A PROMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIP
WITH YOUR WEBLOG ⇒
© Kelly Parra (First published 2005)
Definition of Weblog (Blog):
"Blog noun [short for Weblog] (1999): A web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer" (The Merriam-Webster's On-line)
Clear enough? Sure, in a basic sense, but does it explain how your weblog can be used for a writer’s promotion? Not exactly. What spawned this article was an e-mail from my agent basically stating, “If you haven’t begun to use the web to your advantage, time to get savvy.” My weblog experience is limited to a few months, and I am still fairly new to the promotional opportunities available. In response, I have searched the web for resources and asked a few experienced bloggers some advice on how to use a weblog to its fullest potential.
Content:
Let’s start off with content. What do you post on your blog? Contemporary Romance Author, Stephanie Bond (In Deep Voodoo, Avon, 10/05), who has noticed a significant increase in website visitors since she began her on-line journal “Open Book” (www.stephaniebond.com) shares what she posts on-line. “A little of everything--a lot about the process of writing and a writer's life. But I also toss in other bits of info, like recipes, what I'm doing that day besides writing, products that I've tried and like, and really, whatever happens to be on my mind that day. Sometimes my content is driven by email questions I receive.”
Stephanie gives the advice, “Keep content light and fun and interesting--a commercial weblog isn't the place to get on your political soapbox, or to expose a devious agent--it's a way to connect with your readers via a shared interest of books. You want to offer them a piece of you (and your books) that they can't get anywhere else.”
Group Blogs:
Afraid to face the unknown alone? Gather your friends or critique partners and create a group blog. Romantic Suspense author, Allison Brennan (The Chase, Ballantine, 02/06) shares the benefits of banding together on her group blog “Writeminded”.
“Time. Blogging takes time.
When you share a blog with a group of writers, you free yourself up. You've committed to posting a couple times a week, which is much more manageable and less stressful than daily. In the blog I share with my critique group (writeminded.blogspot.com), I post once or twice a week. I post once a month at Romancing The Blog (www.romancingtheblog.com). I spend a little more time on the RTB columns because it's monthly rather than daily. [Also] voice. My CPs and I have distinctly different voices and are at different places on the publishing ladder, which I think benefits all of us. We each bring different people to the site and are working to build readership within our diverse genres and circles.”
Promotional Ideas:
Chick Lit author, Lani Diane Rich (Maybe Baby, Warner Forever, 06/05), who blogs with Michelle Cunnah (Confessions Of A Serial Dater, Avon, 08/05) and Alesia Holliday (Nice Girls Finish First, Berkley, 07/05) at www.literarychicks.com, tells us about the ideas they use to promote and bring back returning visitors. “We have guest bloggers pretty much every month, and every month we have giveaways of signed books. Our actual articles are usually more along the line of little humor essays, musings on our lives and things that interest us. Our main goal of the blog is that it gives readers of Chick Lit a daily mini-fix in a Chick Lit voice. As part of that, we have links to all our individual websites on the blog, and links to Amazon for our books. We're also developing a section of first chapters.”
Allison Brennan adds, “We're doing a monthly contest and seem to be getting a good response off those (we take turns hosting the contest). Last month I gave away a $25 and $10 gift certificate, as well as an Advanced Reading Copy of my debut novel. I will be giving away more ARCs as my publication date nears.”
Blog Tours:
Yes, it is as cut and dry as it states. Tours on blogs. A group of blogging authors form together to create an on-line tour of new releases to promote each author’s book. Karin Gillespie (A Dollar Short: Bottom Dollar Girls Go Hollywood, S&S, 08/05), the pioneer behind the blog tour group “The Girlfriend’s Cyber Circuit” (gcc.blog-city.com), tells us more. “The purpose of blog touring is to expose the touring of author's book to as many readers as possible. I love blog touring because [it] is no-cost or low-cost, the author doesn't have to leave his or her house, and the readership of blogs like the GCC is very targeted, i.e. women readers.”
She gives credit of the idea to Kevin Smokler’s The Virtual Book Tour (www.virtualbooktour.org). “I had heard about Kevin Smokler's Virtual Book Tour and I knew that would not be an option for me because he primarily tours literary writers, and I write humorous Southern fiction. So I thought, ‘Why not start my own virtual tour?’ I knew a lot of female authors with blogs so I thought we could band together. I put a call out for authors on my blog Southern Comfort (www.livejournal.com/users/karin61) and before I knew it I had seventeen other authors who wanted to participate. We're a diverse group: literary, Chick Lit, Southern, romance and YA. We tour about three authors a month. The author visits each of the ‘girlfriends’ blogs during a week and a half period. Sometimes we've read the book, sometimes not. We aren't reviewers; we simply expose our blog readership to books they might be interested in reading.”
Karin’s advice on creating your own author blog tour is simple, “What's stopping you from doing it? A virtual tour would be a natural for mystery writers, romance writers and other genres. The one piece of advice I would offer is to make sure everyone who joins has a blog that they update regularly and which has a decent-sized readership.”
RSS Feeds:
If you want to take a step further in learning more of the benefits of blogging technology, you can with RSS feeds. Chris Pirillo, Best-selling author and Internet Entrepreneur (www.Lockergnome.com and http://Chris.Pirillo.com), was kind enough to answer a few questions regarding the RSS phenomenon.
What is RSS and how is it useful?
“RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It is what it claims to be: a quick and easy way to create and use ‘syndicated content’ such as news headlines and announcements. Some websites use RSS to deliver articles and article previews to readers who are simply too busy to browse to our site and dig up the content they are interested in. Other sites use RSS to alert customers of new products or upcoming events.”
Who is RSS for?
“That all depends on who you ask. For end users, it's an easier way to get the information they're looking for. For bloggers, it's a better way to keep track of their conversations. For publishers, it's yet another opportunity to keep their audience in touch. For developers, it's another way to use and interpret data. For marketers, it's a way to maximize their business relationships. The publisher still controls the content. The subscriber finally controls the subscription.”
Chris goes on to add, “When you provide RSS, you're giving your visitors another easy way of coming back to you - instead of counting on them to add your site to their Favorites / Bookmarks (only to let it collect virtual dust). RSS brings me visitors who otherwise would have never discovered me - just because they discover that I have RSS that's been indexed on someone else's site or directory.”
How are RSS feeds read and how can webloggers submit their feeds to readers?
“Get started with a piece of software (or Web-based solution) called a ‘news aggregator.’ These are programs which take RSS ‘code’ and interpret it for you.”
“There are hundreds of aggregators available today; choose and install the one that sounds like the best fit for you. The process of adding a feed to a reader is different with each application, and the entire movement is aiming to make it easier for everybody - especially those who aren't tech savvy.”
“As far as publishing a feed is concerned, any blog solution should be doing it for the writer automatically. If not, it's time to find a new blogging solution. :) Bottom line: you have to see it in action to understand why it's so wonderful.”
Quick Resources:
On-line weblogs: Blogger.com, Livejournal.com, Blog-city.com, Xanga.com
Blog directories: RomancingTheBlog.com, BlogExplosion.com, BlogExchange.com
Web-based Feed Subscriptions: My Yahoo, My MSN, Bloglines
So now that you have effective tips on how to use your weblog to it’s fullest potential, what are you waiting for? Create one today and begin your promotional relationship. How successful your blog becomes lies at your fingertips. :)
