Right around now lots of people are writing, or rewriting, or sticking to, or breaking their New Year’s Resolutions; I’m busy rewriting my online profiles.
If you do any type of writing online (and if you’re reading this you probably do), chances are you have about half-a-dozen “profiles” posted here and there: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
In addition to all those, I have professional profiles on Guru.com, Elance.com, YA profiles on Smashwords and Scribd.com, plus a few more on places like Wattpad and Inkpop.com.
So every January I make it a point to revisit each profile and look at it objectively. Short or long, professional or personal, I try to read and then re-read ALL of my profiles to make sure they’re as effective as possible.
Along the way I ask myself a few questions:
• Is this recent, current or otherwise updated?
• Is it smooth, clean, tight?
• Does it pop?
• If I was looking to find a new author, would this profile appeal to me?
• Am I intrigued enough to learn more?
Then, depending on the answers, I go to town. I tweak and update them, add to or delete from them. I tone and craft and chisel until I’m happy for them to exist, “as is,” for another year.
Some profiles, like on Guru.com and Elance.com (professional freelance writing websites), are long and intense. Others, like my Blogger.com profile, are little more than a paragraph long. Still, every word counts.
I won’t call this process “fun,” exactly, but it definitely revives my spirit of creativity and, I think, gradually and even subtly enhances my online reputation.
There are other, hidden benefits as well. Case in point: as I sat down to write this, I was tweaking my Elance.com profile and there, in the very first paragraph, I read this line: “I am a bestselling ghostwriter with over a decade of experiencing ghost writing for such publishers as…”
“Experiencing” ghost writing? Really, Russ? Ouch. Can you say unprofessional? And that’s been up since, what? This time last year? So it’s nice to catch things like that and move forward positively. It’s also nice to update certain numbers, awards, experiences, connections, etc.
It also helps to see yourself as others see you, and to look at something you thought was “impressive” a year ago and fine tune it to be even more so now, with an older, hopefully wiser pair of eyes.
So what about you? Even if you only have a few, one-paragraph profiles like on Blogger.com and Twitter, are they working for you? Can they work better? Say more? Do more? Are you happy with them? Could you be happier?
It’s a new year and that means a new opportunity for us all to revamp what we say about ourselves online. So, what will you say about yourself this year? And how will what you say affect how you move forward as 2012 dawns bright, fresh and new?
Yours in YA,
Rusty Fischer
PS: My best to you and your writing in 2012!
If you do any type of writing online (and if you’re reading this you probably do), chances are you have about half-a-dozen “profiles” posted here and there: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.
In addition to all those, I have professional profiles on Guru.com, Elance.com, YA profiles on Smashwords and Scribd.com, plus a few more on places like Wattpad and Inkpop.com.
So every January I make it a point to revisit each profile and look at it objectively. Short or long, professional or personal, I try to read and then re-read ALL of my profiles to make sure they’re as effective as possible.
Along the way I ask myself a few questions:
• Is this recent, current or otherwise updated?
• Is it smooth, clean, tight?
• Does it pop?
• If I was looking to find a new author, would this profile appeal to me?
• Am I intrigued enough to learn more?
Then, depending on the answers, I go to town. I tweak and update them, add to or delete from them. I tone and craft and chisel until I’m happy for them to exist, “as is,” for another year.
Some profiles, like on Guru.com and Elance.com (professional freelance writing websites), are long and intense. Others, like my Blogger.com profile, are little more than a paragraph long. Still, every word counts.
I won’t call this process “fun,” exactly, but it definitely revives my spirit of creativity and, I think, gradually and even subtly enhances my online reputation.
There are other, hidden benefits as well. Case in point: as I sat down to write this, I was tweaking my Elance.com profile and there, in the very first paragraph, I read this line: “I am a bestselling ghostwriter with over a decade of experiencing ghost writing for such publishers as…”
“Experiencing” ghost writing? Really, Russ? Ouch. Can you say unprofessional? And that’s been up since, what? This time last year? So it’s nice to catch things like that and move forward positively. It’s also nice to update certain numbers, awards, experiences, connections, etc.
It also helps to see yourself as others see you, and to look at something you thought was “impressive” a year ago and fine tune it to be even more so now, with an older, hopefully wiser pair of eyes.
So what about you? Even if you only have a few, one-paragraph profiles like on Blogger.com and Twitter, are they working for you? Can they work better? Say more? Do more? Are you happy with them? Could you be happier?
It’s a new year and that means a new opportunity for us all to revamp what we say about ourselves online. So, what will you say about yourself this year? And how will what you say affect how you move forward as 2012 dawns bright, fresh and new?
Yours in YA,
Rusty Fischer
PS: My best to you and your writing in 2012!
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