Branding for Promotion

A few years ago, I met with a marketing specialist who filled me with many ideas for branding. My first book was out, but nothing I had done brought together a unified image that might help me promote myself and my future books.

"Wear a hat to all your book-related events," I urged myself.

I wore several different hats and the unique look made me stand out at signings. An Aussie-style hat worked especially well when my Indiana Jones-type book came out. It helped me sell books. Branding worked, but I wasn't doing a thorough job of creating an overall image. Just the hat was not enough. I needed then and need now to tie everything together.

Since I have always loved to travel, that seemed to be the link that could bring the branding to its full potential. As a child, my only travel consisted of visiting nearby relatives. Books carried me where I wanted to go, visiting the tombs of Egypt, unknown jungles, the highest mountains, the widest seas, and much more. In college, I had the opportunity to tour Europe and to stay for a summer in Linz, Austria with a United Methodist Church work camp group. What a thrill and learning experience.

Soon after our marriage, my husband and I crossed the country and returned on a Greyhound Bus special journey that took us to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and more. Thus the stories for Hotels to Remember and my travel writing career began. Later, we traveled many miles by air to the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, Hawaii, and many other places.

The "Passenger to Paradise" was born. She loves to travel just as I do. She loves the excitement of new destinations complete with exotic scenery. She is the brand I am looking to develop and expand now. She has led me to countless new places, including the island of Jamaica and Sedona, Arizona, locations of two extraordinary novels, Hearts Across Forever and Eagle Rising.

Who is the "Passenger to Paradise"?

She is a dreamer, a creator, and a traveler who began her wanderlust years ago. As a child, she never traveled many miles from home, but instead gathered books all around her and through them journeyed far and wide by horseback, bus, and train. She climbed mountains tall and treacherous. She rode camels over hot desert sands in search of an oasis.

When a love of movies captivated her father, she went with him to see every new picture that came to the small theatre a few blocks away. Her first sightings of the Red Rocks of  Sedona AZ came during Saturday matinee viewings of old cowboy movies.

Eventually, she got to travel on her own. Imagine her excitement when she boarded a flight with her husband and headed to Montego Bay, Jamaica. The perfect temperature, perfumed air, hibiscus, and bougainvillea enchanted her and drew her back again and again to the lush tropical island.

On that first visit to Jamaica, she discovered Rose Hall Great House, and the story of Kathryn Calder was born. Hearts Across Forever is the first of the "Passenger to Paradise" books. 

From the moment Kathryn was assigned to a job in Ocho Rios, her world was sent into a spin. She had unusual dreams that upset her, and she developed an urgency to visit Rose Hall. Although she fell in love with the beautiful island and an handsome stranger who seemed to be no stranger at all, Kathryn was faced with confusion centering on the mysterious and beguiling old plantation and her connection with the past. Kathryn soon discovered that her return to Jamaica was as inevitable as that of the "Passenger to Paradise" who still longs each winter to revisit Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, and Negril to stir up old memories.

Besides her book series, the "Passenger to Paradise" also has an art show currently on view at the Ward Center for Contemporary Art in Petersburg VA. The Grand Opening is this Friday evening, 6 to 9 p.m. All of the paintings in the exhibition are based on travels to Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad, Barbados, and St. Martin.

Ward Center for Contemporary Art - Look of a Museum

Ward Center for Contemporary Art Gallery with historic staircase ©Mary Montague Sikes

In May 2013, when I first learned that Petersburg Regional Art Center was closing and that the old Butterworth building at 132 North Sycamore Street was set to undergo a $6 million renovation, I didn't know what to think. Although the Art Center was rustic and needed many updates, I hated to see it disappear. After all, I had spent 10 years as a resident artist there, and I feared the promised new art facility might never become a reality.

Abstract Artists Three-Person Show ©Mary Montague Sikes

I was wrong. Last summer,- I was invited to have a one-person exhibition in the brand new central gallery space, and this week we hung the show. The new Ward Center for Contemporary Art is beautiful. It features state of the art lighting, an excellent hanging system for paintings, lovely bathrooms, refinished wooden floors, and more. The historic staircase is still there in the big gallery and is a conversation piece because it now leads to nowhere.

The photos in this post are from the gallery during the process of hanging. I am looking forward to seeing it after everything is arranged and the lights are adjusted for each painting. A visitor during the hanging said the space "looks like a museum". I smiled and agreed with him.

Jessie Boyland, the gallery director, is overseeing the progress of the new gallery that will be the site of numerous future wedding receptions, meetings, and other social events. In addition, there are artist studio spaces located behind the gallery and in the basement that are available for rent.

The grand opening will take place in February. In the meantime, the gallery will be open to the public on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 12 to 4 p.m. Following the opening reception, the days and hours will be expanded. My exhibition, "Passenger to Paradise" will be on display until March 7.

New Ladies Room ©MMSikes

Gallery Director Jessie Boyland helps with hanging ©MMSikes