#2 Think It Through, Genius...

Step two of self publishing is to name your site/publishing ‘house’/store/blog what have you. I named mine for a joke in my family. I once had a friend who called me unco or spaz. I am the girl known for tripping, falling, whooping, hollering and dropping stuff. It’s part of who I am and a running joke that I’m the klutzy one.

So I named my press Spastic Girl Press. Um…turns out this wasn’t such a good idea as overseas, it’s not really okay to say that. Or at least to some folks. Even here, it’s iffy, but since the girl being referred to was myself, I never gave it a second thought. When polled when the issue came up, most readers and friends mostly said: The name made me think of Lucille Ball…Stepanie Plum…You…

But the name did come up and some people were put off by it and I had been playing with the idea of changing it for various reasons. The point of this blog is name your site with care. Google it first, ask folks if you suspect it could be iffy. You don’t want to offend potential customers (though you do want to be true to yourself and your vision, so walk that line however you are comfortable). Do your research. Look into names and phrases and then find one that makes you happy.

When the name issue came up I recalled sitting at the dinner table with my family and my son telling me how they had to change a video game cover because the hand gesture on the cover was fine here, but in the UK it was basically the eff you finger. So that stuff does crop up if you want to sell your work across the board (USA, UK and beyond). Try to keep it in mind.

And me? I ended up being December Ink (named by my husband ‘the man’ no less). I ended up being happier with my new name than my original, but it was a PITA (pain in the ass) to do all the changing at vendor sites. So if you think it through right out of the gate you can save yourself a lot of fretting, paperwork and brain cells!

Back next time when we discuss art or as I like to call it: Oh crap! I need a cover!

XOXO
Sommer