Medical Romance & Adventure
How To Increase Your Name
Recognition - For the Unpublished
By Julie Rowe
The title of this article may seem like a contradiction in terms.
But it only seems that way. Your writing career doesn't start with
your first sale. It starts with the first word you type. By the
time you sell, you need to have everything in place to market yourself
and your books. By the time you sell, you need to have your name
recognition well under way. But how do you do that if you're not
yet published?
First, start with some of the most loyal readers of romance novels.
That would be writers of romance novels (approx 10,000 members in
RWA). Build name recognition with this group by:
- Writing newsletter articles - this is the easiest way to get
your name out there. There are 200+ chapters in RWA and virtually
all of them have newsletters, and newsletter editors always need
new articles. Did you know newsletter editors have their own loop
where they share articles? I challenged myself over a year ago
to write a newsletter article every month. I've kept that promise.
While in Reno at the national RWA conference, many people looked
at my name tag and wondered why my name was familiar. I'm not
published so they can't have read my books. It turns out that
most of them have read my newsletter articles.
- Volunteer - RWA and its subchapters always need volunteers.
Volunteering frequently forces you to contact new people and your
name can appear on any number of "official" emails - getting your
name out to a whole new audience.
- Teach a workshop - Do you have a skill that others would like
to learn? Teaching workshops, either in-person or online, is another
great way to promote yourself, whether you're published or not.
- Share your knowledge - RWA and its subchapters have email loops.
Participate in discussion, ask and answer questions and share
information. Being a productive member of one of the biggest writing
communities in the world puts you front and center!
- Go to conferences! I can't stress this one enough. 2000+ people
attend the RWA national conference every year. That's 2000+ opportunities
to network you can't afford to pass up. Smaller regional conferences
are just as valuable. Their smaller size makes it easier to meet
every single attendee.
Other ways to increase your name recognition:
- Write book reviews - for any number of "reader" magazines or
your local paper.
- Offer to do a public reading at your local library. - I've done
two of these at my library and the only requirement was that I
wrote what I read, not that I published it. Both events were well
received and libraries love them.
- Teach at a community college - Bring new writers into the world
by encouraging and teaching people to write! Doing this puts a
positive face on romance writing and helps create a readership
base in your home town.
If you write, then you're a writing professional, and a professional
doesn't pass up an opportunity to sell themselves and their product.
Sell you. Sell your books.whether they're available to purchase
yet or not, because some day they will be.
If this article has inspired you, Julie would love to hear from
you at julie@julieroweauthor.com
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