Ode to the Book Nook

One day, hubby and I will build a custom home, and I will have the best book nook ever, and we will live happily ever after. Until then, these are some of the pictures I look at while I dream...

This last one is great because anyone can have it, no matter their space.

Kinda makes you want to redecorate your place, doesn't it?

Happy Sunday!

Branding

As I'm sure you've noticed, there have been some changes around here. It's taken a while, but I love it, and hope you do too!

Still some things to finish up, but in the meantime, I wanted to talk about author branding. Branding, in its simplest terms, means identity. You can look at something and with no explanation, know what company/person/brand it belongs to.

It doesn't say Disney, yet simply because of how it looks, you know it is.

Now, Disney may be something of an extreme example as they are the grand masters of branding, but it works on a smaller scale too. In this day-and-age, the idea of branding is incredibly important for authors. Take Emily Giffin, author of Something Borrowed. All her books are styled exactly the same, each in a different color, and the colors on her website match those of her books. Obviously, in the grand scheme of things, it takes more than color matching to achieve a successful brand, but you get my point.

Where am I going with this?

I'm going to the countless hours of thought I've given this whole idea lately, and the realization that there is only so much you can do. I have been working hard to be consistent--blog, webpage, and twitter all now match--but as a yet unpublished author, there isn't much more I can do. I was bummed until I came across a picture today that helped put it all in perspective. Take a look back up at the top of this post. Everyone all over the world knows those guys--The Muppets. You could see a Muppet--even a brand new one like Walter from the most recent movie--and know immediately that he or she is a Henson Muppet. It's an internationally recognized brand worth millions of dollars. And yet, for all the success the brand has had since, it all started like this:

That is Mr. Jim Henson, with the original Kermit the Frog(and God knows who else), who now currently sits in The Smithsonian.

Moral of the story; branding doesn't happen overnight, and you can't force it. All you can do is your best, and make sure that branding and consistency are always in your thoughts as you continue to cultivate your career.

Forgive the dust...

Doing some major overhauls around the blog over the next few days. Sorry for the mess, and I'll be in touch soon!

New Year, New Genre, New Blog, New Me!

Hello everyone, my name is Marian and this is my blog. I am writer living in the Chicago area with my Husband and two daughters of one and two years of age. Besides writing, my hobbies include reading, baking, running, collecting bookmarks, and watching way too much of the same three TV shows, ie. The Big Bang Theory, Merlin, and White Collar.

What's that you say? Why am I telling you all this?

Well, I've been gone so long, that you may very well have forgotten who I am, so I figured I'd offer a refresher. Anything else you need to know? No? We good?

Okay then, lets move on...

First off I do apologize for being away for so long. Part of the reason was that I was very busy, and the other part was that when I wasn't busy, I was lazy. Put those two together and it's nearly impossible to get anything done, trust me.

However, just so you know, I have been working these past few months and I hope to have a few announcements for you in the coming weeks, one of which being the submission of my new manuscript! Yay! It is a story that I have had in my head for a very long time and I am so happy to finally have it done--the first part of four anyway--and almost ready to hit the publishing houses. I am really happy with it, and really excited about it. That being said, I have been somewhat reluctant to tell you all that this new project... is a YA Fantasy.

Yes, I know, I know.

I do love the YA genre, as it and romance are pretty much all I read, but believe it or not, I didn't intentionally write a YA. It just so happens that the story I wanted to tell was about a 17-18 year old girl, and trust me, I am no happier about it that anyone else. I am more than aware of the overly competitive, completely saturated sales market I am about to enter, and honestly, it gives me a bit of a tummy ache. Not to worry though, I have full confidence in my agent, and know that she will find a way to work miracles! (Ha! Now she has a tummy ache! ;D )

Another change is that I will be setting up an actual blog posting schedule so that I can keep my rear-end on track, and will also be changing the look of the blog over all. I LOVE my blog, but this template was free and came with an expiration date that I was unaware of when I got it, so I will have to find a new one soon, hopefully just a cool.

Stay tuned, and lots of love for now,

~ Marian

BTW: If you have a desire to hear form me more often, I am now on twitter! @MarianVere

A Few Smiles for the New Year

o