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There was a time when writers didn’t worry about branding. For book authors, branding was up to their publisher’s marketing department. After all, you were what you wrote: a poet, a children’s author, a nonfiction writer. And it wasn’t a lot different for freelance writers—a handful of articles in an assortment of newspapers and magazines [...]

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We are thrilled to welcome editor and author Erin Rhew to the blog this month as our columnist for Ask a Pub Pro! Having worked with Erin, I'm amazed at how she tirelessly juggles so many hats. Not only is she an editor and the social media whirlwind for BookFish Books, but she's also the author of The Fulfillment Series, with the last book, The Fulfillment, releasing in just a few days!

Erin's here to answer your reader questions on how to brand yourself across genres, whether to send your own cover art in with submissions, and facing the fear of writing to a group younger than your age. Be sure to check out her newest release below!

If you have a question you'd like to have answered by an upcoming publishing professional, send it to AYAPLit AT gmail.com and put Ask a Pub Pro Question in the subject line.

Ask a Pub Pro with Erin Rhew

1) I've heard the advice that if you want to build a fan base, you need to brand yourself. But my ideas don't all lend themselves to one category or genre, though they all have some similar themes. I'm wondering if you can brand yourself writing across categories and genres but by always exploring a similar type of story question or theme. Or even a similar type of story?

That’s a great question! When branding yourself, it’s important to remember you’re branding YOU, not a specific book or genre. If you have a cause that’s important to you or a theme/message you’re trying to disseminate, you could certainly include information about that in your branding. For example, let’s say you want to bring attention to animal cruelty. As you blog, perhaps blog about that particular topic once a month or so. Highlight and promote charities you feel exemplify the work you’d like done for animals.
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Introducing: Happy Little Cat, my new stone seal all the way from Taiwan!

Finally getting a chance to catch up with my blog again after another long break. The reason for my absence this time has been, what else, editing. Each time I thought I was finished editing my WIP, oops, oh no, there was more work on my plate. However, I am now finished, as in one-hundred-percent finished. The final draft of  my new novel, The Abyssal Plain, is ready for submission to agents and editors alike. Which means that other than my daily freewriting (flash fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, whining), I'm planning to spend the rest of the year concentrating on establishing "Happy Little Cat," an online studio/shop that will include visual art, pottery, jewelry, and of course, books. I'm more than excited. And as you can see in the photo above, I even got a special seal carved to celebrate my debut, although . . .

. . . there's a certain irony to finally getting my seal made.

Backstory: Prior to leaving for my trip to Taiwan, my fellow travelers and I were emailed an itinerary of our day-to-day activities. One of the things listed for the first day was to visit an art supply store where we could order carved seals or "chops" as they are sometimes called. Back in March I was pretty sure I didn't need anything remotely like a carved seal, and when we did get to the art store, I was so fixated on buying a replacement for my broken water brush (you can read about that little misadventure here), that choosing a nice rock was the last thing on my mind. Other reasons for not wanting a seal included the fact that I didn't think "Valerie" sounded very Chinese, especially when I didn't paint in a Chinese or Asian style. Or at least I didn't then.

Fast forward to this summer and post-trip when I found myself still obsessed with everything Taiwanese. I bought a book on Chinese brush painting. I bought Chinese watercolors. I studied the books I bought in Taiwan on painting trees and tigers. Somewhere in the midst of all this enthusiasm for sumi ink and bamboo pens I had the profound realization that I loved Asian art and wanted to include as much of it as I could (given my limited and "beginner's mind" skills) in my own work. At the same time I very quickly learned something was vitally missing from all my pieces: my seal!

Immediately I started regretting my decision to forego buying a seal in Taipei when I had the chance. Things reached a crisis point when I attended a reception for the New Mexico Art League and saw a stunning floral watercolor painted by our Taiwan tour leader, Ming Franz, that naturally included her seal. My husband asked why I hadn't bought one. How could I be so remiss? Or so silly? I had to get that seal.

After some extensive online research, I found a great company, Asian Brush Art. They had the stones, the carver, great pricing and a nice feel to their website that encouraged me to go ahead and place my order. The big question now, though, was what was I going to have carved on the stone? I still didn't want to use my name. That's when I had the idea to describe not me personally, but how I feel about life and art in general: I feel like a Happy Little Cat. I asked the company if there was enough room on the stone for the characters; they said yes, and ta-dah, I have my own seal at last.

The best surprise of all was that the seal came not from the company's mailing address in North Carolina, but from Taiwan! What are the odds? And not just any place in Taiwan, but from one of my favorite stops on the tour: Kaohsiung. I was thrilled.

