Mystery Writer (3)

This week I put a lot of effort into improving my ANA author page, and I think it's starting to pay off.

I never thought that my face would influence the number of visitors and votes for my story. When America's Next Author started, I had a holiday snapshot on my author page. It was the only photo of myself that I was comfortable making so public. When a friend saw my profile, she suggested that I use something more professional.

It might sound like overkill, but I decided to go to a local photographer who took a few studio shots. It didn't cost a fortune and I got a couple photos with my son while we were there. (My mother will be pleased to get to get a framed print, so the cost is mostly justified.) The photo from the photographer looks a lot more professional, like the photos you see on the backs of books. Makes me feel a little like a real author. Or at least I look like one!

One I improved my author photo, the rest of my page looked bland in comparison, especially when compared to some of the more outrageous pages I've seen in this contest. But, some of those seemed to be getting more attention from voters and were ranked higher. If it gets more votes, I'm willing to give it a try. So I went ahead and created a banner and improved the text of my bio, and I even realized that contestants can edit this stuff anytime.

I'm pretty pleased with my author page now. It makes my story look better and it's wonderful to have such a professional photograph of myself. Yesterday I read in the weekly newsletter that it's possible to add a YouTube video to my page. That's a cool idea but I'm not sure if the world is ready for moving pictures of me as well.