This month I would like to share with you the history behind my path to becoming a Social Butterfly.
20 years ago I started my journey on these online streets. I didn’t have a clue about being online I just knew it fascinated the heck out of me and I didn’t have to go anywhere to meet new people.
It actually was a blessing in disguise because I was a new mother with a husband who worked nights. We had one car so you know who had it in the evening. I was home alone most nights with a toddler and nothing to do.
I went online and found a whole new community to be a part of.
If you know me you know I love reading. When I came online, the romance community was opening up for African-American writers and I wanted to be a part of it. I noticed that our writers weren’t get a lot of promotion when it came to their books and I wanted to help with that problem.
Shades Of Romance Magazine was the solution.
In the beginning I planned on it being a monthly magazine with author interviews, articles about the craft of writing and book reviews. I never dreamed that I would still be online featuring what I’d dreamed of doing. We are no longer a monthly magazine, it’s a quarterly magazine, but we still feature author interviews, articles about the craft of writing and book reviews.
SORMAG was my gift to the romance writers I loved. I wanted to showcase them and their books.
I wanted to have a print magazine and in my research I realized that wasn’t going to happen because I didn’t have the funds. I came across an article about starting an online magazine and I contacted the writer, and she gave me some wonderful advice on how to start my own.
While on maternity leave with my second child, the idea I had in my head for a year, begin to come alive.
First I had to learn how to create a website. I didn’t have a budget, at that time I didn’t have a dime to start a budget, which meant I couldn’t pay someone to do a website. How hard could it be?
I don’t recommend this unless you like creating websites. I do recommend knowing the basics, so you can make corrections if needed.
When I look back on it, I’m grateful I learned how to do a website because I still use everything I learned to this day.
I sent out requests for interviews, they all came back with a big Yes, I’d love to. I had a few articles from a previous request.
I chose to feature my favorite author – Rochelle Alers as the cover author. I was ready to go live.
That’s the scary part because even if you build a website you still have to get people to come by.
I’m a newbie, I don’t have a mailing list, we don’t have social media, so how the heck can I tell people about the site.
I was a member of yahoo groups, Delphi forums and I visited a ton of blogs weekly. Guess who was telling everyone about her new online magazine?
The first year we had 16,000 visitors to the magazine site. OMG! The promotion was working.
Stop by on Monday – Feb 5, 2018 and I’ll share some more about my journey.
Here are a few tips about working on your dream.
Create a plan for your dream.
I wrote down what I wanted SORMAG to do. This help me stay focus and consistent.
Dream Big
What will the future look like for your dreaam? One mistake I didn’t do with my plan was look to the future. I could only see the first year. I didn’t see 18 years later. I highly recommend thinking ahead.
Get help
The first year, I should have asked for more help. I had contributors and reviewers, but I still tried to do a lot on my own. I wished I’d known about outsourcing, would have saved me a lot of late nights.
Don’t think you have to do it all or alone. This was my issue for years. I don’t recommend it. Build a team and work together.
Do what you love
The first year of creating SORMAG, there were a lot of late nights. In the beginning I wasn’t getting paid but you couldn’t have told me anything. People were reading my magazine and I was on cloud nine.
Build relationships
If I hadn’t built relationships before I started the magazine, I wouldn’t have had the interviews, the articles or the reviews inside each issue. I wouldn’t have received the second website built by Shelia Goss. I definitely wouldn’t have had the visitors to the site if I hadn’t started building relationships before I created the magazine.
Are you ready to become a Social Butterfly, I invite you to join The Social Butterfly Membership
