Promoting Professional Geekery #7: OK. So Write a Guide

OK, I get it, I get it.  You're not up for writing an entire book promote progeekery, at least not right now.  So how can you leverage all those writing skills in promoting your love of turning hobbies into jobs, of turning fandom into careers?

Write a helpful guide to something relevant to progeekery.

There's probably plenty of things you could write on that'll help out current and future progeeks that aren't book-length.  These are more than a blog post, but less than the commitment to make a full book.

Consider:

  • Did you have a guide to a good resume?  Write it up.
  • Set up a photo gallery for your cosplay site?  Create a guide so people can do it easily.
  • Have a killer way to make a business card to promote your business?  Let' hear how you created that geeky ideal.
  • Have a job search guide for a given industry?  Write up your experiences so people can use it.
  • A guide to resumes for people into cosplay, or video games, or something else.

Where do you put this?  Well, consider:

  • Your website – and you better have a professional website – is a great place.  It shows employers/clients what you're good at and helps you be part your larger community.
  • See if any blogs, relevant fansites, etc. want to host it – you might find a side hobby doing that.
  • Try self-publishing since a lot of the platforms don't mind size – and set it to free.
  • Speak on your subject at a convention and hand out copies.

You've got a lot of knowledge.  So you're not up for a book (yet)?  Put that wisdom in a guide and release it to the world in guide form.

Steven Savage

News Of The Day 10/11/2011

China slows down, Zynga gears up, and more in Geek news!


Economics/Geekonomics:

A look at the expense of America’s declining transportation infrastructure. On the other hand, a good guide as to why infrastructure investment may be a good idea – if it happens, keep it in mind for a career opportunity. It may sound dull, but trust me, it’s not.


Has the Chinese economy hit a wall? Yves Smith notes some people are concerned, and we need to pay attention to this in case it impacts the world economy more.


Comics:

I missed this when it happened, but Barnes and Noble pulled DC comics from their shelves after DC made an exclusive classic comic deal with Amazon for the Kindle Fire. You can order them at the website, but not get them in the store. So what’s next here – will DC apologize, will they side further with Amazon, more exclusive deals . . . things could get very interesting. As always, the indies and smaller-press people need to make sure not to get stepped on.


Mobile:

Xyologic looks at Mobile Apps – though the tagline is how Android downloads will shortly top iPhone, there’s a ton of good stuff here.


RIM still has problems. How many times can I suggest, frankly, getting out?


Video:

HBO is coming onto Roku later this month. Roku keeps going despite a lack of news presence.


Video Games:

Now this got interesting: Zynga has its own gaming site, though you log on via Facebook (so far). Good strategy as they branch out – now a thing to watch out for is if they try and move onto other devices. There’s still a few confusing reports on how far this goes, so we hopefully will have an update tomorrow.


QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Zynga create a full app portal and/or move to consoles?


– Steven Savage

To those of you working on your resumes . . .

Stop underselling yourself.

I'm serious.  I see a lot of resumes, and I'd honestly say 95% of them undersell the person in question.  Come to think of it, I rarely see a resume that's "just right."

So look, right now you can and do more than you think:

That one-off task on your last job still taught you a lot.

That hobby you have (hint, hint), probably taught you a lot of skills.

Those courses in college you don't think you're using, you may actually be using (take it from a Psych major).

So folks, let me plead – stop underselling yourself.  There's more to you than you realize.

This is one of the things that I see too much of in progeekery – we, the fans, the geeks, the otaku, who do so many things, never appreciate it.  Maybe if we stopped for a moment we'd see we could say a bit more about what we do, that we are a bit better than we think.

Steven Savage