I have a new web site! Funny, it matches my new blog look!

Good morning.

If you're an author and someone says that you need to have 1. a professional web presence and 2. you need to brand yourself. What do you think that means?

Well when the lovely CW (Christine Witthohn my agent) told me this the first thing I did was evaluate my web page. I had a home made site and it wasn't bad if I do say so myself. But it wasn't what you would call professional.

I researched many web design companies and found Rae Monet, Inc. Design her designs were awesome and reasonably priced to boot. How could I go wrong? Well she couldn't but I could. I chatted with her on the phone and told her so much information, because I really didn't know what I wanted.

It was one of those things that you know you'll know what you want when you see it. She designed me something that was totally awesome, but wasn't what my husband or agent had in mind. We went with what I was writing at the time. Suspense.

Great site. I was looking really urbanish at the end of an alley. So I said great I'll take it. But every time I looked at it, it just wasn't what I wanted. However, I still couldn't put my finger on why. Other than it was suspense, and I had many ideas and finished manuscripts that were not. Back to what I originally was trying to express. I didn't want to be branded as suspense only I wanted something more broad to brand my name.

My writing has a women's lit flare even in my mystery/suspense. Finally, I realized that I wanted something that would brand my name that wasn't genre related. I called Rae and of course, she thought I was nuts. But she worked with me.

And after really researching and soul searching--I know sounds melodramatic, but I did--I came up with an idea. My original tag line that I've had for a few years is Surrender yourself to the wanderlust of Mary Martinez. I wanted to go back to that. What did I love? Travel, a good story, and a good bottle of wine.

I checked dozens upon dozens of web sites and with the help and suggestions of a few friends and my husband I came up with an idea of taking my dad's old (as in ancient) brown suitcase, a bottle of wine, glass and a book to Red Butte Gardens, Salt Lake City's botanical Gardens, for pictures. (Our daughter Kaci Walters took the lovely pictures used)

Without further ado, check out my new and fabulous web site: http://marymartinez.com/

Look around my site, and tell me if you like it, if you think it brands me as an author who may write a bit of all genre's. Everyone who comments either on this blog or the Mysteries and Margarita blog will have their name entered into a drawing for a coffee mug and a $10 GC for Starbucks. I will also send out a newsletter about the drawing, I'm giving everyone a week to comment. I'll announce the winner next Thursday on Mary's Rants!