Images

I think we are all influenced by images.

The auto industry CEO’s, seeking bailout money, claiming to be taking cost-cutting measures, etc., yet flying into Washington separately on corporate jets. The image did not back up their words.

The image of two house painters, both equally competent, who decide to go into business for themselves. One buys a new truck with painting on the side announcing his trade. The other decides to use an old truck to save money in his startup without any fancy writing on his truck. The image portrayed can be deceptive. One may think the painter with the new truck is successful based on his superior expertise and that the other one is unsuccessful due to inferior work.

We use images, good and bad, to make decisions. We use images to form opinions of people based on how they dress or look. Fat people standing in line for a welfare check do not induce a sympathetic image.

What images influence us? Simple things like an Avatar can give a positive or negative image about a person. What image of our work do we wish to give? How best to promote our work depends much on the image portrayed by the book cover and the blurp. A publisher has experience in doing that. If self-publishing, either one hires a professional or utilizes the input/reaction of others who offer suggestions as I’ve seen happen on this forum

Well said, Abe.

One place this really shows up is on websites. You see all these weird little pages that look like a refrigerator covered with animated magnets and wonder what they're thinking.

I recently re-did my signature and avatar picture on this and other sites for exactly the reason you mention.

Abe, your mention of the two painters reminded me of going to work at a radio and TV repair shop in 1951. It was a shoestring operation so the truck we used for service calls was a beat up old bakery truck the owner had bought for practically nothing. He had used a cloth dipped in red paint to block out the sign but you could still see "Singer Bakery" through the paint. One day a woman was standing on her front porch when I arrived to make a service call. As I got out of the truck she shook her head and said, "I don't need any bread today." Our image was not a good one.

Lin's new signature is outstanding. Excellent image. Definitely worth stealing.

You're right of course - a picture is worth a thousand words (or a thousand dollars, or ships). We are very visual creatures, who are drawn to look at things we enjoy over and over again -- which is why I always find things like fashion and design fascinating, because what is beautiful and desirable in one decade can make us giggle a few years later.

I am working on my own image upgrade in light of all the publishing that's going on, and doing some really subtle things to jazz things up. I have a black wool navy style (pea) jacket that I wear in the winter, and I was getting a bit tired of it but it's a perfectly good coat. I bought some fabulous gold buttons for it (cost $10) and sewed them on a couple of weeks ago. It makes me feel like a million bucks when I wear it now, and it looks good. Amazing what we can do with something old and otherwise tired. (The coat I mean, not me!)

Pam,
I now have a mental image of you "jazzed up."

It's pretty cool too, isn't it Abe??