Fancy doing a book review?

Its been 4 months since I published my début novel, Deadly Obsession, and it has been a whirlwind since then. After coming down from the heady high of seeing my book on Amazon, I investigated how to publish it as a paperback and knuckled down to complete that.

My paperback was released on Amazon.com on March 27 this year (my birthday!)

Then I went and got a new job - yes, authors are normal people too - and time ran away from me.
I'm starting to catch up with it, and the next book(s) are forming in my head, but the task of getting my book out there and known, and onto shelves (and hopefully, enjoyed) is upon me.

The major challenge for any author is to get their book out there. This means bringing the book into the field of vision of an increasing number of people.

As with anything, there will be people dying to get their hands on it at first look (like being in love at first sight); there will be those who forget about seeing it a minute afterwards because its not about something on their immediate radar; and then there will be those who are interested but may or may not come back to it depending on what life throws at them in between.

And these are only those currently in my network (both on and offline). That's where celebrity endorsements always come in handy... if you happen to know a Lady Gaga, a Paulo Coelho or Justin Bieber!

And so, the search for willing and able book reviewers/bloggers is here. The offer includes 5 electronic copies to give away to your readers/followers.

Can I tempt you?

'Pin' yourself out there.

Self-branding is a buzz word today, but what does it really mean? Without taking it to the level of global celebrities, let's get simple about it. 


The people who know you - friends, family, colleagues, community members, whatever - know things about you on various levels. Those you've known forever, know you better than those you've known for five minutes. You may keep your private life separate from your work life so your colleagues will have a different view of you to possibly your close friends. 

Every day in every part of our lives we are self-branding ... and we've been doing it all our lives. Our target audience has just been contained, that's all. 
Today, the internet and social media enables us to achieve a much greater reach.  


I've read articles that advise establishing a niche and focussing purely on that - tailoring posts, interactions, comments, discussions, etc. around a specific topic and no other. It gives people a clear understanding of what you associate yourself with and so they follow you because of the content you put out. Other points of view include letting your audience see a bit more depth to the real person behind the niche marketer. This holds for brands as well. Customers want to connect more with the humanity of the brand - its human face - if you like.  


I've recently started out on my self-branding journey. I've just released my début novel and started my blog a couple of months ago. 
My activity has focussed on posts about my book and my experiences in self-publishing because this is what I've spent my time doing. There are so many facets to a writer and an individual, and you may not want to limit yourself. I know, I don't want to. 


Social media is evolving and so is self-branding. On Facebook, you can now 'like' stuff, on Google +, you can '+1' something, on Twitter you can retweet. These options tell your audience more about you and where you stand: more about the person and the personality behind the brand/niche/blog; more all-roundedness; more humanity.

Enter Pinterest. 


Its the picture (of you) that paints a thousand words. 


You can 'get' so much more about the person/brand/group by looking at their Pinterest boards, than you can by reading most blogs. 
It gives each of us (individual and brand) the opportunity to show, not tell the world about ourselves. 




And that's something any writer understands (or should).