one. One has to make themselves vulnerable to the world for acceptance or rejection.

There are many people who have great stories inside of them, but the world will never hear or read them because they won't get in the game. Fear of anything is tormenting. The first step is always the hardest. Success is just a story away for some, but lack the courage to tell and or share it.

The perfect way to overcome this natural but hindering obstacle is to close your eyes, take a deep breath and move forward. Spectators sit on the sidelines. Winners get in the game. Which are you?

The 2014 Queen City Writers Conference is the perfect opportunity for you to set aside the fear and learn from Industry leaders and Professional writers what it takes to be the next great success. You are only one decision away from changing your future.

Join us......What are you waiting for?

What I Learned at Writers’ Conferences Over The Years

by Adriana Vermillion

• Know what you’re doing and if you don’t know study.
• Study all you can about the writing craft.
• Read books about story structure, writing a novel, character development.
• My kids are interested in screen plays so I’ve even read books on screenplay writing and found them helpful.
• Learn to write good English.
• There is no excuse for bad spelling, poor grammar, faulty sentence structure and so on.
• I will grant that writers, especially fiction writers, use all kinds of devices and artistic license with words to tell their stories, but they know what they’re doing and none of it is by accident. My best advice so far is: know what the rules are before you can start breaking them.
• Write, every day if you can. Start small, with short stories, essays on any subject you wish, a journal just for yourself, blogs like this one, and grow from there.

• Writing is like any other skill: you have to practice at it, unless you study the scenes of a movie for better show versus tell examples for your work turn off the television and go to work.

• If you plan to write fiction, read a lot of fictional stories or novels to get a sense of how fiction should sound, flow, hold your attention or evoke emotions. Look for drama and how the author writes it.

• Develop an ear for dialogue. It’s surprising to me how many authors can carry on conversation and hear a conversation but they still can’t write it the way it really sounds.

• If you must, read your dialogue out loud to yourself, act it out, and keep at it until it sounds genuine.
• Write for your reader and not just for yourself.

• There is only one way to get a project finished. Get your rear end into that chair and your hands on the keyboard and keep them there on a regular, disciplined basis until you’ve come up with something. Dream, Imagine but get to work.
• Join a critique group who can kindly and lovingly give you honest feedback. Even professional writers have editors who take apart their stuff, so get used to it.
• Let me be honest here for a second: “If you're too insecure to get some helpful critiquing you're too insecure to write.”
• Expect success to take a while. Your first one or two or three projects may not get published, but experience is necessary and you have to pay your dues.

• Another funny thing: you just never know what the market is going to like. I write both fiction and non-fiction. A book can be technically correct, have all the pieces in place, even be a good read as reads go, but for some reason the reading public is looking for something else so go fishing, get creative and build a brand.

• Think of your topics, your style, and your "brand". This is the thing that's going to be hot on the market. Either that, or be a copycat and hitch a ride on somebody else's idea (something I don't admire, but you see it all the time in books, movies, television; the old bandwagon mentality).

All this to say, if your brand or book doesn't do well, it may not be due to a lack of good work on your part. Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, even Steven Spielberg (right, film, but the same principle) had works that were great and successful and works that fell behind. Oh, and did I mention myself? Oh, yeah. Same here.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to acquaint yourself with all the new avenues for getting published these days, especially via the internet. If you're work is good and you choose the right pathways, you might get a good start with your material without ever going through a traditional publisher. Weird to an old schooler like me, but true.

What are some ways you are looking to publish?

LITERARY AGENTS EXPLAIN WHY THEY ATTEND CONFERENCES (AND IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK)

Every week literary agents receive hundreds of query letters from aspiring writers who are hoping to interest the agent in their project. Why then, would agents take time from their busy schedules to go to a writers conferenceand meet yet more writers in person?

I’ve worked with over a hundred literary agents during the 9 years I’ve been organizing the Backspace Writers Conferences held twice-annually in New York City, as well as the newly minted Salt Cay Writers Retreat taking place this October on a private island in the Bahamas. So I asked a few of my favorite agents why they attend writers conferences.

READ The rest of the Article HERE

Killer First Lines

By Susan Sundwall Consider this: there's not a single person on this planet who cares whether or not you ever write another word. I'll bet you pulled away from this newsletter and instantly formulated an answer back didn't you? That's because my first line is loaded, and it gets your attention by touching a nerve. Firstlines can do that. A well-written first line is like the front door on an intriguing old house. It invites us to pass through to the unique experience that's on the other side. So what goes into the creation of killer first lines? There is no magic wand to produce them but here are some basic things to consider. Dynamic versus static - The root word for dynamic and dynamite are the same; dynamis, meaning power or strength. It pertains to energy or power in motion and is in direct opposition to static, which means to stand or rest. A dynamic first line will set the tone for your entire piece. It doesn't always have to be an explosive line, but it should arrest your readers' attention and entice them to read on. Mood setting - Like that looming front door, the first line brings your reader through a portal into the world you've created for them. That line greets them with a smile, a leer, a shout or perhaps an awful truth. It allows you to shut the door behind them and hand over the gift of escape. The power of recall - Readers love a memorable first line. Like a perfect song lyric, it enables instant transport to some other place and time where borders are fuzzily defined and possibilities are endless. The first line imparts information that often touches us on a subliminal level. "Where's Papa going with that axe?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. You may recognize this as the first line from E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. Take a look at all the information you can glean from it.     -    Someone's child, Fern, is speaking.     -    Curiosity and a touch of fear are expressed in her question     -    There are at least three people present at the beginning of the story     -    The story begins in the third person     -    It's morning. When Fern asks her simple question our imaginations are swooped over the threshold at the Arable farmhouse and the marvelous adventure of a spider, a pig, and a girl begins.