Why a Cartoon Works as an Erotic Author Persona

THIS POST ReBlogged from Author Marketing 101: Why a Cartoon Works as an Erotic Author Persona

Therese & Morgan Say: Are you still cringing at the thought of doing a photo shoot for an author portrait? Well, here is an alternative for those of you who may be camera shy or otherwise have a specific reason for not wanting to have your picture floating around the internet. We reached out to our dear friend, Sabrina York for her thoughts on why she chose to use a cartoon illustration instead of an author portrait. 'Her Royal Hotness' was an early supporter of our efforts and we will forever love her!

Sabrina Says: For the last century or so, I have worked in government for a very conservative organization. (Well, it seems like a century.) What I write is not conservative in the least. So I knew as soon as I sold my first steamy romance, I would need to use a pen name. It would serve as a tool to keep my personal and professional lives separate and would also allow me to write in other genres under another name if I so desired.

Because this separation between my worlds was so important to me, I hired a company (Visual Quill) to help with developing a branding strategy. We defined a profile for my core customer, and from that designed a logo and tagline, which I would use for all my marketing.

My core customer is, like me, a little reserved on the surface, but with a playful and naughty side. She has a snarky sense of humor and loves bling. These elements are all incorporated in my persona.

What are the hallmarks of an effective persona?

Professionalism

My philosophy as a newbie author was this: “Begin as you mean to go on.” It was my intention to be a bestselling author and I decided to behave like one from the very beginning. My thought was, this is big business. And big businesses have logos. They do not rely on photographs of their CEOs.

“But Sabrina,” you may ask. “How can a cartoon logo be professional?”

And I will respond, “Stop interrupting.” But then I will go on to share that any cartoon can be a professional logo…if it illustrates your brand. KFC and Wendy’s are two that pop to mind, but I won’t mention them because then I’ll get hungry.

Recognizability
A logo is far more recognizable at a glance than a photograph. As we all know, a customer must see your logo three times for it to sink into their consciousness (new studies reflecting our shortening attention spans suggests that number is closer to 17). By using my logo as my “face,” people see it over and over again on Facebook, blogs, marketing material, Goodreads, Pintrest, Twitter…and so on.

It has recognizability. They know, immediately, who I am. And if they’ve read my books, they know my brand. On that note, for those of you who regularly change your profile picture on Facebook, realize you are losing a little chunk of your brand recognition every time you do so.

A Shield
Because I use my logo rather than a photograph in my marketing efforts, it is easier to maintain personal privacy, or at least some distance from my personal persona. This may not seem important when you are just starting to build your fan base, but when 75% of your followers on Facebook (and closer to 95% on Twitter) are people you do not personally know, this becomes essential.

Friends of mine—erotic authors—who use their personal photograph as their profile picture, spend a lot of time fending off advances from individuals who think Facebook is a dating site. Apparently these charming fellows think erotic authors need a date…which is far from the truth. We are all too busy writing to date.

Other authors have shared even more disturbing stories about being stalked (and not in a good way), and fans who “friend” their husbands and children as a way to connect with them. It is an excellent idea to keep your personal business off social media—especially photographs of your children. If this is your business, treat Facebook, and other social media outlets, like a business site.

Advice on how to create your own persona
Think about who you are and what you write. What image do you want to portray? Is there a unifying brand you can apply to your persona? For me, my tagline, Her Royal Hotness, ties into the tiara in my logo. To extend the thread, I do a regular tiara giveaway and my promo pens are festooned with bling.

Everything ties together into a neat package. A package readers can recognize in an instant.

And if you were wondering why I felt the need to keep my private life private from my conservative employers, download a copy of my free teaser book and see for yourself: http://sabrinayork.com/home-2/sabrina-yorks-teaser-book/

Happy reading!

About Sabrina York
Her Royal Hotness, Sabrina York, is the award winning author of over twenty hot, humorous stories for smart and sexy readers, her titles range from sweet & steamy erotic romance to scorching BDSM. Connect with her on twitter @sabrina_york, on Facebook or on Pintrest. Check out Sabrina’s books and read an excerpt on Amazon or wherever e-books are sold. Visit her webpage at www.sabrinayork.com to check out her books, excerpts and contests. Don’t forget to enter to win the royal tiara!

