HW for Branding - Day #2
I haven’t completed all the parts, but I wanted to share the part I did complete….
Cheers, Kim
What are your strengths?
● I relate to just about everyone fairly easily.
● I have a good sense of humor and am pretty witty.
● I can be pretty persuasive.
● I never met a stranger; I can see stuff I like in almost anyone.
● I’m a decent bass player.
● I’m pretty good with grammar and tone.
What are you the best in your world at?
● I'm telling stories about the time travel adventures of a military-sponsored organization charged with protecting the natural timeline. After four books and a four-book series, the characters are well-defined now.
Why do readers pick other authors over you?
● Perhaps my covers and/or back cover blurbs don’t convey a compelling enough promise, or
● Maybe my cover doesn’t match my genre well enough, or
● Maybe they haven’t found me yet,
Why do people read other similar stories rather than your story?
● Same answers as above; Perhaps my covers or back cover blurb don’t convey a compelling enough promise, or maybe they haven’t found me yet, or maybe my cover doesn’t match my genre well enough.
What do you do that exhausts you?
● Poring over everything on my plate and trying to prioritize the activities to implement the strategies. I frequently suffer from “paralysis of analysis.”
● Social media does exhaust me.
● I’m an “owl” or a “melancholy” type personality, so I always have the temptation to over-organize.
● I have to frequently ask myself, “Is this activity goal-achieving, or merely tension-relieving?”
● If I see a rabbit hole, it takes a lot of discipline to keep myself from diving into it. Sometimes, I don’t have enough discipline to stop myself. When this happens, I usually realize my error halfway through the task. Sometimes, it increases my understanding, but most of the time, it doesn’t, and I’m exhausted by the fact that I wasted time with no benefit.
● Getting lost in the forest because of all those damned trees.
What are your unfair advantages?
● I’m retired, so I do have much control over where I spend my time (except for honey-dos).
● My work background was in information technology, so I’m fairly savvy about computers and the Internet—or at least, I’m not afraid of them.
● I have a vivid imagination, and I love thinking about “what if?”
● I love learning new things, like marketing techniques. I also love finding new tools to do mundane tasks so I can focus on the fun things.
What gives you the authority to write on the subject you’re writing on?
● I’m a writer of speculative fiction books. I don’t know that much authority is required to do that.
● On the other hand, I’ve written five pretty solid stories, and I’m much better at the craft now.
What gives you the authority to explore the themes in your writing
● Same answer as the above question…
● I’m a writer of speculative fiction books. I don’t know that much authority is required to do that.
● On the other hand, I’ve written five pretty solid stories, and I’m much better at the craft now.
Step 2 - Look at Your Readers
Who is your target reader?
● My Timothy likes plausible time travel adventures with rich characters that address “what if?” questions involving politics or moral issues.
What does your target reader read currently?
● I’m ashamed to say I have no idea.
How is your target reader different from other readers?
● My target reader likes to be entertained and educated while reading; and enjoys rich character interactions.
Why does your target reader read books?
● For Entertainment mostly.
How can you thrill your target reader?
● I think the key is to create twists and turns in the plot that make the reader stop and think about the new possibilities available, now that the plot has turned.