For our 50th episode, we're doing another massive Q&A extravaganza to celebrate.
How do you manage two separate creative brands?
Question: Serena Masco asks, "What advice would you give someone who's in the process of creating two identifying brands for separate fields? For example, one brand is as a fantasy author, and the other is as a graphic designer. Should I try to keep the brands similar so they're more identifiable as coming from the same person, or keep them totally separate since they're separate fields?" She adds, "Thank you for making such an awesome podcast. It's one of the best ones I've ever heard. I can't wait for more upcoming episodes."
Thomas: My recommendation would be to keep these brands separate. The reason is a concept called cognitive dissonance, when two ideas in someone's head disagree with each other. Think of a piano. If you push a key and the one right next to it at the same time, they clash. You have to know which keys go together.
Branding works the same way. Some combinations augment each other. If you're a writer and an editor, that's not dissonance. It makes sense that a good writer could also edit your writing. One brand helps the other, and that's a harmony of brands, so I'd keep those closely aligned.
But a graphic designer and a fantasy author is a different case. I'd keep those pretty separate, unless you specialize in something like paintings of dragons, which would connect the two.
I'd recommend a blog or website for your graphic design, and something separate for your writing.
Jim: I have this dilemma myself. I've got the marketing brand going and the novelist brand going. Am I a novelist who does marketing, or a marketing guy who writes novels?
In my case, marketing only appeals to a limited group of people, while the novelist audience is much more global. Serena, you're in a similar situation. Your graphic artist identity isn't as applicable to the wider world as being a fantasy novelist is.
Is a Facebook fan page still worth having?
Update: Jim and Thomas no longer recommend Facebook as tool for building an audience.
Question: Cheryl Ricker, whose website is friendinthestorm.com, asks, "Seeing as Facebook has changed the algorithms and lowered the priority of fan pages, does it still make sense for authors to have one? As an alternative, I'm considering starting a second Facebook page, a personal page, but Facebook caps me off at 5,000 friends, so I suppose I'd have to start a new one every time I reach 5,000. Then again, I could copy and post to a few different pages. Am I missing some other possibilities?"
Jim: Facebook is not going to die. I made a prediction at the start of the year that one of the major shifts in 2014 would be people leaving Facebook and not using it as a tool anymore. I think that's happening, especially in the younger generation. I see it with my sons, where Facebook just isn't part of their lives anymore.
Still, if you use Facebook correctly, it can be a massive tool for promotion. Cheryl, I'd recommend getting a page instead of a profile. A page is never capped, so you can keep adding people, while a profile cuts you off at 5,000.
Here's what's happened with Facebook. It used to work like a small cable operation, where anybody could get a slot in prime time and have a lot of people see it. As it grew in popularity, there weren't enough hours in the day to put everybody in a prime time slot, so Facebook limited those slots to only the most popular content. If you're the most popular show on that channel, you'll get seen by a lot of people, but it's getting harder and harder. The question becomes whether you can create content so exceptional that people want to see it, which is what boosts the algorithm's visibility of your posts.
Thomas: I agree with your recommendation, Jim, and I agree, Cheryl, that you need a like page. The biggest reason is that 5,000 isn't a big number. A meaningful Facebook following is more in the 50,000-plus range, and you can't get there with a personal page.
Remember, the conversion rate of Facebook friends or likes to book sales is 1% or less. Five thousand friends sounds like a big number, but 1% of that is only 50 book sales. One percent of 100,000 is a much more significant number. That 5,000 cap really limits you.
Facebook is fun, and there's a temptation to spend a lot of time on it, but you don't want to. Most other marketing activities will have a higher return in terms of sales.
Jim: When Thomas says most, he really means 99%. Facebook is not a place to sell products, it's a place to be social. You'll make more impact by keeping the fans you have and interacting with them than by chasing new fans or trying to get them to purchase products.
Thomas: That said, in the last couple of months I've gotten three-quarters of a million people to my personal website from Facebook. I wrote a blog post that went viral there, and Facebook was the channel that brought most of that traffic. There are still ways to use Facebook, and I'm not against it.
But that wouldn't have happened from a personal page. Personal page posts are limited to your circle of friends and won't spread beyond that, while a page can spread across all of Facebook.
Jim: That comes back to what Thomas did. He put together a blog post that was prime time material, so engaging that people kept recommending it. It comes down to the content. You could do the same thing on YouTube. Post a video that's funny, provocative, or entertaining enough, and the same thing will happen there.
Thomas: The average YouTube video gets something like 200 views, hardly any, but you don't realize that because the videos you watch got a lot more. Those are the ones that spread.
For updated information on this question, check out the following episodes:
- Why Most Authors Don't Need Social Media in 2026
- How to Grow your Platform Without Social Media - with Sandy Cooper
- The Platform Predicament: How to Connect With Readers Off Social Media
- How to Build a Rejection-Proof Platform in 2025
Should you focus on one creative project at a time?
Question: Carrie Lynn Lewis writes, "I have a question regarding the Benjamin Franklin example from a few episodes back. Benjamin Franklin did a number of things well, but you said he did only one thing at a time. I'm an artist and a writer. What I'm hearing in this podcast is that I should probably be doing only one thing at a time. When I'm writing, that's all I do, that's the work for each day. When I'm painting, that's all I do, that's the work for the day. So how would you implement how I divide my work?
Is it better, in your opinion, to dedicate a day to each thing, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I write and Tuesday and Thursday I paint, for example? Or should I work on each project with dedication, write a first draft to completion, then paint a painting to completion? This is something I've struggled with for years, so any and all suggestions are welcome."
Jim: This is going to sound like a non-answer, but it really is one. You have to do what works for you. For me, I'm doing five things simultaneously all the time because that stimulates my creativity. Today, for example, I wrote in the morning, worked on a blog post, and now I'm doing this podcast. When Thomas and I are done recording, I'll do a fourth thing.
I'm also the type of guy who reads five or six books at the same time, and for whatever reason, that works for me. Other people need to start one book and finish it before starting another. Give yourself permission to do what works for you.
Thomas: Focus is powerful. I used to advocate doing just one thing, which isn't what I practice, and learning to focus is something I'm still working on myself.
There's a proverb in the book of Ecclesiastes that changed my thinking. In Ecclesiastes 11, Solomon talks about the benefits of diversification, maybe one of the first people to talk about diversifying your assets. A few verses later, he talks about diversifying your time too. He says to plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, because you don't know if profit will come from one activity, the other, or both.
Sowing your seeds is like swinging for the fences. With farming, you either get a great return, or a storm hits and the crops die. It's feast or famine. Staying busy all afternoon is more like being a cobbler or a blacksmith, a secondary trade that's more consistent. The profit could come from one, the other, or both.
I think that's a wise way to approach life, though you can get into trouble trying to do too many things. Solomon says to diversify your assets across six or seven places, but to diversify your time across only two. We obviously do more than two activities in life, but in terms of real passions, restricting yourself to two at any given season will make you far more focused. You'll have the energy, drive, and creativity to succeed, rather than spreading yourself across everything at once.
That's how Franklin operated too. He was starting to get interested in politics while he was still a scientist. He had other passions, but only one was his primary focus in any given season.
To learn more about focus and task rotation, listen to the following episodes:
- Brandon Sanderson's Crop Rotation Method for Restful Rapid Writing
- Productivity Tips for Authors With Joanna Penn
- Productivity Secrets from Bestselling Author Jerry B. Jenkins
- Why Your Book is Still Unfinished (Hint: It's Your Phone's Fault)
Should you try to get your book into boutique shops and small retailers?
Question: Lori Bentley Law, whose website is motordolls.com, writes, " With my independently published novel, I've done only internet marketing. The novel is available from my website, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble online. I'm wondering about the viability of trying to get the book into boutique shops and independent stores, and how to go about that." Her second question: "How do I write a press release marketed to small retailers?"
