personal branding

Why Every Writer Needs a Personal Brand (and Why It’s Not as Scary as It Sounds)

If you’re a writer or author, you’ve probably heard the advice: “You need to build your platform.” And you’ve probably strained your eye-rolling muscles each time someone has said those words to you. But, like it or not, those folks are right. The good news is that building your platform or personal brand doesn’t have to feel gross or take away from your creativity.

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4 Things to Know About Building Your Personal Brand

Building a personal brand is one of the most important things you can do for your writing career. Don’t get me wrong – it is NOT the most important thing. Nothing is more important than just sitting down and DOING THE WORK. Writers write. Period.

But if you want people to read your writing, building your personal brand is a good way to make that happen.

Here are 5 things you should know about building your personal brand.

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Personal Branding Tips for Freelance Writers

I have a confession: There was a time when I was a hater.

The world of journalism has changed. Many of the people who are getting opportunities to write essays and even regular columns for publications and being asked to cover events for media outlets are not trained journalists; they’re influencers. 

As someone with two journalism degrees and 20 years of journalism experience, this trend used to make me angry. But then I decided that if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I decided to consider how I could use my own “influence” to get gigs. 

I decided to build my brand. And it worked!

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Are you a writer or a blogger?

Are you a writer or just a blogger?

I Googled this question the other day after watching an old YouTube video by Ianthia Smith on this topic.

Ianthia is a news reporter turned lifestyle blogger and in the video, she interviewed her former boss who has followed a similar path.

She shared that when she quit her reporting job to blog many of her peers looked down on her for that decision. Why would leave her journalism to be “just a blogger,” they wondered.

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How to Host a Virtual Summit

Last month I hosted the first See Jane Write Virtual Summit featuring live online Q&A sessions with 8 female writers and bloggers with noteworthy accomplishments to their name. During the summit, attendees learned how to build a tribe to support their blog, books, and other writing projects; how to work with brands as a blogger; how to start a freelance writing career; how to market and build buzz for their blog, book, or brand; how to use writing to discover their authentic selves; the art of personal blogging; how to lead a group book project; and how to use their blog to write and publish their first book.

I decided last fall that I wanted to host a virtual summit but it took me several months to finally pull it off because I kept making excuses. I don’t have the time, I told myself. I don’t have the money, I said. But eventually I looked at myself in the mirror and said, “Javacia, you can either make excuses or make a difference. But you can’t do both.”

So I got to work. Still a journalist at heart, I started by asking myself the 5Ws and H.

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