Do You Own Your Name?

This might sound like an odd question, but in the world of the Internet, it's not. If you are in business, or if you're an author, your name is out there, not just the name of your company or book. That means it is in your best interest to own it everywhere possible.

By now, most people know about the popularity of Facebook and usually accounts are in their name or, if female, name plus maiden name is common too. If you've done that, great!

But what about the others? Do you own your name on Twitter? Maybe. How about YouTube? That's right YouTube. I hadn't really thought about YouTube until one of my mentors mentioned it's definitely a place where you want to own your name if you can. So now I do. I will likely promote via YouTube in the future, now I can do it using my own name in the link if I choose to. The next one I need to check is LinkedIn, but I'm pretty sure I've seen another Cheryl Pickett come up in searches linked to that site.

Now some of you might be saying, 'but I don't ever intend to use some of those sites'. That's fine, not everything is right for everybody. If you're building an online presence though, you can help keep continuity by owning your name and not letting someone else build a reputation people might confuse for yours (whether it's good or bad).

If you have a really unusual name, you might not have to worry much about others taking your spot, and if you have a super common name, you're probably out of luck already, but somewhere in between, you might want to do some investigation. If all you do is open an account with the big three (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter), at least you have it for the future, even if you aren't ready to jump in this minute.

So now it's your turn to share- where do you own your name? Did you miss out anywhere with the basic first/last, how did you handle it?

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Children's Books Falling Victim to Better Education?

I found this interesting, somewhat disheartening article in the NY Times recently. Basically, it says picture books are no longer as popular as they once were and that they are actually on a downward trend. The interesting and honestly, surprising part to me, was that this downward trend is not so much due to videos and other electronic media (though that's part of it), but rather people's belief picture books are too easy to read. Many think kids as young as four should be reading simple chapter books, not ones filled with pictures and little text.

While I am in absolute agreement that in general the U.S. education system is severely lacking in many ways, I can't subscribe to this line of thinking at this point. I believe picture books are a valuable, useful tool well beyond 3 or 4. Those that are done well help readers match words and ideas to visual design. Many are masterful works of art and can encourage the pursuit of drawing, painting and illustrating for many age groups. As an adult, I still love finding an artfully done picture book and if the words are secondary, that's not a bad thing. In addition, picture books can be quite complex requiring the reader to understand word play through pictures or to find hidden meanings or solve puzzles.

To say that the only good option to advance kids' reading skills at the preschool and kindergarten level is through books with minimal pictures is misguided in my opinion. Exposing them to a wide variety of things to read throughout their lives on the other hand can only create a well-rounded reader and hopefully a life-long reader too.

What do you think?

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

New Garden Makes Books Come Alive

What do you get when you combine a love of books and gardens? Keep reading & find out!

My friend Barb Techel (who I'm also so proud to say is a client of mine too) finds some of the most interesting places to hook up with to promote and sell her books. I imagine some of them find her too, but either way, she is definitely one to watch to get the creative juices going if yours have dried up.

Her latest adventure involves teaming up with an absolutely beautiful and cool place called Bookworm Gardens located in Sheboygan Wisconsin. It's called a literary garden and it brings to life several classic tales like Charlotte's Web and The Magic Treehouse. Barb's book Frankie the Walk 'n Roll Dog will soon be featured as well. However, it's more than just another attraction for families to visit and look at nice displays and flowers. It provides a place for imaginations of all ages to run free among the trees, flowers, words and rhymes. With so many stories being written about how kids/people are reading less I absolutely applaud this effort to make a difference and to make sure the future is full of book lovers. I hope my imagination and I get to visit soon.

Find out more about Barb and the Gardens at her site/blog Joyful Paws.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Follow Along or Even Participate in a Book Tour

One thing that's cool about the writing/author/publishing world is that it's often possible to go behind the scenes. You can't do that in just any industry. Try going to Pepsi, NIKE, or Ford and asking them how they do their research to come up with new ideas or if they can give you marketing advice. Most likely isn't going to happen, but author to author, a lot of times it can and does. I came across one such circumstance this week that I found particularly intriguing.

Author Chris Guillebeau recently launched his book The Art of Non-Conformity along with his Unconventional Book Tour. In a nutshell, he is, on his own, planning to go to all 50 states along with the 10 provinces of Canada between now and early January 2011. It's unconventional in that it's organized, but not in the traditional style that most big publishers have used for decades where big bookstores, big media are the targets and it costs quite a bit to do. He's partially planning as he goes and is willing to visit whatever location will have him whether bookstore, gift store, yoga studio or home. Besides selling and promoting the book, the thing is he wants most is to meet his readers whether they read the book, his blog or both.

Sounds like a plan to me and a pretty good one at that. I'll be following along though I don't know if I'll make it to his MI event. If you'd like to as well, click here to find out about the Unconventional Book Tour. If you get to meet I hope you'll pop back over here and share your experience/what you learned as a fellow author.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Great Round Up of Resources for Children's Writers

One of the things I enjoy about coaching people is providing resources. Sometimes, all someone needs is just that missing bit of information to be able to soar with their book project. Recently, I came across a website that offers way more than a bit of information for children's writers. Logically, it's called Resources for Children's Writers and there's a ton of useful stuff, everything from writing to agents to publishing.

Also, don't forget to take a peek at the rest of her site too. Any time you visit another writer's site, I recommend taking a quick look around. You may find design ideas, things you want to try, things you might want to avoid and, of course, marketing ideas. In general, writers are a bunch that are willing to share and help out so take advantage (in the good sense) whenever you have the opportunity.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Are You Providing a Path?

A question for you today-once someone has a copy of your book, can they find you if they want to?

For example, you have a website (you do right?), and you want people to go there maybe for more information about you or other products you have. If they have a book in hand, is it easy for them to find your URL? Hint-Many people flip to the back cover to find it.

Here's another scenario: maybe they haven't thought about looking for you even though they like what they've read so far. This time you need to entice them a bit, you want them to go to your site because you have lots more to offer. If they're not looking, how do you get them there? One way is to include a page, likely in the back, that flat out asks them to visit! You'll also give them a few good reasons to do so. Maybe they'll find updates on your blog, where you'll be speaking or what other products you have that they'll enjoy too.

Don't rely on the "because it's there, they will come theory". That doesn't work very often. Instead, give them the trail of bread crumbs to follow, provide a clear path to your front door. Making it easy for your audience to do business with you is a win-win all around.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Survey Says

Whether you are in the planning/writing stage of your book or marketing your little heart out, surveys can be a very helpful tool.

If you're planning or writing, finding exactly what you audience is looking for (mainly for non-fiction) allows you to make the book more attractive and salable. If you want to create your own survey, Survey Monkey.com is a popular choice. If you blog here on Blogger.com there's an add on that allows you to put a survey right on your blog and it's pretty easy to use.

Another way to use surveys is to look at those you hear about or read online through the lens of how it might help you with book marketing. For example, a survey was done called "How religious is your state?" The results rank the states in various categories pertaining to faith as well as an overall ranking. If you have a Christian book (like I do) knowing which areas may be most receptive to is a useful tool if you want to do mailings or schedule visits etc.

Are you aware of other surveys that could be helpful to other authors? Please share!

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett