Random Observation/Comment #604: Sometimes I write completed things in checklists so I can check them off.
If you haven’t heard, I’m writing a sequel to “My Life in Lists of 30” called “Our Life in Lists of 30“. Not only have I turned 30, changed careers, gotten married, and became a father, but I’ve also written a lot more lists.
Branding and Platforms
One problem I’ve faced with branding and consistency is having too much presence on too many platforms and websites. For example:
- www.seelemonslive.com – This blog has been around for more than 10 years so I probably won’t be changing it. I like it as a personalized window to my thinking and combination of work. I can probably do a better job with it as a portfolio of my interests, but I can revisit later
- www.lifeinlistsof30.com – I created this just for My Life in Lists of 30 and migrated some posts over, but it’s getting a little difficult to maintain, so I think I’ll post my lists on the seelemonslive blog and then link to them here. I considered an old list every day, but then I’d be recycling old content logistically, which is annoying.
- Twitter (@seelemonsonline) / Facebook / LinkedIn – These social media sites are just to inform different friends and coworkers, but they’re all linked together with IFTTT so any FB post or LinkedIn post or this post will automatically push so it’s less of a hassle.
- Medium (@seelemonsonline) – I started an account early to structure my different interests into publications, but now I think I just like how it can provide a solid brand and reading portal to different interested individuals.
- Medium Life in Lists of 30 Publication – This doesn’t have a lot of lists yet, but I want to keep this as the main way to receive contributions and comments.
Simplifying Posts
I think a solid plan will be to keep my book-writing life and personal blogging life separate. Even though there’s a bit of extra effort to migrate stories and maintain different publications, it seems important. Some of my action items for logistics will be:
- Simplify the www.lifeinlistsof30.com site to focus on the book itself and intriguing people to learn more about the book, buy it, and contribute to the list writing community. It’s easier to SEO.
- For marketing purposes, trickle the publishing of different lists of 30 on the Medium Life in Lists of 30 Publication
- For updates to the book writing process, post them directly to the Medium publication and use www.seelemonslive.com to do any summaries or lessons learned (once every 2 weeks like sprint reviews)
- For new lists of 30 written in the process (e.g. 30 Dad Jokes) and somewhat relevant to parenting (maybe once a week I’ll publish a new one), put them here and link them to the Medium Publication
FAQ
Since I’ll need to write this somewhere on the www.lifeinlistsof30.com site, I might as well write it here as well. I can probably come up with 30 FAQs (maybe I’ll write this for marketing purposes after I finish the book).
- How do I learn more about “My Life in Lists of 30”?
- A great summary is available here on medium: https://medium.com/life-in-lists-of-30/my-life-in-lists-of-30-c45eb1e4f926
- Where do I buy the book?
- My Life in Lists of 30 is on Amazon (fully self-published in 2015 through CreateSpace)
- What is “Our Life in Lists of 30” and how will you write it?
- Glad you asked. Here you go: https://medium.com/life-in-lists-of-30/our-life-in-lists-of-30-writing-plan-73c7accae8bc
- Are you really going to write it all over the summer? How?
- Yes. I haven’t set a hard publishing date yet, but I intend to follow a fairly rigorous schedule and learn from the process. Since I already know the format, style, and template, I’ve removed a lot of what I think writers get stuck on when creating content. Since the logistics are all pre-planned, I can focus on the fun part of writing lists. If you know me professionally, “How?” is answered by “Because, Clembot. That’s how.”
- How do I stay updated?
- I’m available on all of the social media platforms (@seelemonsonline on twitter, facebook, medium, and LinkedIn). I will also be directly updating the specific publication on medium: https://medium.com/life-in-lists-of-30
- My writing process is also completely transparent. You can follow the book’s actual writing progress through our Trello Board and the Google Doc
~See Lemons Focus on Writing
