Group Blogging - A Great Opportunity for Writers

I am so excited. Recently, I’ve joined the talented authors on Writers Who Kill as one of their regular bloggers. Check out the site. I love the variety of posts. My first post goes up in June.

And I love hanging out with this amazing group: Paula Gail Benson, Connie Berry, Sarah E. Burr, Warren Bull, Annette Dashofy, E. B. Davis, Mary Dutta, Debra H. Goldstein, Margaret S. Hamilton, Lori Roberts Herbst, Jim Jackson, Marilyn Levinson/Allison Brook, Molly MacRae, Lisa Malice, Korina Moss, Shari Randall/Meri Allen, Martha Reed, Linda Rodriguez, Susan Van Kirk, and Grace Topping.

Group blogging is a great opportunity for writers. If you get the opportunity, give it a try.

• You get to share the load with other writers. If everyone takes a turn, there’s a lot of content to share.

• You get introduced to new readers.

• You get to introduce your readers to some other authors they may not be familiar with.

• The networking is a wonderful chance to learn about marketing and promotional ideas and opportunities to help you grow as a writer.

• When authors join forces, their reach expands exponentially.

• Regular writing helps you hone your writing, research, and revision skills.

• And you meet some incredibly talented people who are fun to hang out with.

9 Writing Blogs You Should Check Out

I was going through my Twitter feed of writing/book promotion blogs that I read regularly and decided that I should share. Here are 9 that you should check out. They are great resources for information and ideas. In no particular order, here they are...

1. Morgan Wright's Literary Avenue

2. Rachel Thompson's Bad Redhead Media

3. Career Writers

4. Wicked Cozy Authors

5. Jungle Red Writers

6. Kris Spisak

7. Colleen M. Story's Writing and Wellness

8. Jane Friedman

9. Victoria Griffin

What would you add to the list?

Blogging Tips for Writers

Even before you start to publish, one of the first things you hear (all the time) is to build your author platform, get a website, and start a blog, all important parts of your marketing. Your blog is where you can post your updates and share information. A blog allows you the opportunity to build followers and readers outside of your books. And you can set up a place to collect newsletter subscribers. Here are tips I've learned through the years about blogging.

1. Your blog needs to be on your website, so that you drive traffic to your site. If you have a website and a separate blog, you're missing an opportunity to have your blog readers check out your home site.

2. You need to decide what you want to blog about. If your subjects are too broad, then it's hard to build a following. On my personal site, I blog about the writing life and writing tips. I also have another group blog called Pens, Paws, and Claws. Here, we blog about writers who love pets (and all things pets). I also have a #WriterWednesday feature on this site to promote other authors.

3. Decide how often you want to blog. I used to blog twice a week, and it became a difficult schedule to maintain with all the other things going on in my life. I blog on my site on Fridays. On Pens, Paws, and Claws, one of the featured authors blogs each Saturday, and we have guest interviews on Mondays. Find a schedule that works for you (and doesn't take away from your writing time). 

4. Use your other social media sites to promote your blog and share your blog posts. Post links to your other sites. It will drive traffic to your blog (and website).

5. During the week, I schedule Tweets about my current blog post and others from the past. This is a good way to share your information. I use TweetDeck to schedule these, but there are a lot of different applications out there to help you with scheduling.

6. There are lots of blogging promotion groups on Facebook. If you participate in these, you agree to share their content, and they share yours. It's a good way to find new readers and bloggers. It's also a great way to get your information shared to a variety of social media sites.

7. There are several sites that will help you ping your site to let search engines know about your site. It's important to do this from time to time to ensure that people can find you. I use Ping-o-matic, but here are plenty to choose from.

Best wishes with your blogging. Let me know what else you'd add to the list.

Should You Join a Blog or Other Online Support Group?

Over the years, I've been part of several online blog support groups. I think the advantages outweigh the negatives, and I've connected with a lot of interesting writers. But, before you join, you need to decide if it is worth the investment of your time and energy.

Promotion - A support network is a great way to promote your blog and writing projects. But you do need to make the time commitment to read and support the other members. It does take time, depending on the size and frequency of the events in your group.

I'm in one group with over 7,000 members. If you comment or post, expect a lot of email. It's a great way to find other writers and see what they're doing with their social media sites. But your inbox will be flooded when everyone comments or posts.

Social Media - This is a great way to increase your social media followers. I like the ones that make following others optional. You tend to get more true followers who stick around. It's disappointing when you get a boost and then a spike in unfollows quickly behind it. That happened to me once, and I learned my lesson.

Feedback and Support - I like to support other authors on their writing journeys, so I enjoy seeing what other bloggers are up to. I also appreciate the hints and suggestions that they make about marketing, social media, and blog content.

How Do You Find a Group? - Search Twitter or Facebook for "Blog Groups." There are a lot of them out there with different rules for membership and engagement. Visit a while before you join to make sure that your work fits. My goal was to increase traffic to my blog, so I chose several that were not book- or author-centric.

If you're willing to commit the time to spend on social media and your blog, then these groups are a good (free) way to promote yourself. If blogging isn't your cup of tea, there are also plenty of Facebook and Twitter groups to promote your books.

Best wishes with your writing projects!

 

Obsessed with Your Numbers?

Metrics are important. They give you a way to track how well your marketing efforts are doing. But your number of likes, followers, and comments shouldn't rule you or ruin your day. Don't obsess about them. I know; it's easier said than done. We all want to be liked and recognized. Rejection hurts. It doesn't feel good when you get "unliked" or a crummy review.

Look at your numbers. See if you can find clues to figure out what happened. If your site visits on your blog drop, and you haven't been posting, then that's a good sign you need to blog on a regular schedule.

But remember that people are fickle. There is a lot out there to capture their attention, and they often unlike things willy nilly. Don't fixate on the negative. When you lose followers or get negative comments, see if there is anything you can learn from it. If not, let it go. You can't control other people. Go exercise, shout, or jump up and down. Get it out of your system, and then get yourself back in your chair and write. Your primary job is to finish your next work.

Social media has two parts, and the first word is key. People like when you have conversations and build relationships. I always thank people for great comments, reviews, or shout outs. But I don't comment on snarky or negative comments. You don't want to get into a war of words that will last for ever on the Internet. It's hard not to respond or defend, but don't post anything you'll regret later.

Best wishes for your writing! It's hard work, but keep at it. You're not going to please everyone. Celebrate the successes and learn from the less than sterling ones.