I'm still learning to use the seal properly, experimenting with how to tap and dip it into the special red ink paste which was included with my order (I tell you, this company was great). The hardness of the stone and the creaminess of the ink are both very different from my past experiences (and failures) with rubber stamping, so I'm still in "test" mode, but I'm getting there. My best impressions so far have resulted from placing a piece of folded felt under my paper before pressing down with the seal. The sample at the top here is in on rice paper. (Expanding the size of the photo made the edges go fuzzy. They don't look like that in real life.) After playing around with the rice paper, I moved on to stamping some artwork I had recently finished using various supplies (including my trusty bamboo pen) on Arches 140-lb cold press watercolor paper:

Splash Ink Goldfish. Sumi ink, watercolor, and gouache on Arches watercolor paper.

Lanyang Museum, Taiwan. Watercolor, sumi ink, colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper.

Kwan Yin. Watercolor, sumi ink, colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper.

Some of the best images I was able to achieve (and of course I don't have any photos just when I need one to show you) were from using the seal on kraft paper cardstock gift tags, the same tags I experimented with last year applying collage and stick-on "pearls," (examples shown here).

So where I am now is I need to stop playing with my seal and use it for real: getting down to work to fill the shelves of Happy Little Cat Studio. It's going to take me a while to build up my inventory and then incorporate everything into my website, but it's a project I'm looking forward to. I'm also planning on illustrating some of my books for the first time, a great combination of my two favorite disciplines: writing AND painting.

For more information on the history of carved seals and their use, here's a good Wikipedia link to start with, but there are many, many other sites to investigate. My Happy Little Cat seal is carved in what is called "yin style," meaning that the characters are carved into the stone, leaving a red impression around them, as opposed to "yang style" which leaves white space around red characters.

It's also very common to use more than one seal in a painting, e.g., a "mood seal," a bit of poetry, etc., etc., and that's where things get really scary. Because I have a strong suspicion I'm going to want more seals in the future, which also describes me to a T--going from not wanting a seal at all, to now wanting a dozen. Go figure, LOL! Whatever, I love this first seal, I thought it turned out beautifully, and being the first it will always be special. Very happy, indeed.

Tip of the Day: Getting my seal was another step toward creating my "personal brand," something I first blogged about over 5 years ago (!). You can read the post here: What's Your Brand? Although you might find the idea of "branding" somewhat restrictive, it can also be a great help in defining your work to both yourself and your audience. Just for fun, brainstorm a list of 12 things you could use or do that would identify your work as uniquely yours. You might just want a seal of your own.

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Nickelodeon and Norwegian Cruise Lines are breaking up.

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Bazooka Joe, the icon of Bazooka brand bubble gum, and star of countless mini comic strips packaged with that gum, has a new modern look consisting of “a stylish, modern version of his well-known ensemble of jeans, t-shirt, and baseball cap.” The new look was chosen from 100 different stylings via an online voting process by fans, with artists offering up their looks. (You can see some of them here.) The winner was designed by Victor Intrasombat of Clockwork Animation. The new look will be given a renewed push for merchandise and gum pack comics.

Other artists that contributed potential new looks include Benjamin Balistreri (How to Train Your Dragon), Robert Lilly (Nickelodeon Animation Studios), and Ben Reynolds (mobile games forGhostbusters and Monster Pet Shop). 

While there is a bit of a Poochie feeling to all this, it has at least given Bazooka Joe a renewed push. Former Disney CEO MIchael Eisner purchased the brand a while ago and in 2007 stated that he thought Bazooka Joe could be “the new Mickey Mouse.” That hasn’t exactly happened. Joe himself responded with enthusiasm to the new look. “Thanks to all of the fans who helped me talk Topps into finding me a new getup.  New hairstyle, new clothes – I’m ready to take on the world!”

While Joe’s fashions were updated with new kicks and streamlined inking, he did not avail himself of modern-day prosthetic technology to get an artificial eye, and so still sports an eye-patch.

 

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The instant internet revulsion at DC’s new half-page ad placements united the people as few things can—perhaps only revulsion for Game of Thrones and love for #NationalBiscuitDay. We can now see that this throwback to an older, more popular time for comics, when sales in the six figures were average, may not jibe with today’s love for a smooth, unfettered artistic comics reading experience.

Fortunately, I’m told that thus far, the ghastly Twix ad is the only one booked for this “half page” placement. However that’s not to say that some enterprising salesperson at DC couldn’t sell it again—unless the internet revulsion sends up a big red flag that this is perhaps not that great an idea.

