Purple Prose:
reputation

For many writers, once we’ve made the decision to pursue a writing career, we become so focused on finishing our book, we often don’t think about what comes afterwards. And with more options available to us than a few years ago, it’s important that we look at the big picture, no matter where we are in the pursuit of publication.

How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! By L. Diane Wolfe is a thorough guide that will benefit writers, no matter where they are in the writing process. It covers everything you could possibility want to know about writing and beyond. In total, there are eighty-four chapters, each ranging between two to three pages. Topics cover all aspects of traditional and self publishing, social networking, marketing, and promotion. And with each topic, the book explains everything you need to know so that you can make the choices that are right for you and your project.

Chapters include:

• Pros and Cons of Traditional Publishing

• Going the Traditional Route

• Business Setup (i.e. what you need to know if you’re self publishing)

• Developing a Website

• The Media

• Reviewers

• Where to Send Review Copies

• What to Expect From Reviews

• Newsletters

Because each chapter is short, you won’t find the level of information that you might find in a book or online workshop focused on that specific topic (for example, writing newsletters). But it is a great resource for figuring out what you need to do to succeed. The book is also filled with links you can click on for additional information on various topics. This makes the book invaluable, regardless of which publishing route you choose.

Have you thought much about promotion, regardless of where you are on the publishing path? (and that includes those of you writing the first draft of your first novel).

Note: I’d like to thank L.Diane Wolfe’s publisher for providing me a copy of the book for the review.

Available February 5, 2012
Publishing/Marketing, 214 pages
$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0
Available in all Ebook formats

Barnes and Noble -
Amazon -
Amazon Kindle -

Remember in high school when your reputation meant everything? Maybe you had a reputation you didn’t know about or one you didn’t deserve. Like the teen everyone is calling a slut, because some guy spread a rumor that she’s easy (How can you tell I read Anna and the French Kiss this weekend???)

In high school, I was incredibly shy. If a guy spoke to me, I’d come close to fainting (sad, huh?). It wasn’t until I was in university that I discovered people thought I was cold and self-absorbed in high school (I think that’s what the guy told me, right before he ask me out on a date!!!!).

These days our reputation means everything to us writers. Thanks to social networking, you do something and the news of it spreads faster than a grass fire in a strong wind. And like what happened to me in high school, you might not even be aware your reputation is tanking. Last year I wrote a post about a nameless individual. It was amazing how many people knew who I was talking about. Not good news for that individual.

I’m currently in an online writing course that was the inspiration for my post on broken promises last week. Turns out, even beyond the class, the instructor has a bad reputation. Wish I had known about that. After what happened in her first course, I gave her a second chance. I thought she was going to improve. *tattoos naïve on forehead* She didn’t.

While some people don’t seem to give a damn about their reputation (or don’t try to do anything to improve it), there are some writers who do what they can to make the world a shiny place. They don’t do things to benefit themselves. They do it to benefit charities, teens, kids, or other writers. They love to pay it forward.

So, what can you do about your reputation? Now’s the time to determine how you want people to perceive you, then make sure you do what you need to do to gain (or maintain) that reputation. It’s a lot easier to build a good reputation than it is to repair a damaged one. Just ask Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Lindsay Lohan.

Which kind of reputation do you want? Have you given much thought to how other people perceive you?

(I wanted to list all the wonderful writers/authors/bloggers that deserved their awesome reputation, but that made for one very long post, I’m happy to say. But if you know someone you would love to mention, please do so in the comments). :)