An Author Should Be Able To Write a Blog Post, Right?

Authors are word people. That’s what we do, string a bunch of words together and hope they make sense to somebody out there in the big, wide world. Nothing stresses me more in my author life than facing a blog post deadline and having no idea what to write. I stare at my blank Word document, and the empty page mocks me. I embrace ideas as if they are the answer to my dilemma, write the posts hurriedly at insanely late hours of the night, and then delete them the next morning, tossing my not-so-good late-night ideas aside like a rejected lover.

Maybe as a blogger, whether you are a writer or not, you’ve faced the same writer’s block. I Googled the topic and found some sites to get the blogging creative juices flowing.

Author Molly Greene’s blog post: 101 Fabulous Blog Topic Ideas

Fizzle’s post: 81 Topic Ideas For Starting a Blog That Matters

Start Blogging On-line’s post: 101 Blog Post Ideas That Will Make Your Blog “HOT”

The Blog Stylist’s post: 32 Of the Most-Popular Blog-Post Ideas

Chris Brogan’s post: 100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write

All you need is a basic skill at Googling to find something to write about. Right? No, it’s not that easy. When has anything about writing or blogging ever been that easy? The difficult part isn’t finding a topic on which to write. No, it’s finding a topic that your blog readers will be interested in reading. Stopping long enough to read a blog post takes time, and time is one thing most blog readers do not have in unlimited supply. If the topic bores them or doesn’t have relevance in their life, the reader is going to “x” out and watch a Youtube video about the ten rudest contestants on American Idol or read an Eonline article about the Kardashians.

It seems simple. Identify the intended readership. Write to the readers’ interests. Post your masterpiece on your blogging platform. Ta-da! Done! Watch your view stats rise to magnificent heights. Um…no.

The blogs I find most interesting relate to the craft of writing and navigating the publishing world, but my readers may not find those same topics entertaining or informative. Only another author wants to read a discussion of character development or point of view breaks or the dreaded, nasty telling versus showing concept. Even though I love other authors, those wonderful people are not my intended readership.

Okay, so I'm going to peruse the lists and blog about something, but I want to ask…Dear Reader, what blog topics get your attention and keep it?

Promo Is Killing Me!

I’d like to speak to my fellow writers...

Before I get started, let me say right off that I’m much more interested in gaining readers than making a ton of money. I realize I’m probably never going to make a fortune as a writer. What I’m looking for is the number of copies sold, so I will know how many books got into the hands of readers. I spent some time recently getting my information together to prepare my taxes for 2013. After I had tallied my royalties and promotional expenses, I realized 2013 was the first year of my writing existence that I’d made a profit. (Sorry—the accountant in me was just showing...) It surprised me how many books I’d sold. I was much more successful last year than I had imagined, so my goal this year is to at the least double the net amount of books (total copies “sold” less copies I gifted for promo purposes) I sell for royalty.

A new year has begun, and as writers we are all probably reevaluating our writing careers and refocusing our promotional strategies. At least we should be if we are determined to stay in the business, so I’m asking my fellow writers to help us help each other by answering a few questions about our marketing strategies in 2013. What worked for you and what didn’t?

Did you use twitter as a primary marketing tool?

If so, do you think this kind of exposure generated any sales? To me, it seems the majority of my followers are other writers. Are we even reading each other’s tweets? How often do you purchase a book based on a random tweet from someone you don’t already have a connection with?

Do you advertise on sites like The Romance Reviews, Night Owl Reviews, Story Finds, or Chick Lit Plus?

If so, how effective has this been in generating sales? Personally, I haven’t experienced increased sales from this kind of exposure. Does anyone pay attention to the ads on those sites? I’m guilty of just going on those sites and making sure my ad looks right. How often do you purchase a book based on an ad on one of those sites? I have. I thought Sharon Buchbinder’s book Obsession looked interesting, so I purchased a Kindle copy.

Do you promote your book on Facebook group pages?

If so, do you think you’ve generated any sales through this kind of exposure? I promoted heavily this way in the last half of 2013. I haven’t been able to tell if any sales were made due to this kind of exposure. Personally, I have purchased two books that I thought looked interesting based on the author’s promo on one of these sites.