As many have pointed out on Twitter and beyond, in-page ads are nothing new in comics. Tom Spurgeon found a tiny thumbnail of a comics page from the 70s, and I seem to recall that TEXT ADS were common at the bottom of 70s Marvel comics. The nü West Coast DC with its battalions of branding experts may have decided that ad revenue is a good thing and maybe the product is strong enough to withstand a disruptive—and from the twitter photos, horrible looking—ad like this. I suspect that internet outrage will dissipate fairly quickly however.

If you don’t like this, vote with your wallet people!

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Slide down Jake's slippery fur coat at Cartoon Network's new waterpark in Asia.

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When people talk about saving John Constantine, usually it’s a hopeless task, as the scouser magician’s soul has long been consigned to hell for his many sins on earth. But another campaign to save Constantine is under way—and this time it’s fans attempting to keep his TV show going past a 13 episode commitment despite middling ratings.

Arrested Development has plans for a fifth season on Netflix, Twin Peaks will see you on Showtime twenty-five years from the 1991 series finale, and Yahoo Screen will bring Community closer to its promise of #sixseasonsandamovie, airing new episodes this spring. It’s a golden age of fan campaigns with the ability to resurrect dead and mostly-dead shows with measurably vocal fan bases. It’s a golden age fans of NBC’s Constantine are counting on, as the last of the series’ 13 episode initial run airs this Friday, February 13 at 10pm. The network has halted any further production on the show, prompting fans to organize on Twitter and Facebook under the hashtag #saveconstantine in support of its renewal — whether on NBC or another network entirely.

Fan campaigns to save television shows are nothing new, with the late sixties fan campaign to save the Star Trek original series largely credited as the first of its kind. Still, there does seem to be a trend in the growing power of fan campaigns to have an impact on programming, even those who represent much smaller audience shares than the high-profile efforts of yesteryear, prompting fledgling networks to pick up where network and even cable channels have left off.

So what does all this mean for fans of Constantine, starring Matt Ryan as trench-coated demon hunter John Constantine? Do they feel a campaign to save the show, based on the long-running DC/Vertigo series Hellblazer, has a better chance of being saved now than it would have 10 years ago? “They definitely are more successful — especially with social networking being the way it is,” said Breanna Conklin, who has been active in the campaign to #saveconstatine since NBC confirmed in late November they would stop production on the series. “I am in a few nerd groups on facebook. You’re able to spread the word to like minded folks and your friends within a few seconds. Social media gives awareness that wasn’t available to us ten years ago.”

The #saveconstantine effort began to gain momentum when a slick-looking website, saveconstantine.com, went up in December. In addition to links to the petition and fan communities, saveconstantine.com offers a detailed description of the importance of the recently introduced Twitter TV ratings model from newly-formed group, Nielsen Social. An off-shoot of the more traditional Nielsen ratings, Nielsen Social “identifies, captures and analyzes conversation on Twitter in real time for every program aired across over 250 of the most popular U.S. television networks, including Spanish language networks, as well as over 1,500 brands” according to the company website.

The challenge for Constantine fans is to ensure that their awareness of the need to campaign for the continued life of the series is leveraged in a way that speaks both to NBC and their advertisers. It’s not enough to simply prove there’s interest in Constantine from the hallowed 18-49 age demographic; advertisers need to ensure that ad placements can actually have an impact on that demographic. As television consumption proliferates on an increasingly diverse group of content platforms, strong same-day viewing ratings don’t necessarily show advertisers that their ads will be seen instead of fast-forwarded on a DVR viewing post-broadcast.

It’s a challenge the organizers of the #saveconstantine effort hope to meet by being better educated on the increasingly complex world of network tv ad buys. “It’s a big group effort,” said Allison Gennaro, one of the campaigns many organizers. A fan of the Hellblazer comics, Gennaro became involved in the campaign upon hearing “NBC had capped the airing to just 13 [episodes],” which she took to mean the show was “in trouble” but also that the “ratings might not be meeting the NBC demo of choice.” Hoping to convince NBC not to cancel the series, the #saveconstantine organizers publicized a petition for the show to get a second season across social media platforms in late November. The petition cites a “38% bump in the ratings and an 87% viewer retention rating (after Grimm) with the introduction of The Spectre” as evidence of the viability of the series which currently boasts over 20,000 signatures.