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#WWoW! The Ugly Side of Using a Pen Name

The following article was originally posted November 2012 on my Not Enough Time in the Day blog. I've updated it to reflect what had happened to myself and my fellow author friends since then. ~Tammy

The very first post I did for our Writer's Words of Wisdom group was about using a pen name or not. In that article, I pretty much said the decision to use a pen name is a personal one and is made for a variety of reasons. Writing in different genres/subgenres was the biggest reason for me, but for others it was to keep their private life separate from their author life. Unfortunately, for a few authors, having a pen name hasn't given them the protection they desired.

This week, another one of my author friends had her job security threatened by her employer. Apparently the employer isn't too keen on my friend's choice to write erotic romance.  As a writer of erotica and erotic romance myself, I know first hand the prejudice we face so it's no surprise my friend decided to go with another name to do her writing.  The shocker to all of us was that it wasn't enough to protect her from possibly losing her job.

Earlier in the year one of my dear friends also had her job threatened by someone who went out of her way to find her using her pen name to write erotic romance. In fact, this one jealous, vindictive soul took it upon herself to break company policy and use the work computers to do her "investigative" work. That part didn't come out until after my friend had to meet with the board of directors of the company to determine if she was in fact doing anything that would reflect poorly on them or their business. They UNANIMOUSLY found my friend had indeed protected them and kept everything separate. The matter was dropped until they found out the "tattle tale" had been using company time to dig up dirt on my friend. 

The proof was overwhelming against her and after a write up in her personnel file and a counseling session from Human Resources , she decided to quit before they investigated any further in her own bad behavior.  Goes to show you the old proverb is true. "He (or she!) who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones."

Thankfully, I have an employer who is supportive of my writing as long as I keep it separate and not promote on work time or post my covers on the wall over my desk. Do a few of my long term client's know about my books? Yes they do and they are happy for me too. Unfortunately, many of my author friends don't have those people in their corners. 

How can you or any other author protect yourselves from this happening to you?  That's a tough one. Writer's these days have to not only crank out the books, they have to promote themselves and their work. This entails using social media like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. It also means getting your own blog and website. I've talked about this before, but here's another twist. You have to do all of this using your pen name and DON'T promote any kind of link between it and your real name.

Yes, that's the exactly the opposite of what I'm doing right now, but I'm not surrounded by people in my "evil day job" who will complain to my bosses about what I do in my private life.  Other's are not so lucky in their work life or their family lives.

If you write subject matter that can be labeled offensive by your employer, fellow employees, church groups, school, family members, nosy neighbors, the PTA...well...keep your alter egos completely separate. Don't talk about what you write in front of these people. It's not worth the headache, getting kicked out of the social groups, or even losing your job.

There are a hell of a lot more people out there to introduce your alter ego to. So go ahead and create the social media accounts and blogs to promote and share your work. You will build a following and maybe even those folks who publicly ridicule you, will in fact be your biggest fans. That's where you get the last laugh!

Until next week,
~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website

Tammy's Blog

Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes

Sassy Vixen Publishing

Friend Tammy on Facebook

Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page

Friend Tammy on Goodreads

Friend Tammy on Pinterest

Follow Tammy on Twitter

Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube

#WWoW Odds & Ends: Should You Use A Pen Name?

Nom de Plume or Not?

This is one question many authors have to struggle with when they are getting ready to publish. Funny thing is, there is no right or wrong answer. It truly is an individual preference. There are many established authors who will be ADAMANT you use a pen name, especially in the romance genres. Some may even call you an idiot if you don't have one. Yes, I was called that when one author found out that Tammy Dennings Maggy was my real name at the time. (I've since remarried). It ticked me off to have someone call me stupid because I chose to stick with my own name, but then I had to put myself in the other author's shoes. She wasn't saying it to belittle me. She was trying, in her very rude and crass way, to protect me. Why? To keep my private life separate from my writer life? Maybe. The main reason was to protect me from potential stalkers.

Now while this may be a very valid concern and a very big one for romance writers in the 80's, I'm here to tell you from personal experience, stalkers come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. They don't just go after those in the spotlight. They stalk every day people. I have been a victim of such a person. He grew very attached to me as his dog's veterinarian. It got to the point he was sending me flowers almost daily and flipping out if I was on my day off and not there at his beck and call. 

He decided to take matters into his own hands and followed me home one afternoon. I had stopped into the veterinary hospital for a staff meeting. He once again brought flowers for me. Unfortunately one of the staff mistakenly told him I would be there that afternoon,  and she would be sure I got his gift.

Instead of being happy with that, he waited in the parking lot until the meeting was over and followed me home. Lucky for me, two of my neighbors were home when I pulled in my driveway and he was scared off.  Needless to say, I had a police escort for a bit until my stalker moved out of state.  I was not a published author then, just a veterinarian.

