Should I blog?

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Rebeca
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Re: Should I blog?

Post by Rebeca »

I would, for the pleasure of blogging. However, if you are wanting to create a blog for the monetary benefit (if any) it will quickly turn from a pleasure to a chore. Do what you love and the money will follow on its own.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Well, I certainly make money on the sale of my books, and my website blog page is all about those novels. But it's never a chore -- it's part and parcel of my "job" as a writer to help boost my sales. What writer doesn't want that?

But I suppose that my Facebook stuff is kinda like a blog. And there I mostly talk about other stuff, and only mention my novels occasionally there.

What remains my major consideration, however, is whether anyone WANTS to read a blog from me about, duh, what I had for lunch or what TV show I watched. Boooring! Many of us would certainly be happy to know that there were folks out there who hung on our every word, but in all honesty, very few things we do are really of any pertinence to most other folks. Thankfully I'm not that vain.

Principal is this question: "What is the purpose of my blog?" If it's to clear my mind and entertain ideas which I may later use in a story, or to just set my thoughts down for internal housekeeping (brainkeeping?) then that blog should remain private. If however the purpose of my blog is to write some daily or weekly account of what I've done or seen or read or thought about, the question is still this: "Who the heck cares what I did last week?"
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Post by joanofarc2015 »

I think @moderntimes is correct, it really depends on why and how you will make your blog

The way I see it...you have a great concept: a blog for writers/ reviewers. This is a good "why" or reason to make a blog for struggling writers.

How?

Based on experience, there are a few things you have to consider:

Getting readers (my blog started off with friends from FB and I literally begged for "shares" for more exposure)

Time and money Investment (SEO to get your blog ranked higher may add to your budget. Time of course for quality articles that will create followers)

Connections (a lot of people to get talking about your blog or giving advise on how to make "sell")

A blog is kinda like selling your book but you can update it ;) ....hope I was helpful
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foreverreading
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Post by foreverreading »

I feel that blogging is definitely an important part of writing. It connects you to agents and authors and gives them a sense of your abilities to write and review books. Blogging also allows you to build up a fan base, which can really help when you start publishing. Lastly, it helps you develop and hone your writing skills.
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Post by moderntimes »

I'm missing something here. Blogs aren't book reviews, are they? A blog about things is not the same as a focused book review for a book you've read.

When I write a book review, that's one thing. My blog page is another thing totally. My reviews are posted on another site and are unconnected with my blogs.

Agents? I may be wrong here but I kinda think that agents do not randomly browse the internet looking for blogs and read them. Agents spend their time working to place their clients' writing. That's what agents do. Agents do NOT search for new clients. It's the other way around -- prospective clients search for an agent. Or, if I'm wrong, someone correct me -- which writer was signed to an agency because an agent read the author's blog?

As far as an ability to write reviews goes, that is demonstrated by a review written, not by a blog. If someone is trying to find a "job" writing reviews, the best way to do this -- the only way, as I seem to remember -- is to write a test review and submit it to the magazine or newspaper or website which you'd like to review for, and usually, if the test review is decently written, the editor will try you out "for real" by sending you a new book to review.
Last edited by moderntimes on 02 Jan 2016, 10:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by gali »

moderntimes wrote:I'm missing something here. Blogs aren't book reviews, are they? A blog about things is not the same as a focused book review for a book you've read.

When I write a book review, that's one thing. My blog page is another thing totally. My reviews are posted on another site and are unconnected with my blogs.
There are different kinds of blogs. There are Book Reviews Blogs as well.
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Post by Gravy »

I follow several book review blogs, actually.

I also follow some author blogs, and other various types.
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Post by moderntimes »

I was unaware of such blogs. Where do they appear? Are there general websites for book reviews, where reviews are posted by whomever? And yeah, I know this site, but the reviews here are controlled and are under scrutiny.

Can someone list a couple of these sites for me? Ya see, when I see "blog" I am thinking it's just a day to day "diary" of the writer's thoughts about stuff, literary and otherwise.
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Post by Gravy »

moderntimes wrote:I was unaware of such blogs. Where do they appear? Are there general websites for book reviews, where reviews are posted by whomever? And yeah, I know this site, but the reviews here are controlled and are under scrutiny.

Can someone list a couple of these sites for me? Ya see, when I see "blog" I am thinking it's just a day to day "diary" of the writer's thoughts about stuff, literary and otherwise.
Many authors have blogs, sometimes run by them, sometimes run by others, depending on how busy they are. You can find them by searching easy enough, and yes, some of them can seem a bit that way. I don't really tend toward those, but some do.

As for book review blogs, anyone can start one, and they're typically run by a single person as a hobby. Then you have the more professional ones. There's one I follow whose reviews are regularly blurbed in/on books.
As I highly doubt you'd be interested in any blog I frequent, I suggest you search for whatever genre of books you would normally read along with reviews, or blog. That should get you some results.
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Post by rssllue »

I say you should only blog within a bog. :eusa-think: :shifty:
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Post by pauljeday »

I blog all the time. But I bought a domain name which helps. I mainly use Wordpress and it works for me.
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Post by moderntimes »

Same here. I have a blog page on my own website. But I'm old school, just use HTML and edit the file with a plain old text editor. I'm very good with HTML and most of my website is text and images, so it's pretty easy to add new stuff.

I don't however blog or whatever for the "thrill" of telling someone what I ate for dinner or what TV show I watched. I only blog for info related to my private detective novels, and associated info on my books in publication, Amazon links, and such. And since my novels are modern private detective, I may also add a comment or two about other books or movies / TV shows of the mystery genre.
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Post by Nathrad Sheare »

Definitely go for it! Blogging is an excellent way to get noticed as a writer, and it's a great way to polish your writing skills. Some writers make a pretty good living off of blogs. Of course, they run four, five, or more, and all of them are on different subjects. They like to keep a few blogs that are helpful in some way (writing tips are definitely helpful), and they use other blogs to promote books, contribute to celebrity gossip, chronicle journalistic experiences, and a lot more! There's no limit to what you can do with a blog. Just be sure that you maintain a conversational tone as you write it (I'm still working on that in my own blog articles...), and be as creative as possible with the content. Add cool pics, (taking care not to infringe on any copyright), add videos, preferably ones you make yourself (a vlog is incredibly useful to any writer, whether you know it, like it, or not), and catchy titles and subheadings. Make your site as easy to use as possible, and offer special perks to subscribers. When giving tips on anything, it's best to write in as entertaining a way as possible, and "entertaining" normally means "funny," unless you're writing to expose some political scandal or a financial crisis, in which case a kind of all capitals tone is best. Don't clutter up your blog with too many images or video clips you find on the Internet that will slow the loading process of your pages. Make sure there's plenty of white space so that your articles are easier to read (yes, keeping the pages white is best), and try not to repeat yourself on anything unless it's necessary that you do or you know how to place reminders well. If you have any more questions, I'll help you out! Just send me a personal message and we can chat! Happy writing, bud! :tiphat:
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Post by KateNox »

Honestly, I do blog, but I have no idea if it's a good move for authors. I try to write about book reviews, my thoughts on literature or classics and I also post really short stories. I do hope this will help out in the future, we'll see I guess.
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Post by Addo »

Well, I personally think about "why". It's because your potential readers will benefit and you will derive a sense of satisfaction from sharing your views and opinions s. You may also, enjoy expressing yourself just do it if you enjoy it, don't if you think it will be a burden.
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