The description on saveconstantine.com explains the impact live tweeting Constantine episodes can have on the Twitter TV ratings. The site believes the live tweets “denote that a show has a consistent and loyal audience,” and may show advertisers they “are being rewarded for their investment in the network…so if you want to save Constantine, please watch, tell your friends, and tweet.” Gennaro cultivated a group of Constantine fans through a mailing list to help push the #saveconstantine hashtag and live tweet campaign. “We even threw Friday night twitter parties before the show to trend and gain attention,” she said.

Fan campaigns of the past relied on letter writing, placing ads in trade magazines like Variety, even buying billboards to plead for their respective shows. While Constantine fans have also employed letter writing and email to NBC executives in this campaign, their informed approach in targeting advertisers and leveraging their consumer power is in step with more recently successful ‘save our show’ campaigns. In 2009, Wendy Farrington began a campaign to save another NBC series with supernatural overtones: Chuck. Her game-changing approach acknowledged the fact that the show enjoyed better ratings on off-network viewing platforms and galvanized fans of the series to support a major advertiser of the show, Subway.

According to a 2014 article by Christina Savage for Transformative Works and Cultures, which examined fan-run ‘save our show’ campaigns, on the day of Chuck’s season finale hundreds of fans went to their local Subway and bought a $5 foot-long sandwich featured on the series via product placement. They then left behind comment cards explaining their purchase was in support of Chuck. Savage explained that by “focusing on Chuck as a business transaction, fans used their knowledge of the industry” to support their effort. Shortly thereafter, NBC ordered 13 more episodes of the series. Savage wrote: “co-chairman of NBC Ben Silverman said that this campaign was one of the most creative he had seen, and as a result, Subway would increase its presence within the show.”

John Constantine may not eat at Subway, but fans of the demon exorcist are invoking similar brand marketing powers with their #saveconstantine efforts. Only this time, the fans themselves are the product. By targeting Nielsen’s Twitter TV ratings specifically, Constantine fans “become valuable social ambassadors for programmers and advertisers alike as they amplify content and messaging through their social spheres,” Nielsen Social wrote in a an article posted in September. But will it be enough to push NBC to order another season of Constantine? Could it make the show attractive enough to warrant a rumored move to sister-network Syfy, which has released several high-profile interviews with network executives seeking to return the channel to it’s Sci-fi/fantasy genre roots? NBC president Jennifer Salke told IGN in January that “we wish the show [Constantine] had done better live. It has a big viewership after [it airs] in all kinds of ways and it has a younger audience, but the live number is challenging.”

We spoke with Dr. Balaka Basu, a professor specializing in pop culture and fan studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte about the viability of the type of campaign #saveconstantine is waging. “Campaigns helped to save Chuck and Roswell, and gave Firefly fans closure in the less-than-successful Serenity,” she said. “ I think the key was demonstrating an understanding of how television economy works. With Chuck, for instance, fans literally gave their monetary support to the chain sandwich shop Subway…this demonstrates a comprehension of the relationship between advertisers and television producers.”

Fans like Miguel Gonzalez Cabañas, who lives in Madrid, show the global reach of the #saveconstantine fan efforts. He calls Constantine “the best series with a paranormal plot” on television. He, along with Allison, Breanna and the thousands of other fans who make up the campaign to #saveconstantine will be redoubling their efforts tonight: tweeting their support for the show before, during and after the season finale. But beyond the comic book fanbase, beyond charismatic lead Matt Ryan or the show’s arcane mythology: what is it about Constantine, or any other fan-campaigned series, that produces this kind of fan advocacy? “Whether it’s a show like Constantine, where many fans came into the show already in love with the character,” says Dr. Basu, “or shows like Buffy and Angel, where they were allowed to fall in love over the duration of the show, it’s really when the characters feel like real people that you don’t want your relationship with them to end, ever. And that’s been true since the days of Star Trek.”

 

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Blogging 201: Branding and Growth starts Monday, October 20. If you’re a recent alum of Blogging 101 looking to build on the skills you’ve developed so far, or a blogger looking for new ways to grow your site and its audience, this is the course for you.

What will Blogging 201 cover? We’ll introduce tools to increase your traffic within WordPress.com as well as through other platforms, discuss ways to develop a coherent, effective brand for your blog, and show how to use your archives and your site’s stats to build your readership.

During this two-week course we’ll give you a daily task and provide you with all the necessary resources and information to complete it (there will be no new tasks on weekends, to give you time to explore more on your own, or just publish a post or two). You’ll also have access to The Commons, a private, staff-moderated space where you can chat with other participants, ask questions, and give feedback.