Like myself, many of my author friends write erotica and erotic romance...what their friends and family refer to as smut. If I had a dollar for every time a member of my own family said that, I would be able to retire as a veterinarian and devote all of my time to writing. Sigh. A girl can dream can't she?

If you don't want your family, friends, members of your church or PTA find out what you write, then create that alternate personality and let the words flow. The most important thing here is that you follow your dream. If it means you create  another name for yourself, DO IT! 

Will you write in more than one genre?

The advice of many publishers these days, is to keep separate pen names for each genre you decide to explore in your writing. I can see the questions forming in your minds already. "Wouldn't that make it harder to build up a following and market my name?" Not really.

When you are first starting out, you want your name to be associated with your work. If you write young adult fiction, you want your new fans to be able to find you easily and not pick up books written by you in other genres. Quite a few readers are very fickle. If they like your style, they will expect more books from you in that particular genre. If you zip around and try first sweet romance and then your next book using the same pen name is say a horror novel, you are going to turn off some of those readers you fought hard for in the beginning.

Are Amazon Reviews Worth It

Readers aren't stupid. They will read the covers and descriptions of your books...usually. More often than not, once they get hooked on you, they will grab anything and everything you write under that name, BUT...and that's a big but, if you give them something that turns them off they just may stay away from any more new material from you. For example, quite a few readers who love M/M romances are completely turned off if they find their favorite author has written a M/F romance. I had one such person tag my book For the Love of Quinn as "no thanks" simply because it was M/F and she only read M/M. Why even bother to tag the book you ask? Because she can and it's her way of making it known that she would try my work if it fell into the genres she enjoyed.

So do yourself a favor and use a separate pen name for each genre you wish to explore. I currently have three pen names. As Tammy Dennings Maggy I wrote M/F and F/F erotic romances and poetry. Within those genres I've dabbled in contemporary, paranormal and vampire subgenres. I write M/M and menage erotic romances in those same subgenres as Lia Michaels. Stephanie Ryan is my chosen pen name to write mainstream sweet romances, young adult fiction, and mainstream fiction. Stephanie has control of a few of my old works in progress and a new one called The Do Over where the heroine gets a chance to go back in time, knowing what she knows now, to relive part of her past. I could easily use this same idea and turn it into an erotic romance, but that's not the way my muse is directing me. 

Would I want someone under 18 years of age to pick up something written by Lia? Hell no! Would I want to face the wrath of their parents? No frickin' way! It's bad enough under aged kids get their hands on explicit adult materials. I'll be damned if I'm going to make it any easier for those inquiring minds.  If you are known for writing young adult fiction and suddenly turn out a GLBT erotic romance, will you be willing to take the backlash? 

Remember the hoopla over Judy Blume's coming of age novel Foreverand then her adults only book Wifey? No? Look into that when you get the chance and you'll know what I mean. Ms. Blume was well-known for her children's books so when the new ones came out, many parents automatically allowed their kids to read them just because of name recognition. Get the picture now?

Isn't it too much work?

It's all in how you look at it. Yes it means more work for you overall. Nowadays, authors are expected to do the majority of their own promotions. Next week I'll talk more about that, but let's just say in order to get your name out there and be seen, this takes the form of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, websites and blogs just to name a few.  For each pen name you should have these things. The more times your pen name is out there, the more likely someone will find you and your work.

Now once you have an established following, if you wish to combine some of those things, then by all means do so. Personally, I'm finding keeping those all separate works best for me right now. I don't keep it a secret I use multiple pen names (obviously), but it helps me, and those who follow me, keep each group of story lines separate.

Again, it's all up to you and your muse. 

Take home message

As a writer, it's more important that you stay true to yourself then take one person's advice as gospel. Listen to those who've come before you. Take their advice to heart, and do what works best for you. Pen name or not, your work is your own. Stand up and be proud of it. Work at it daily. Listen to the constructive criticism. Learn from it all so you can be the best storyteller you can be.

Let your Muse be your guide. After all, it's not the name that's on the cover of the book that's important, it's what fills the pages inside that will grab the reader and take them on a wild ride.

See you next week!
~Tammy/Lia/Stephanie ;)

(This article was originally posted on my Not Enough Time in the Day blog on September 12, 2012)

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website

Tammy's Blog

Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes

Sassy VixenPublishing

Friend Tammy on Facebook

Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page

Friend Tammy on Goodreads

Friend Tammy on Pinterest

Follow Tammy on Twitter

 Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube