First let me explain why I have this following advice for you. I've
had profiles on various modeling networking sites for about 10 years. On
those sites I would learn the do's and don'ts, the shoulds and
shouldn'ts, what works and what doesn't, by seeing thousands and
thousands of profiles over those many years, seeing which were annoying,
which drove me away, which kept me on them, which were interesting,
boring, ridiculous, beneficial, etc. Profiles are profiles, it doesn't
matter the profession.
Once I started casting directing for photographers and music video
producers and directors many years ago, I posted castings after
castings, did searches after searches, and have seen more profiles than
you probably ever will. When doing searches, you are shown thumbnail
images of the talent, to then open the profile to see more. Well when I
have thousands to go through, I'm certainly not going to open every one
of them, so I open the profiles with the striking profile images, not
the thumbnail images where I can't even see the model as they are far
away, laying down, upside down, airbrushed, in a funky pose with their
hair covering their face, has a wig on, etc. Unfortunately these models
insist on posting their latest image, or an image they find cool, even
if it does not represent what they really look like. They are under the
impression that they are on facebook and their friends go to their page
everyday to see what new images they have posted.
These types of networking sites are to find talent to be hired. So just
like product packaging, your advertisement of yourself (your profile
image), has to sell your package (the desire to click on it to see your
profile). Yes I know you are not all models, I was merely giving you
examples of why you need to focus on "search results" from
those doing searches for your profession. Now, on to my profile advice
for this particular industry, the romance novel industry...
1.) Post a profile image. Profiles created without profile
images, will be deleted after 1 week without having a profile image. A
photo of yourself as your profile image is not going to get people to
look at your book(s), which is what you want so they'll buy them, or
hire you to create them. I first had the idea to make this website from
seeing so many authors on facebook who have many books, yet they don't
even post them on their non-personal facebook profiles. I thought to
myself "Why are they not posting their latest book as their
profile image if their profession is an author and their job is to
promote it, to sell it?" So I made this website to have two
photo albums "Work Images" and "Event Images".
This is a "business" website for those in the romance novel
industry, to sell your books, your talents, your abilities, your skills,
to get you hired. It isn't to compete with facebook to be another social
website with games, apps, and posting images of your family, friends,
pets, vacations and photos of yourself. Those types of photos do not
sell your books or your skills. This website is for readers to find
romance novels to buy, for authors to find editors, cover artists,
reviewers, publishers, events, etc. to help finish and sell their books,
and for those involved, to help them get hired by authors. So while
creating your profile, please think "What will sell my work
best? Photos of me to show everyone my latest haircut, or images of my
book I wrote, designed, etc.?" That "Wow!" factor of
seeing a great cover is going to get people to click on your profile
image when they see your book cover as your profile image, whether on
someone's friends list, from a comment or announcement you make, popping
up in the random RNC Featured Member spot, a paid Feature Me spot, or
through a search for your profession.
Now this doesn't apply to everyone; editors, reviewers, promoters and
agents could use images of themselves, or logos/brand images of their
company, and aspiring authors and readers can use images of themselves.
But authors, cover artists, publishers and web designers should use
images of covers of books they wrote, designed, publish and screenshots
of websites they designed. Trailer producers should use a logo/brand
image, costume designers should use images of a gorgeous historical
dress, etc., they designed, and models should use images that look like
they could be on a romance novel cover. Viewers that come here do not
care about your high-end fashion images, your fitness images or your
artistic images, they want to know if you could sell their book by
portraying the hero or heroine on their book cover.
2.) Don't make your profile all bold or of bright colors, it is
uneasy/annoying on the eyes, meaning visitors won't want to read your
profile.
3.) Don't start your profile about your family, spouse, kids,
where you live, etc. Visitors go to your page to learn about your
"profession", what you do in the romance novel industry, not
how many kids and pets you have and if you are married and how happy you
are in your relationship. Since there are so many profiles for them to
look at, they are not going to read every bit of every profile in your
profession. So if the first paragraph (much like a book's blurb) doesn't
capture their attention and have them wanting to read on, then they will
move on to the next one, as very soon there will be thousands of
profiles on RNC. If you want to talk a little about your personal life,
do it last so those who don't need or want to know, can stop when they
start reading it, while still getting the information they came to your
profile for already.
4.) If you are an author and a cover artist and a publisher and a
web designer, etc., then you need to make a profile for each profession.
This is best for you and for viewers searching for you. When a person is
searching for a cover artist, they go to the "Browse" page and
click on "Cover Artist". They don't click on
"Author" or "Web Designer" or "Publisher"
when looking for a Cover Artist, nor do they want to read profiles of
your book launches and book signings and the latest books you have out,
plus the books you publish and the websites you've designed. They are
looking for a COVER ARTIST. When they want a Web Designer, they will do
a search for a Web Designer, etc. So don't fill your one profile with
blah blah blah about everything you do in this industry, as people
searching for a specific talent, is not going to want to read your life
history. Your profile(s) should be clean and neat, easy to read and
provide information to sell your talent in that one field.
5.) Visitors will do a search for a cover artist (for example)
and find many. They will then see all the profiles that put their rate
they charge and for what type of work, and they will find many in their
budget. You could very well be in their budget, but if you don't post
your rate then those visitors will not know that. Do you really think
they are going to message you and everyone else who didn't post a rate
to ask you what your rate is, when they see many choices who did? No,
they won't. As they will figure you didn't post a rate because it is
very high. So they will look through the profiles that did post a
rate within their budget, and then choose one of them based on their
quality of work and style. If you are looking for an attorney in the
phone book, do you call EVERY SINGLE ONE to get all their prices and
then research their past cases to see which one, of all that is
available to you, is best for you? No. If you see many with prices
listed in their ads that you are willing/able to pay, you then STOP
searching and compare among those for which one you want to hire. But don't fear that because your rate is high
that you also don't want to post it, as there are plenty who can afford
you, as long as the work you show justifies your rate and they feel that
as well. The Work/Rate field is mandatory as I know it is best for you
to show it, and it is what visitors want to see. The "edit my
profile" page is global for all professions, so each profession can
think of something to put there. Examples (not exact figures):
Authors:
Work: Writing books
Rate: Price per book
Novel Editor:
Work: Edit up to 10k words
Rate: $1,000
Cover Artists:
Work: Cover art
Rate: $100 per cover
Novel Reviewers:
Work: Book reviews
Rate: free
Publishers:
Work: Publish your novel
Rate: 60% of sales
Romance Novel Events:
Work: Registration fee
Rate: $249
Trailer Producers:
Work: Create novel trailers
Rate: $250-$1,000
Aspiring Authors:
Work: Novice book writer
Rate: free
Readers:
Work: Reading books
Rate: free
Costume Designer:
Work: Designing costumes
Rate: price varies
Promoter:
Work: Promoting you
Rate: $250 per month
Agent:
Work: Representing you
Rate: 15% of your sales
Model:
Work: Cover shoots
Rate: $300 a day
6.) Where do I upload photos? Where do I edit my profile? Where
do I retrieve my messages? Where do I approve friend requests? Where do
I edit..........? All editing of your profile is accessed from the
"my stuff" link in the top right corner once you have joined
RNC and created a profile. Rollover the words "my stuff" with
your mouse/cursor and a pull-down menu with all your editing links/pages
will be there.
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