Ending right before NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo kick off in November, Blogging 201: Branding and Growth will help you get your site ready for a new wave of viewers — as well as to keep them coming after their first visit.

Like all Blogging U. courses, there are no prerequisites for Blogging 201 (if you’d like to follow the courses in sequence, though, that’s fine: Blogging 101: Zero to Hero will be back in November!). Self-hosted blogs and blogs from other platforms are just as welcome to participate.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in trying, sign up for Blogging 201: Branding and Growth using this form:

Take Our Survey
Filed under: Better Blogging, Community, Resources

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Blogging 201: Branding and Growth starts Monday, October 20. If you’re a recent alum of Blogging 101 looking to build on the skills you’ve developed so far, or a blogger looking for new ways to grow your site and its audience, this is the course for you.

What will Blogging 201 cover? We’ll introduce tools to increase your traffic within WordPress.com as well as through other platforms, discuss ways to develop a coherent, effective brand for your blog, and show how to use your archives and your site’s stats to build your readership.

During this two-week course we’ll give you a daily task and provide you with all the necessary resources and information to complete it (there will be no new tasks on weekends, to give you time to explore more on your own, or just publish a post or two). You’ll also have access to The Commons, a private, staff-moderated space where you can chat with other participants, ask questions, and give feedback.

Ending right before NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo kick off in November, Blogging 201: Branding and Growth will help you get your site ready for a new wave of viewers — as well as to keep them coming after their first visit.

Like all Blogging U. courses, there are no prerequisites for Blogging 201 (if you’d like to follow the courses in sequence, though, that’s fine: Blogging 101: Zero to Hero will be back in November!). Self-hosted blogs and blogs from other platforms are just as welcome to participate.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in trying, sign up for Blogging 201: Branding and Growth using this form:

Take Our Survey
Filed under: Better Blogging, Community, Resources

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Who do you consider your literary influences? It's something I've been thinking about lately as I get ready to market my current WIP, The Abyssal Plain. Although I still have about 60 pages left to edit, I'm giving serious thought to my query letters, synopses, and anything else I can put together that can describe both my book and who I am as a writer.

Last night I made a list of all the authors I believe have had the most influence on my own work. In no particular order, they are:

• Victoria Holt
• Mary Stewart
• Daphne Du Maurier
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Ursula Undset
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Jean Rhys
• Katherine Neville
• Doris Lessing
• Willa Cather
• Angela Carter
• Velda Johnston
• Shirley Hazzard
• Luke Jennings
• Arturo Perez-Reverte 
• Yukio Mishima
• Haruki Marukami
• Ray Bradbury

After making my list, I wanted to know what it was these particular authors had in common and/or why they appealed to me so much. I narrowed it down to these categories:

• Language. Rich, lush, yet also straightforward in meaning. Strong sentences that when read alone could almost be mistaken for poetry.
• Gothic suspense. Characters and plot lines filled with a sense of foreboding and the darker side of human nature.
• Details. Dress fabrics, tea ceremony rituals, the dust on Mars--I love experiencing every little nuance transporting me into a world I can see, hear, taste, smell, and until the oven timer rings and I have to choose between burning dinner or finishing "just one more page."
• A brooding sense of melancholy. Although I enjoy a good conclusion to a story, I've never insisted any book I read end with "happily ever after." I'm just as comfortable with  open endings, characters who end up wiser but not necessarily happier, and anything that leaves me on a philosophical note regarding human nature.
• International and historical settings and culture. One of my favorite things about reading is the chance to travel through both space and time without leaving home. From medieval Sweden to modern-day Japan, I've gone there just on the strength of my library card.
• Genre description: literary fiction. I enjoy reading a wide variety of genres, but I always seem to come back to what I call "literary page-turners," books that don't necessarily follow strict (or any) genre guidelines, break a lot of the "writing rules," and yet manage to hook me in so I never want to stop reading. All of the authors I've listed above fit the bill perfectly.

I'm sure there are many more connections I could make between my authors-of-influence, but for now that seems to be a good start to understanding why I write the way I do. And speaking of writing, it's time to get back to work--hoping to turn those 60 pages into a nice round zero before the end of the month!

Tip of the Day: Making a list of "where you came from" is a great exercise for developing your personal brand and marketing materials. For extra credit, why not share some or all of your list under "Post a Comment"? Inquiring minds would love to know! Happy memories, everyone--looking forward to reading your findings.

