Wednesday, September 2, 2015

IWSG: My Insecurity: Marketing My Brand by J.Q. Rose

Hello and welcome to  the IWSG blog hop. 

What is IWSG? Founder of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group and author Alex J Cavanaugh explains the group's purpose is "to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.

The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month.  The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page
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Marketing My Brand by J.Q. Rose
Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Photo by Stuart Miles
Who's your audience? That's what all the guru marketers ask. You have to know your audience to sell products. Is that true for writers trying to sell their books? I ask because I am insecure about how to market J.Q. Rose. I don't have one specific group to target because I write mysteries and I write non-fiction. See? I think I must be breaking the code of marketing.

When I decided to write non-fiction books, I checked to see if any other author was combining their fiction and non-fiction books. And they are. Even Stephen King. Well, I'm no Stephen King, but when I think of his books, I think scary stories. Just look at how well he has done with his book On Writing. I bet there are IWSG writers here who mix up genres in fiction or who have fiction and non-fiction on their amazon author page. If so, how DO you market your brand, your name?

Please leave your suggestions, how-tos, greetings in a comment below and help me out. Thank you so much!
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About J.Q. Rose:

Author J.Q. Rose
After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction. Her published mysteries are Sunshine Boulevard, and Coda to Murder released by Muse It Up Publishing. With her non-fiction book for girls, Girls Succeed!, she returns to her first love, writing about real people.  Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. She spends winters in Florida and summers up north camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.



Connect Online with J.Q. Rose

Smashwords Author page

11 comments:

Julie Flanders said...

Marketing is such a hard thing for me. I have been working on my brand but it's not easy! Especially since I can never decide on a genre. Good luck with your marketing - I'm sure we can both get it!

Nice to meet you thanks to the IWSG!

J.Q. Rose said...

Hi Julie, Nice to meet you too. Marketing is frustrating because we never know what actually works--if anything! Thanks for stopping by.

Christine Rains said...

Marketing is the most difficult thing about being a writer for me. I try very hard to blend all the different genres I write into my author brand. Mostly that comes out on my blog. I think that's my number one tool. Good luck!

J.Q. Rose said...

Hi Christine, Thanks for your input on using your blog as your tool for marketing. Thank you for stopping by.

dolorah said...

I write womens fiction, fantasy, and horror. Yep, I need to know how to market all those audiences too.

Anonymous said...

That's a great question, JQ. I'm writing a YA novel at the moment, which is very different from my romances. I'm thinking of publishing it under a different name, to keep the two brands separate.
I think you do a great job at presenting your brand, and your non-fiction and fiction books work very well together.
Thanks for the interesting post!

Murees Dupè said...

I am struggling with whole idea of brand and marketing as well. I hope you find a great solution soon.

J.Q. Rose said...

Dolora ahd Murees, When we figure out how to market our brands, let's be sure to share it on IWSG!! Thanks for stopping by.

J.Q. Rose said...

Helena--I was going to use a different name for non fiction, but when I thought about how much work it is to get the new name into cyberspace and out into the public, I decided against it. You could use a variation of your name, H.Z. Fairfax for YA? I've seen authors do that, but keep all the info under Helena Fairfax. Just a thought.

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Marketing is tough, like most everyone has said. My work is all for children and/or teens so I pretty much go with that. I know authors that do use different names, but it's hard enough for me to promote my books with one name. Two would confuse me even more.
Great topic. Thanks.

Beth Camp said...

Marketing is one of my challenges as well . . . If I could just master the basics, I tell myself, I would feel more confident and clearer (for want of a better word) about what is the next best step to take to connect to readers and introduce them to my writing. I haven't found any short cuts . . . yet . . . but thank you for the great author interview (just before the IWSG post) and may the month go well for you.

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