Thomas: Let me start with the boutiques question. I'd start small, as a test. If your book takes place in a real location, start with boutiques in that town, particularly ones with a tourist focus, since that's your easiest sell. Call up a gift shop in that location, and they'll likely be excited that tourists might want a book set in their own town. Those are your first boutiques to target.
The catch with small retailers is that they're locally owned, so a mass market approach won't be effective. It's about building relationships. Call just 10 or 20 stores and see how many you get into in that local area. That'll tell you whether this is worth scaling.
I know authors who've sold tens of thousands of copies this way, just by getting on the phone and calling retailers and schools. One guy called schools and corporations and got them to buy his book as a Christmas gift for their employees, sometimes 10,000 copies at once. There are a lot of alternate ways to market books, but it requires a lot of smiling and dialing.
Jim: It comes down to economics. On the pro side, if you get into the right shop, you can sell book after book after book. My first novel is set in Cannon Beach, Oregon, right on the coast, and there's a small independent bookstore there. Because so much of the book happens in Cannon Beach, it's a natural fit. They carry it, and it'll sell for years because people come in and ask if they have the book.
On the other hand, you have to ask how much money you'll actually make. If you spend your gas money to go introduce yourself and build a relationship, and they pick up three of your books and sell three every six months, you're not making much for your time. It's always a question of if I'm doing B, I'm not doing A, so you have to figure out what the A things are that will really promote the book.
- How to Work With Brick and Mortar Bookstores
- How Readers Make Buying Decisions at Physical Bookstores
Thomas: As for press releases, I don't think that's the way in. Press releases are actually going out of style. The new approach is news releases, targeted at the general market as well as the press. If you're curious, the best book on writing news releases is The New Rules of Marketing and PR, 4th edition.
A press release from an individual without relationships with journalists is unlikely to get traction. That's what you hire a PR company for, not just for their expertise but for their relationships. It's a theme we come back to a lot. It's about who you know as much as what you know.
- How You Can Create Massive PR for Yourself
- Author's PR Playbook: How to Get Media Coverage Without a Publicist
- How to Work With a PR Firm to Promote Your Book
- How to Conduct Your Own Media Tour (without hiring a PR Firm)
Should you work with a book coach?
Question: Camille Gallinger asks, "Should you work with a book coach? If so, when? I had a bad experience with one and want to be advised about working with one if necessary, and knowing when to."
Thomas: That reminds me of a scene from The Italian Job. Someone says, "I had a bad experience," gets asked what happened, and just repeats, "I had a bad experience."
I can imagine a bad book coach is worse than no book coach, because you're putting your dream in their hands, and they have the ability to crush it. A good book coach, on the other hand, can help you become a success and transform your career for the better.
Jim: Absolutely, you should work with a book coach, but Thomas is right that it's risky. When you write a novel, you pour everything into it. People say, "They're not rejecting you, Jim, they're rejecting your novel." Are you kidding me? I poured everything that I am into that novel, so yes, they're rejecting me. It's very personal, and you want a book coach who understands that.
A book coach can be incredibly powerful. I hired one when I was just starting out. I hired this book coach after I'd already gotten the contract for my first novel, so that tells you how much I believe in finding a good book coach.
However, you have to make sure they fit you. Even the best professional golfers in the world have a coach. We need that person from the outside with expertise to look in.
I'd interview them and get recommendations rather than just hiring somebody because they say they're a book coach. The problem is that anybody can say, "I'm a book coach." Prove it. My business card says book coach on it, so what?
Take your time and make sure you connect with them. There are excellent book coaches out there you just wouldn't work well with, and others you'd work fabulously with. It's about matching up personality-wise, skill-set-wise, and passion for your subject. There are so many elements that go into it, but take your time. I work with a very limited number of people on their books.
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