Over the last couple of months it has become much easier to find a particular person on the web. Facebook’s early June implementation of vanity URLs, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn indexing profile pages for search engines have made this easier than ever. However, if you are trying to find someone with very specific skills… forget it. For example, one of our publishing clients recently was trying to find “a writer with experience running a home-based personal training business.” They were ready to offer the right writer a contract, but—although search capabilities keep getting better—this was still too complex to google.
When we interviewed writers earlier this year, we confirmed that most of them have experience writing in a variety of media (blogs, magazines, newsletters, scripts, and, yes, books). They are writers first, book authors second. Putting this together with our publisher client’s challenge with finding a writer with very specific experience led us to conclude that we could help our writer members (and our publishing clients) with a new set of tools on Creative Byline.
These new tools allow writers to develop a robust online portfolio of their writing background and experiences. This is matched with a sophisticated search capability for editors and publishers to find exactly the type of writer they are looking for. There are a number of other “profile” capabilities on the web for book authors to create a platform and attract readers, but ours is focused earlier in the process… attracting editors who may be interested in acquiring a writer’s content. We’ll roll out this and other exciting enhancements to Creative Byline soon.
