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Tips on creating your profile properly...
First let me explain why I have this following advice for you. I've had profiles on various modeling networking sites for about 10 years. On those sites I would learn the do's and don'ts, the shoulds and shouldn'ts, what works and what doesn't, by seeing thousands and thousands of profiles over those many years, seeing which were annoying, which drove me away, which kept me on them, which were interesting, boring, ridiculous, beneficial, etc. Profiles are profiles, it doesn't matter the profession.

Once I started casting directing for photographers and music video producers and directors many years ago, I posted castings after castings, did searches after searches, and have seen more profiles than you probably ever will. When doing searches, you are shown thumbnail images of the talent, to then open the profile to see more. Well when I have thousands to go through, I'm certainly not going to open every one of them, so I open the profiles with the striking profile images, not the thumbnail images where I can't even see the model as they are far away, laying down, upside down, airbrushed, in a funky pose with their hair covering their face, has a wig on, etc. Unfortunately these models insist on posting their latest image, or an image they find cool, even if it does not represent what they really look like. They are under the impression that they are on facebook and their friends go to their page everyday to see what new images they have posted.

These types of networking sites are to find talent to be hired. So just like product packaging, your advertisement of yourself (your profile image), has to sell your package (the desire to click on it to see your profile). Yes I know you are not all models, I was merely giving you examples of why you need to focus on "search results" from those doing searches for your profession. Now, on to my profile advice for this particular industry, the romance novel industry...

1.) Post a profile image. Profiles created without profile images, will be deleted after 1 week without having a profile image. A photo of yourself as your profile image is not going to get people to look at your book(s), which is what you want so they'll buy them, or hire you to create them. I first had the idea to make this website from seeing so many authors on facebook who have many books, yet they don't even post them on their non-personal facebook profiles. I thought to myself "Why are they not posting their latest book as their profile image if their profession is an author and their job is to promote it, to sell it?" So I made this website to have two photo albums "Work Images" and "Event Images".

This is a "business" website for those in the romance novel industry, to sell your books, your talents, your abilities, your skills, to get you hired. It isn't to compete with facebook to be another social website with games, apps, and posting images of your family, friends, pets, vacations and photos of yourself. Those types of photos do not sell your books or your skills. This website is for readers to find romance novels to buy, for authors to find editors, cover artists, reviewers, publishers, events, etc. to help finish and sell their books, and for those involved, to help them get hired by authors. So while creating your profile, please think "What will sell my work best? Photos of me to show everyone my latest haircut, or images of my book I wrote, designed, etc.?" That "Wow!" factor of seeing a great cover is going to get people to click on your profile image when they see your book cover as your profile image, whether on someone's friends list, from a comment or announcement you make, popping up in the random RNC Featured Member spot, a paid Feature Me spot, or through a search for your profession.

Now this doesn't apply to everyone; editors, reviewers, promoters and agents could use images of themselves, or logos/brand images of their company, and aspiring authors and readers can use images of themselves. But authors, cover artists, publishers and web designers should use images of covers of books they wrote, designed, publish and screenshots of websites they designed. Trailer producers should use a logo/brand image, costume designers should use images of a gorgeous historical dress, etc., they designed, and models should use images that look like they could be on a romance novel cover. Viewers that come here do not care about your high-end fashion images, your fitness images or your artistic images, they want to know if you could sell their book by portraying the hero or heroine on their book cover.

2.) Don't make your profile all bold or of bright colors, it is uneasy/annoying on the eyes, meaning visitors won't want to read your profile.

3.) Don't start your profile about your family, spouse, kids, where you live, etc. Visitors go to your page to learn about your "profession", what you do in the romance novel industry, not how many kids and pets you have and if you are married and how happy you are in your relationship. Since there are so many profiles for them to look at, they are not going to read every bit of every profile in your profession. So if the first paragraph (much like a book's blurb) doesn't capture their attention and have them wanting to read on, then they will move on to the next one, as very soon there will be thousands of profiles on RNC. If you want to talk a little about your personal life, do it last so those who don't need or want to know, can stop when they start reading it, while still getting the information they came to your profile for already.

4.) If you are an author and a cover artist and a publisher and a web designer, etc., then you need to make a profile for each profession. This is best for you and for viewers searching for you. When a person is searching for a cover artist, they go to the "Browse" page and click on "Cover Artist". They don't click on "Author" or "Web Designer" or "Publisher" when looking for a Cover Artist, nor do they want to read profiles of your book launches and book signings and the latest books you have out, plus the books you publish and the websites you've designed. They are looking for a COVER ARTIST. When they want a Web Designer, they will do a search for a Web Designer, etc. So don't fill your one profile with blah blah blah about everything you do in this industry, as people searching for a specific talent, is not going to want to read your life history. Your profile(s) should be clean and neat, easy to read and provide information to sell your talent in that one field.

5.) Visitors will do a search for a cover artist (for example) and find many. They will then see all the profiles that put their rate they charge and for what type of work, and they will find many in their budget. You could very well be in their budget, but if you don't post your rate then those visitors will not know that. Do you really think they are going to message you and everyone else who didn't post a rate to ask you what your rate is, when they see many choices who did? No, they won't. As they will figure you didn't post a rate because it is very high. So they will look through the profiles that did post a rate within their budget, and then choose one of them based on their quality of work and style. If you are looking for an attorney in the phone book, do you call EVERY SINGLE ONE to get all their prices and then research their past cases to see which one, of all that is available to you, is best for you? No. If you see many with prices listed in their ads that you are willing/able to pay, you then STOP searching and compare among those for which one you want to hire. But don't fear that because your rate is high that you also don't want to post it, as there are plenty who can afford you, as long as the work you show justifies your rate and they feel that as well. The Work/Rate field is mandatory as I know it is best for you to show it, and it is what visitors want to see. The "edit my profile" page is global for all professions, so each profession can think of something to put there. Examples (not exact figures):

Authors:
Work: Writing books
Rate: Price per book
Novel Editor:
Work: Edit up to 10k words
Rate: $1,000
Cover Artists:
Work: Cover art
Rate: $100 per cover
Novel Reviewers:
Work: Book reviews
Rate: free
Publishers:
Work: Publish your novel
Rate: 60% of sales
Romance Novel Events:
Work: Registration fee
Rate: $249
Trailer Producers:
Work: Create novel trailers
Rate: $250-$1,000
Aspiring Authors:
Work: Novice book writer
Rate: free
Readers:
Work: Reading books
Rate: free
Costume Designer:
Work: Designing costumes
Rate: price varies
Promoter:
Work: Promoting you
Rate: $250 per month
Agent:
Work: Representing you
Rate: 15% of your sales
Model:
Work: Cover shoots
Rate: $300 a day

6.) Where do I upload photos? Where do I edit my profile? Where do I retrieve my messages? Where do I approve friend requests? Where do I edit..........? All editing of your profile is accessed from the "my stuff" link in the top right corner once you have joined RNC and created a profile. Rollover the words "my stuff" with your mouse/cursor and a pull-down menu with all your editing links/pages will be there.

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