Most of my facebook posts are just silly stuff I think up, I get a moderate amount of likes and comments on those. A small portion are opinion about things such as politics, very few comments or likes on these. When my Granddaughter was born, I posted a picture of her and in my little facebook world, the thing went viral. Since then I’ve been keeping track. Baby pictures are far and away the most popular things I post, easily quadrupling even my funniest random thought posts.

As I build my platform (when did this become a thing?) and make a public FB I won’t feature my granddaughter but I might take this cat idea, though I’d largely concentrate on kittens.

All those big brands sell feelings as well as products. Apple sells being hip and cool and edgy. Levis sells being rugged, comfortable and cool. Authors also sell feelings. Ann Rice? We associate very different emotions and adjectives with Ann Rice versus Louis Lamore. Stephen King versus Lee Child. Are we tethered to romance, adventure, escape, fun, etc.? The answer is obviously explained better in a book than in a blog, but trust me the process is VERY similar. We are selling more than products. We are selling emotions and experiences. Books obviously are a BIG part of this. Readers spend an average of 12-15 hours bonding to the author (via the BOOK). And books are always an extension of who WE (the writers) are—what we like or dislike, what interests us, what makes us laugh, cry, etc. Reading our books is often a peek into who WE are.

Marketing is ALL about emotional connection. Why does Sprite pay sexy supermodels to sip while sweating instead of spending 30 seconds detailing the benefits of proper hydration? Because one is emotional and SELLS LOTS OF DRINKS.

Ergh. Yeah, it’s so ‘sharey’ though. I started blogging to be anonymous! Had no choice but to connect the two but my life’s boring I actively avoiding writing anything about my actual life in my blog. It’s why I write under a pseudonym! This will take a lot of thought to work out how I can be more high concept without having to over share.

Our writing is high concept—life, love, kids, dating, school, failure, victory, diets and on and on. This is simply a good way to transfer what you are already doing in fiction to the blog. Even if no one reads it (yet) it is excellent practice.