In anticipation of my new book coming out, I’ve been getting a facelift. No, not that kind of facelift, although I’m sure it might make me look the part of a YA author more than I do.
I needed to refresh my writerly image. It looked and felt old, dry, and tired. In desperate need of change. And so, little by little, I’ve been updating my brand. Giving myself a mini-website facelift. Not a complete overhaul, but just enough to refresh my story.
Finding a Common Thread
With two books to my name, one being fiction and the other nonfiction, I needed to find something to tie them together. What do they have in common?
That’s easy. Eastern Europe, right? Well, Eastern Europe was the link. But then I wrote a prisoner’s story. A prisoner who has nothing to do with Eastern Europe.
So now, what do a young adult novel, a prisoner’s story, and a missionary’s memoir have in common? What in the world connects such diverse types of books?
And then it came to me.
Freedom.
Each story I’ve written, whether made-up or true, is about someone seeking freedom from oppression, whether physical or emotional, political or spiritual. A teenage girl whose life is dictated against her wishes. A prisoner serving life for stealing $116. A people living under the thumb of a dictator.
I changed my tagline to read:
Telling stories to help you soar.
With that common denominator firmly in mind, I changed the intro of my website to convey the benefit the reader will get from my stories. I changed it as follows:
Escape the ordinariness of your everyday life.
Enter a captivating story that’ll inspire you with hope.
Explore a new world–a place you’ve probably never imagined visiting.
My stories will help you do that–whether you’re here because of my YA historical fiction novel One Degree of Freedom (coming out in November), my social justice non-fiction book (on a path to be published soon), or my memoir about my missionary experience in Eastern Europe (published several years ago).
All my life, I’ve been known as a storyteller. My stories will transport you to another world: to see life through the eyes of a Romanian teenager during the Cold War or a lifer in San Quentin with no hope of being released.
Now that I’ve refreshed the text, what about the background photo on my website? The picture is from Romania. That works for the first two books, but what about when the third one comes out?
Well, for now, I’m going to have to live with it. I managed to change the text on my own, but to overhaul the entire website . . . that’s way beyond my budget right now.
But here’s the best part. When I look at the placement of the tagline “telling stories to help you soar,” it’s in the clouds of the photo. Those words are soaring! So for now, I think it works.
I hope you agree!
