Hello!
Today, surprisingly, I am writing a non-book related post. This post is all about my online presence, how I've gone about increasing and for what reasons.
If you're interested, please read on!
I am a student living in the UK. If there's one thing you know about students, it is probably this: money is in no way in abundance or expendable. (Particularly for those, like me, who are currently unemployed).
That means that in order to live an accommodating life (i.e, where I am not living off of microwave meals and pot noodles) work is essential. But how to find work that I can fit around my studies? It is not so easy.
So that is where I turned to the internet. There are millions of jobs advertised on websites like Indeed, Gumtree, and even Facebook! They are so helpful for looking for employment that is flexible. But they don't always work for people, or you apply and you have a trial and you find that it really isn't the job for you.
Which is where online presence comes in. I'm an aspiring journalist. The thing I wish to do more than anything in life is exactly that: write. Be it fiction or non-fiction, so long as I get to research and explore and express myself, the format of my work is irrelevant. So I began looking for writing jobs.
Surprisingly, many cropped up. Even more surprisingly, a lot were ghost writing opportunities. For those of you that don't know what ghost writing is, it is in very basic terms: writing your own material, getting paid for it, but having it published under another's name and therefore relinquishing all rights to said work.
I didn't quite like that idea- if I'm writing something, I want it to be known that I was the author. I don't consider that being arrogant or self-centred, it is simply growing my audience. It is improving my skills and allowing me to be discovered, and, perhaps, gaining me an audience that enjoy reading what I have to say.
Community based like BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post are all for personal essays; so I decided that was the direction I wanted to head in. As of yet I have no published material (I have no draft material, either. My subjects are still under consideration).
Furthermore, before I begin to write material that is accessible on popular websites, I want to make sure I have a well established network. That means being connected on social media sites, and, if possible, using the same usernames. This increases the likelihood of someone finding me and knowing it's me.
Not only have I been looking into online writing, however, (as writing online articles is extremely unlikely to pay anything) I have also been looking into selling online.
I have hundreds of books lying around my home! Most of them I have read, many of them I will never read again. So I started listing them on Depop and eBay and Etsy (as 'mystery books'). Some sales were successful, other's not. That hasn't stopped me from trying though! I add new ones often and they're all in brilliant condition, along with a very wide range. (From an historic study of the 20th Century Russian Civil War to Young Adult books like Let It Snow). Depop is a fun way to recycle old belongings and finding new, original and cool stuff!!
Which is where that links directly to Etsy. If you've never shopped on Etsy, you're missing out. It's full of adorable, handmade and vintage belongings, in every category you could ever want. It's brilliant. I set up my Etsy shop to originally sell the aforementioned mystery books, however I recently decided to try my hand at jewellery making! I'm currently waiting on two more shipments so that I may begin building and selling book related jewellery.
The important thing, however, with all of these online adventures, is consistency. Consistency in usernames and profile. Like I said earlier, people have to know that it's me. As such, I can be found under 4 distinct names:
TheBookCarousel
PaiigeCourtneyy (I'm currently phasing this name out, however)
Cruciomysoul
Paigebr97
'Cruciomysoul' takes inspiration from Harry Potter. I use it mostly for gaming, Tumblr and websites like AO3 and Wattpad.
'TheBookCarousel' is, of course, the name of my blog. It's also the name of my Etsy shop, as that is what I wish for it to be associated with- which it will be, once I've created enough of an online presence. And how am I going about doing that? By reading and writing of course! The name takes it's inspiration my book loving tendencies and my love and fascination with the circus and funfairs. I've always dreamed of working within a circus, but sadly I hold no valuable talents.
'PaiigeCourtneyy' is the very first username I had. I have no idea why I doubled letters, but I was 11 when I started using this moniker. I guess I thought it was cool. Regardless, I'm tired of using it now, which is why I am phasing it out. It is currently only used for my Twitter handle, and I intend to change it to one of the other three when I find the one I think will fit it best.
There's not much to say about 'Paigebr97'. This is for more personal ventures, I guess. It's simple and professional, easy to remember, and so its good for websites that are more mature. It's my Depop handle.
I think I may have derailed a tad from my original intention. That neither surprises nor bothers me. I believe I have made the point I wished to: I am building my online presence, growing an audience, in order to become successful in the ever competitive publishing industry.
And to sign off, I'd just like to leave all the relevant links! I'll add these to my 'Contact' page, too, so that you don't have to keep referring to this post if you're looking for me somewhere. (I'll post the full links so that you can see which handle I use and where)
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thebookcarousel/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/PaiigeCourtneyy
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paigebr97/
Bloglovin' - http://bloglovin.com/thebookcarousel
Wattpad - https://www.wattpad.com/user/cruciomysoul
Depop - @Paigebr97 (Depop is currently only available as an app)
Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheBookCarousel
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/cruciomysoul
Bookbridgr - http://www.bookbridgr.com/my-profile/
BookBlogging - http://bookblogging.net/members/thebookcarousel/
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