Blogging for Writers

Should writers blog? Some say no.

One of the main reasons I even thought about writing was because I started blogging in 2005. It wasn't the early days of weblogs, but everybody and their dog didn't have a blog. Now there's a Dog with a Blog Disney Channel show. Even live college mascots have blogs.

I started BloggingForWriters.com to supplement my presentations at the East Texas Christian Writers Conference. It is a bit anemic, but I keep it up because people still visit. (And I have packrat tendencies, even online.) 

Today I found a post on Jane Friedman's blog asking if writers should blog. It's a good read with lots of discussion in the comments. If you're thinking about starting a blog or wondering if you should stop blogging, take a few minutes to read it. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Oh, my. I just realized the text in the cartoon on Friedman's blog was the same as my original blog post title: To Blog or Not to Blog.

Advice for Writing - 8 Takes

Hearing from other writers can encourage you. Mary Demuth has compiled some advice from her network and shares it to kick off Writers Week at her site. Via her post we get advice for writing from a freelance editor, novelists, a ministry leader, bloggers, greeting card writer and a literary agent.

After reading this, I was reminded to simply write. I'm also thinking about how to incorporate 300 words per day. What would that look like?  

Hope the information is helpful.

(Hey, I just wrote 80 words.)

 

Amazon for Authors

If you're a published author in Amazon's catalog, take advantage of their marketing option, Author Central. It's created to help "authors to reach more readers, promote books, and help build a better Amazon bookstore."

Per the Author Central page "Author Central also helps you to enroll your books in programs like Search Inside the Book and Kindle so that they are readily available for any customer to browse and buy."

I looked at their example, Nora Roberts' author page, and found it includes a bio w/pic, links & pic of products and place for a blog (her last update was 2007). 

I also checked out the pages of two of my virtual writing role models, Barbara Curtis and Susan Wittig Albert.

On Barbara Curtis' Amazon page I found the same as Nora Roberts, down to the last blog update in 2007. Barbara focuses her online presence time at MommyLife.net.

Susan Wittig Albert's Amazon page has the same as the other two, but she has managed to keep her blog updated. Her last entry was July 23, 2009 with content from her Lifescapes blog. She's able to fill two blogs with one post by adding an RSS Feed from Lifescapes blog to Amazon. Sounds scary, but it's not. Here's how from the  Amazon Author Central FAQ:

How can I display my blog on an Author Page?
Once your Author Central account has been activated, you can add a personal blog to an Author Page in just a few steps. Click on the Blog tab and, if you are already blogging, simply follow the instructions to add an RSS feed. Your blog posts will appear on your Author Page in just a few hours and subsequent posts you make to your blog will automatically appear on the Author Page.

If you are not yet blogging, you can either start a new one using any of the free blogging platforms (such as Blogger, Livejournal or TypePad) or use our simple blogging tools. To access these tools, click on "Create New Post”. New posts will appear on your Author Page within an hour.

Since I haven't used Author Connect, I wanted to find a review of it. Tony Eldridge at Marketing Tips for Authors gives some feedback in his post Amazon Connect Becomes Author Central. Read the comments for a discussion about the terms of use for Author Central.

If you're an Amazon visitor reading the entry for a book, click on the author's name to view their Author Central page. If you're an Amazon author, sign up for Author Central and take advantage of the free publicity.

Now go get your blog on.

Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody; from Blog to Book

"Just FYI, a lot of book publishers are watching this book to see how it does. The big question in publishing circles is this: If you have a high-profile blog with a million or so readers, how many of those blog readers will buy a book by that blogger? One in ten would still mean 100,000 books sold, which would be great." - from a Fake Steve Jobs blog post

While reading the December 2007 Forbes magazine at lunch, I came across another "blogging/writer" connection, this time in Steve Forbes' editorial page. In place of the usual restaurant reviews is a book review of Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody by Fake Steve Jobs, published in October 2007.

Before Fake Steve wrote his book, he blogged his fake life at The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Per his current Blogger profile he began blogging in June 2006 and is quite prolific, posting 1586 times so far this year.

Turns out there's a Forbes connection. Fake Steve Jobs is real Daniel Lyons, a Forbes' magazine senior editor. (His blog is now a "Forbes.com site.") Lyons has also published a book of short stories and a novel.

So, if you have some wicked parody skills, find a person of interest and start blogging. You may want to consult fake-blogs.com to see the competition.

Now, go get your blog on.

"To Do List": from magazine to blog to book

Sasha Cagen's 2nd book, To Do List, is a perfect example of how to take your idea, however strange it sounds, and go with it. Who would write a book proposal pitching a compilation of to do lists? Who would accept it?

Sasha first did a magazine of lists from 2000 - 2003. In 2005 she started a blog collecting people's to do lists. On November 6 of this year she released a book of 100 TDLs. No doubt her publication of the book was influenced by the success of the blog.

Your lesson from this: take what interests you and blog about it. At the least you'll enjoy spending time with the subject and practice writing. You might even inform or entertain a few people. At best you'll get a book deal.

Then you can use your blog to promote your book.
 

BTW, if you want to contribute a list to Sashas' blog, she's still accepting them.

HT: Blogger Buzz, the blogger.com blog.