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There’s so much talk around the blog-sphere and internet about author platforms. How do you brand yourself? What to do to create an online presence? How to get your book noticed among millions of other books vying for attention? It’s enough just to write a book and get it published whether you selfpub, epub, or sign traditional, but to also have to market and promote the book can take so much time and energy away from creating more books. And it’s exhausting at times.

So what to do?

One way is to internally ask: How can I help this person? Remember, it’s not always about you, and about selling your book or wares or whatever you’re offering. The best way to help others is to share. In this world, you give, you get. People naturally feel the need to reciprocate when someone does something for them. If you want the people you work with to support your career, help them first, and then stand back and watch the magic happen!

Check out this three minute marvelous mini movie, and you’ll get the gist of how helping a person can be a rewarding experience, and make your life richer in ways you never thought possible. Warning, go grab a couple of tissues before you watch…

http://gawker.com/this-three-minute-commercial-puts-full-length-hollywood-1309506149

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and have a great and grateful day! Cheers!

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Barrett Fry is a designer and a Texan. Or, at least, he is currently residing in Austin, Texas. He’s working at Pentagram under DJ Stout. His work is bold and colorful, which a strong emphasis on design for the food industry. Of all his projects, those were my favorites.

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Featured Book: Matte Stephens: Selected Works.

A Huge thanks to Boxshot for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

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Founded is a Newcastle-based studio specializing in branding, packaging and environmental projects among other things. To me, their strong suit are their branding and identity projects. They do a great job of making subtle references and effectively using restrained typography while still managing to be witty — all within a very clean, minimal style.

—–

Also worth viewing:
Albert + Marie
Graphical House
Design Books

Not signed up for the Grain Edit RSS Feed yet? Give it a try. Its free and yummy.

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Featured Book: Matte Stephens: Selected Works.

A Huge thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

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Happy Valentine's Day! Wishing you all a perfectly sweet and happy day. And perhaps a little art journaling to go with it, courtesy of  Art Journal Class, My Favorite Tips and Tip #5:  Illustrate Your Freewriting.

One of my favorite parts of any day is to sit down and get into some freewriting: Don't think, don't edit, just write! But sometimes, more often than I like, it's not so easy for me to approach my drawing practice with the same carefree spirit. I think it has a lot to do with choosing my subject matter. I'll have my paper, colored pencils, nice pastels all set out and then my mind goes blank. What will I draw today? The longer I sit there waiting for inspiration, the worse the anxiety becomes. Thankfully, I've learned some great ways to overcome this kind of artist's block by looking to my freewriting as a source of ideas. These include:

1. Once you've finished your daily writing session, circle 3-5 key nouns you may have mentioned in the piece. Now draw them, either separately or together as a still life.
2. If you're nervous about drawing (though I hope you will soon overcome that fear!) go through a few magazines or your magazine cut-out file and choose pictures to illustrate your piece AFTER you write. This is very different from the usual way of using cut-outs as prompts and inspiration for writing.
3. After writing, go for a walk and find something that reminds you of what you wrote about. Either draw in your journal right there and then, or simply take photos and notes so you can draw later at home.
4. Did you write about food or were your characters eating a meal together? Why not cook or bake whatever they were having and then take a photo? You can either alter the photo or use it as a drawing reference. (Note: unless it's a baked item that needs to cool down, it's not really a good idea to let food sit out in the open too long; hence the need to take a photograph.)
5. A mini-collage can be a quick and satisfying way to illustrate your writing. These little gems are excellent for illustrating the mood or tone of your piece.
6. If you're feeling stuck on both the writing and the drawing, trying choosing a new theme each month and dedicating an entire journal to that theme: Spring Planting; Back to School; Winter Holidays... Add the appropriate pictures as you go through the month.
7. Try creating the daily life of a fun--and somewhat surreal--character. For instance, the adventures of a favorite teddy bear, a pet, or one of those little wooden art mannikins. Just like the traveling gnome first portrayed in Amelie take your little creature to unexpected destinations. Write and draw about his or her experiences.
8. Photocopy and then paste a favorite or little-known poem into your journal. Write your response--why do you love this piece so? What does it say to you? Illustrate your feelings and key images from the poem.
9. Never feel you have to restrict your artistic expression to just pencils or paints. How about illustrating your piece by making something out of clay or papier-mȃché? Or sewing? Take photos when you are finished and place those in your journal along with your writing.
10. Round robin journaling. If you have a group of writer or artist friends, how about sharing journals? Have each participant start an art journal, then give or mail it to the next person on the list. In turn, the next person fills in a set number of pages, and then on it goes to the next person after that. At the end of the day (or year!) everyone will have a gorgeous and surprising new source of inspiration.
11. Try this: a writing journal you will illustrate just with pencil drawing, another just for watercolor, another just for collage, etc. This is a good way to fully explore mediums and have handy references for larger paintings. And you might end up with some publishable short stories or poetry, all pre-illustrated and ready to go.
12. Be sure to choose good journals: ones that take water, various types of inks, and are easy to stay open while you work. It can be disappointing to have buckled pages or find your artwork has bled through to the other side of the paper, thereby making it difficult to write or draw on the back of that page.

