A Writer in Yosemite, Part Four: Writers and blogging - By N.L. Belardes
When Kassia Krozner, Genevieve Choate, and Erin Hosier talked about blogs at the Yosemite Writers Conference I was reminded that many writers just aren't on blogs. Why not? I have no idea... maybe it's age? Lack of marketing know-how? Or preconceived notions as to what blogs and myspace are... Hey, if you're a writer, just get started... Here's a snippet of the conversation...
KK: …the more words you put out there, the people are going to find you. I’m a huge fan of focus blogging. Forget about cheese sandwich blogs. Those get into the minutia of everyday life. A focused blog is a blog on your area of expertise. …area of expertise is critical. You want to set yourself apart from the crowd. It’s ultimately about what you want to read about… voice gets you coming back.
GC: It best to post often and consistently. They’ll also be higher up the list if you blog everyday. Use headlines. Those are the #1 search criteria. People find blogs mostly by search.
KK: I blog everyday. I tend to write for multiple sites. I write for booksquare maybe 3-4 times a week. I practiced for a month before I went live. An abandoned blog is worse than no blog at all (Check out Confessions of an idiosyncratic mind on crime, fiction and more for a good example on a writing blog).
Q: Should I write about nursing or writing?
EH: Definitely about nursing. Let your anecdotes about nursing make your writing shine. I have a client who blogs about New York taxi driving titled New York Hack. Hundreds of thousands of people go to her site…
KK: You start building your expertise online. No matter your profession. That’s how you start doing it.
GC: You have to have thick skin. How personal is it? Do you want the whole world to know? Search engines cache everything even if you take the information offline. You might post photos for the whole world to see but you don’t know who is looking or their intentions… you can go in, read what other people are doing and decide on a focus. If you don’t like it, start over. And start reading other blogs too… If you find something interesting on a blog, leave a comment and a url back to your blog.
KK: Is it safe to use your email and url?
GC: It’s great information about you… they may link to you in the future…
KK: You need to participate in what’s called your back blog… if someone leaves a comment and asks a question, you need to answer them.
EH: I encourage all my writers to use myspace.com to promote their work. Is it gross to promote your product on myspace? People know that’s why you’re there. They’re looking for product… everything has a myspace page now… if people feel like their your friend hopefully they will go out and buy your book… if a book has been published you don’t want to give the cow away for free but you can promote…
GC: Trolls get you upset, offtrack, and do everything they can to get you flustered. If you’re using blogging software, you can use moderating software and block them out. I think if they’re calling me out it reflects on them. Hijacking is when someone comes in and talks about something different than the conversation and talk about a different thread. There are paid blogging positions out there. Some pay for posts…
KK: Some people get paid for their personal blogs like on Gawker.com. Blogging is a job for a lot of us.
GC: We have folks who use the staff blogs on the Bee. Some of the folks get published in print.
Q: What kind of blogs might an agent read?
EH: I read six blogs faithfully, things I am really interested in. Entertainment gossip or fashion. I’m looking for a fresh voice. It’s important to me personally that I don’t just write a rehashing a blog. I would want a fresh manuscript on a subject…
Matildakay reports:
A great literary weekend
What's your type?
The Mary Wong Lee Memorial Scholarship
Malcolm Margolin is Posh
Hanging out with the Pirates of Yosemite and setting the record straight
Kill Your Darlings
N.L. on Paperback Writer reports:
A Writer in Yosemite: Part One
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Two
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Three
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Four
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Five
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Six
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Seven
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Eight
KK: …the more words you put out there, the people are going to find you. I’m a huge fan of focus blogging. Forget about cheese sandwich blogs. Those get into the minutia of everyday life. A focused blog is a blog on your area of expertise. …area of expertise is critical. You want to set yourself apart from the crowd. It’s ultimately about what you want to read about… voice gets you coming back.
GC: It best to post often and consistently. They’ll also be higher up the list if you blog everyday. Use headlines. Those are the #1 search criteria. People find blogs mostly by search.
KK: I blog everyday. I tend to write for multiple sites. I write for booksquare maybe 3-4 times a week. I practiced for a month before I went live. An abandoned blog is worse than no blog at all (Check out Confessions of an idiosyncratic mind on crime, fiction and more for a good example on a writing blog).
Q: Should I write about nursing or writing?
EH: Definitely about nursing. Let your anecdotes about nursing make your writing shine. I have a client who blogs about New York taxi driving titled New York Hack. Hundreds of thousands of people go to her site…
KK: You start building your expertise online. No matter your profession. That’s how you start doing it.
GC: You have to have thick skin. How personal is it? Do you want the whole world to know? Search engines cache everything even if you take the information offline. You might post photos for the whole world to see but you don’t know who is looking or their intentions… you can go in, read what other people are doing and decide on a focus. If you don’t like it, start over. And start reading other blogs too… If you find something interesting on a blog, leave a comment and a url back to your blog.
KK: Is it safe to use your email and url?
GC: It’s great information about you… they may link to you in the future…
KK: You need to participate in what’s called your back blog… if someone leaves a comment and asks a question, you need to answer them.
EH: I encourage all my writers to use myspace.com to promote their work. Is it gross to promote your product on myspace? People know that’s why you’re there. They’re looking for product… everything has a myspace page now… if people feel like their your friend hopefully they will go out and buy your book… if a book has been published you don’t want to give the cow away for free but you can promote…
GC: Trolls get you upset, offtrack, and do everything they can to get you flustered. If you’re using blogging software, you can use moderating software and block them out. I think if they’re calling me out it reflects on them. Hijacking is when someone comes in and talks about something different than the conversation and talk about a different thread. There are paid blogging positions out there. Some pay for posts…
KK: Some people get paid for their personal blogs like on Gawker.com. Blogging is a job for a lot of us.
GC: We have folks who use the staff blogs on the Bee. Some of the folks get published in print.
Q: What kind of blogs might an agent read?
EH: I read six blogs faithfully, things I am really interested in. Entertainment gossip or fashion. I’m looking for a fresh voice. It’s important to me personally that I don’t just write a rehashing a blog. I would want a fresh manuscript on a subject…
Matildakay reports:
A great literary weekend
What's your type?
The Mary Wong Lee Memorial Scholarship
Malcolm Margolin is Posh
Hanging out with the Pirates of Yosemite and setting the record straight
Kill Your Darlings
N.L. on Paperback Writer reports:
A Writer in Yosemite: Part One
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Two
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Three
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Four
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Five
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Six
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Seven
A Writer in Yosemite: Part Eight
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Saturday, August 26, 2006.
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While informative, I wanted more advanced information on the subject of blogging. I think NL and I were two of the few people there who were actively doing blogs!
One thing blogging does, and that is to remove the fear of writing. I can type out 1,00 words on anything qith no problem. Whether it is "good' or readable is another story...
I'm glad you said that matildakay because as I was reading this article I was thinking.... "so in other words... keep doing what you're already doing, because it's working?" Well we(us who read you and nl daily) already knew that? And YOU and nl know that too. And do it already. And it gets to us fans. And we like it. Or we don't. But that's ok because then you write the NEXT article and we like that instead. I'd be curious to interview matildakay and nl Belardes with the same exact questions.
"DO You have to have thick skin? How personal is it? Do you want the whole world to know?"
What about the trolls? The people that leave comments specifically to piss you off? What do you do? Why?
"if someone leaves a comment and asks a question, you need to answer them."
ummm ok yeah, you two already do that.
I guess that is why both your blogs are so successful in Bakersfield and you get recognized no matter where you go?
n.l. and matildakay are so ahead of the game on this one.... good for you two!
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