Do you guest post frequently on other people’s blogs?

Does this kind of exposure generate sales? I have backed away from blogging this past year because it has been very frustrating to me due to the very slim number of commenters on blog posts. To me, blogging has become time consuming and generates very little sales activity. What has been your experience?

Do you ever purchase and review books from authors outside your author connections?

If so, how do you find new authors to read? In 2013, I bought some books from authors I wasn’t familiar with. Some of those books have been enjoyable reads and I went back to the author for another read. I also started a book review site, which has introduced me to some excellent authors.

Click on image to go to review blog!

My time is so limited these days, and I want to make every ounce of promotional energy count. So what say you, fellow authors? What has worked for you? Or are you just as frustrated as I am with your promotional efforts? Any and all feedback will be much appreciated!

Feeling Flooded! #amwriting #amediting #amtweeting #am...

Have you ever felt totally overwhelmed? This Sunday my pastor called it being flooded. I liked the metaphor—the sensation of being underwater and out of breath. My life has thrown me an intense mix of changes these past few months. I won’t bore you with the details…okay, changed my mind, I will bore you with them. My oldest is headed to college and I know this will change our family dynamics forever. My dearly beloved spouse is in a transition period (translate this as looking for another job), and I foresee some very rough patches ahead because if he doesn’t find a job he’s going to get…never mind. My day job is evolving into potentially more hours (meaning less writing time). And last but not least, someone very close to me is changing from caregiver to the one being cared for. If you’ve been in this place, you know what I mean. Enough said.

All of this has been hard on my writing, sapping my concentration and my energy. As it should. My writing would be nothing without my life, and my life would be nothing without my writing. I have to maintain both to be a sane person. Even before the stable elements of my existence began morphing around me, I was feeling a bit flooded. With three releases in three months, my writing life was a swirl of writing, editing, tweeting, blogging, networking…

I needed to slow the pace. Catch my breath. Take a sip of iced tea. Consume a pot of coffee. Read a good book or five. Watch five straight episodes back to back of Castle. Something. Maybe you’ve noticed my blogging activity has decreased. Maybe you haven’t, I don’t know. Does the average blogger really know how many people actively follow a blog? (A few reassuring comments at this point wouldn’t hurt my feelings!)

So I slowed down this summer and spent some time with my children. After all, the oldest is headed for college, right? Now with fall fast approaching, I’m once again in the mood to write something fresh, yet the fifteen rough drafts on my hard drive beg to be polished into something submittable. (Is submittable a word?) Has the opportunity to submit something Christmas-y for 2012 already passed me by? The unfinished idea beckons me from a half-finished manuscript. That four book series demands to be transformed into novellas instead of full-length novels.

Meanwhile, I feel the driving need to increase my Internet presence. Yikes. What’s a techno-savvy writer of the new millennia supposed to do? What happened to the days of banging out one letter at a time on an old manual sling the return lever typewriter and then submitting the whole bundle to an agent via snail mail? Are you familiar with the kind of typewriter I mean? The kind where you tucked the paper into the roller and wound it to just the right spot before typing. Then you yanked it out after the first line because the type meandered sideways due to the paper being in the roller crooked. My old model (from years ago when I was just a writing toddler) was orange with a black racing stripe. Vroom! Vroom! Sexy, right? The kind of machine with an ink ribbon. Anybody out there remember carbon paper? Well, thank God nobody uses that mess any more.

So…I’m ready to once again create fictional worlds filled with fictional characters caught in intolerably wonderful conflicts. Using a Mac, of course.  I think I’m ready to flood my writing life again. Get ready. Get set. Go.

Liebster Blog Award

This is my first ever blogging award. Thank you Aderyn Wood for passing on the Liebster Blog award to me :)

In the spirit of the award, I'd like to pass it on to the following blogs:

1) Ingrid Michaels

2) Krista Ames

3) Clara Waibel

4) Mackenzie Crowne

5) Hilary

To accept the award, please follow these rules:

1. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to their blog.

2. Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know about your nomination by leaving a comment on their blog

3. Post the award on your blog!