Tip of the Day: Still not sure where to start with a combined writing and art journal? How about joining The Sketchbook Project? Not only will you be provided with a sketchbook when you join, but the wealth of inspiration offered at the site will keep you motivated to fill up much more than just one book.

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My big treat to myself over the holidays was to join (at last) Pinterest.com. After several months debating if I could afford the extra time to play amongst the pins, I finally decided I couldn't afford to NOT be there.

Although I'm still a total newcomer to the site (http://pinterest.com/valeriestorey)  and still figuring my way around, I'm already convinced Pinterest is a super-helpful place for writers. Whether it's about telling your personal story visually--any story, i.e., your sense of fashion style, where you went last summer, how much you love kittens, or just explaining what your next book is about, Pinterest is a serious way to deliver your message.

I must say that at first I was intimidated by all the zillions of pictures, and I did have some trouble seeing where I could fit into the mix. But that was last week. Now I can't stop coming up with ideas for "boards": the categorized pages where you actually put up your various pictures. Repinning from other people's boards has been a great way to get started, but I can also see how much fun it must be to find original pins to add to your own boards. (Hope this doesn't sound too confusing to non-Pinterest users--but stick with it--if I can do it, you can too!)

Right now I'm concentrating on creating boards that fit in with writing, and so far I've come up with 12 ways I hope to use this creative network. I haven't made all of these boards yet, but it's nice to plan for the future! Anyway, my first choices are:

1. A board just for my various book covers.
2. A board per book.
3. A board for my book trailers.
4. My favorite books, especially those that have influenced my writing.
5. Writing prompts--quotes.
6. Writing prompts--pictures.
7. Writing encouragement and inspiration.
8. A board per work-in-progress.
9. Favorite pieces of artwork I'd love to use in a book cover or trailer.
10. What I'm currently reading.
11. Literary "shrines" and famous writers I love.
12. Favorite creative supplies: pens, journals, sketchbooks, art goodies too.

Of course I'm sure I'll come up with more than 12 ideas as I become more familiar with the site, but I think this is plenty to keep anyone happy for a while. I think one of the elements I like best is being able to pin up a "secret" board that only I can see before I'm ready to release it to the world. I did this for the Overtaken board, and I have a couple of others hidden away at the moment. Oh, dear. Addicted already. (You didn't read that.)

Tip of the Day: If you're not already a member, do consider joining, or at least visiting, Pinterest.com. I think you'll find plenty of inspiration, even if you just use it to pin images to jump-start your daily freewriting. If you do decide to join, please be sure to follow me--I follow back! Happy pinning!

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I’ve been a designer with the University of California, Office of the President, for a little over a year now. During my initial interviews I was shown a bold and newly designed mark with accompanying branding elements. That identity system was one of the main reasons I accepted the position. It was so exciting to me that an enormous public institution would actually make the move toward a witty, fresh, charismatic and entirely unstuffy aesthetic — an aesthetic that seemed to go against all standard expectations of what public education should look like. And to have the opportunity to work on the in-house team that actually put this identity in place? Yes, please!

This identity was recently released publicly in the form of a branding video (also created in-house). Previous to this new identity, there wasn’t much unity in the material coming out of the University; brand and style guidelines were pretty much “blue and gold” and the widespread misuse of the University’s historic seal as a logo. More than a re-brand, the change has mainly come in the form of strategic thinking. Where once there was design chaos, now there is uniformity and cohesion. There’s a logo, with a typographic lockup; there are official typefaces (two of them); there is professional photography; there are Word templates for non-designers.

Ultimately, this move toward strategy and cohesion has been a vehicle for telling informative, compelling stories about the University. It’s exciting, and a big breath of fresh air to be involved. I look forward to more of it.

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A Huge thanks to Chronicle Books for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

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Dracola! Special-edition, glow in the dark, blood-red Halloween label for RC Cola UK.

At Asda stores throughout England. Or order online HERE.  

