A-webbing we will go . . .

Is webbing a word? I guess it is--webbing on a chair, perhaps?--but probably not the way I used it in today's title. Somehow "webbing" doesn't conjure up the sort of image "googling" does (and yes, googling is officially a word; it's even in dictionaries); for some reason it makes me think of Elmer Fudd with his rifle and funny hat, out shooting "wabbits."

Unfortunately I'll now have that song running through my mind for the rest of the afternoon :-).

What I was doing while webbing was fiddling with my website (http://sharonschulze.com if you're interested)-- updating it, and playing around with the various templates, palettes and layouts available with the particular website-building program I use. I came up with some interesting--and a few eye-popping--combinations before I settled for pretty much the same template, palette and layout I'd been using. There aren't too many choices for each. That's one of the limitations of this program that I can't overcome, although other than that, it's fairly user-friendly. I enjoy maintaining my own website, and since I'm not planning on teaching myself advanced html anytime soon (basic html is ok), this is the program for me.

I've seen an on-line discussion recently about branding; in book PR (i.e. websites), is it more important to brand your name as an author, or to simply promote the most recent book? I'm guessing the author's name is more important, since books come and go, but since it's difficult to quantify the impact of PR efforts anyway, who knows?

This is where having a marketing degree instead of an engineering one could come in handy. However, since I doubt Fluid Mechanics or Reinforced Concrete Design will do me much good in the PR wars, my best bet is to keep muddling along for now and keep an eye on what's happening in the book-selling biz.

The bottom line--before I head back to 1788 in the work-in-progress--is to remember that websites, PR and branding are all pretty worthless without a book to promote, so I'd better get cracking!