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Anagrama is Mexico-based design studio/agency doing a lot of very slick branding projects. I love how full and considered these campaigns are—from the initial mark to the collateral, their thoughtfulness and attention to detail is obvious. They do a great job photographing and presenting their work, as well.

—–

Also worth viewing:
Estudio Tricota
Vintage Travel Posters
Argentina Stamp

Not signed up for the Grain Edit RSS Feed yet? Give it a try. Its free and yummy.

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Featured Book: Elegantissima: The Design & Typography of Louise Fili

©2012 Grain Edit - catch us on Facebook and twitter

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On July 9th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with bestselling author and media guru Maryann Reid about how to go from author to media sensation. Maryann Reid is an Award-winning author and entrepreneur who has been featured by countless media outlets including USA Today, Essence, Glamour, The CBS Early Show, and The Wendy Williams Experience. Maryann’s first book Sex and the Single Sister: 5 Novellas was published by St. Martins Press when she was just 25 years old. At that time, Maryann had no idea that a few stories she wrote in her journal would become characters and later become a book. But she quickly learned the power of the media and pop culture influence on publishers and their decision-making. What is your most popular book and why? • Do you have advice for authors who have trouble publicizing or marketing fiction? • How do you coach clients to increase their visibility and attract opportunities? • Who is your ideal client? • What are some things authors are doing wrong? • What is the difference between a buyer and an audience? • Why should authors work with a coach and what should they look out for?

Maryann Reid

Because of the popularity of HBO’s Sex and The City, Maryann Reid hit the zeitgeist she sold her first book without it being finished. She signed her first book deal with St. Martins and the strong support of a stellar agent.Several books later, Maryann teaches others how they can sell their own books, attract agents and publicity in half the time they would on their own.When her third novel Marry Your Baby Daddy was published, Maryann was able to address a social issue that she cared deeply about and rally a new movement. As a result, she and her books have been profiled in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Oprah.com, NBC Nightly News, etc. for her innovative approach to life and solving its complex issues.

Marry Your Baby Daddy

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New packaging and identity for Nuts.com (formerly “Nuts Online”) …designed by Pentagram partner Michael Bierut… [with a] logo and type based on his own hand-drawn alphabet, digitized by Jeremy Mickel. The identity is complemented with nut character illustrations by Christoph Niemann. (via Brand New: Nuts.fun)

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Writers use forums and listings nearly every day for one purpose or another. There are community forums for those in the arts, those unique to writers and critiquing, editing and polishing, and discussions on every aspect of the writing business. Listings come in almost as many flavors and scopes as forums.

Freelancers make the rounds of both communication forms to stay tuned, toned, and in demand. Today I made forays into two separate freelance jobs listings; one within a LinkedIn group of which I’m a member, and another on Elance. I was successful in finding enticing possible job contracts.

If you’ve been around this blog often, you know that I have large projects lined up for the next several months. After the previous paragraph you’re going to ask me why I would be looking for another job of any kind. That’s fair.

I could have my eye on a lovely little boat to use during the summer on our gorgeous Flathead Lake. Or, I could want to travel in Europe next year and want to have plenty in savings to play. Then again, I could simply want a better financial cushion than I have now.

Working on only one large spec project can easily keep me occupied. Having half a dozen doesn’t give me much time to spare, though I still find time for a bit of social networking. Adding a job to the mix right now would be mental suicide, I agree.

Keeping abreast of the market, opportunities, and competition within the freelance writing world, however, is necessary. A plum could present itself at just the right moment to pave the way for bigger success and greater financial security and without stopping by such job sites on a regular basis, the writer can lose out.

Call this activity checking the pulse of the industry. Writers are entrepreneurs. They need to know what’s happening. The market can shift quietly and sneakily as smoke, leaving a writer out of the loop and as adrift as sulfur vapor puffs from a starter’s pistol.

Who could have anticipated the fiction industry shift when Stephanie Meyer’s first Twilight book, or Rowling’s Harry Potter? Those two series set the tone for a major change in the MG and YA children’s book market. Hindsight tells us that vampires come into the light every few decades, their popularity undiminished with time.

Magic and all that it entails has been around since ancient Greece. Fantasy series have been big genre business for decades. The primary component of fantasies is MAGIC. Rowling presented the concept in a slightly different manner and caught the brass ring.

Reading through job listings for writers indicates where the market is moving. Three quarters of what I found on Elance this morning were content writer contracts. The Internet is vacuuming up writers for information dis

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Action Pose!

Sea Squad buddies

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