To blog or not to blog, that is the question

[Lin]

Well after reading my own post I decided to set up a blog so here it is and now I need to start making it work for me.  I suppose I will learn as I go along - all advice heeded

http://itslinhere.wordpress.com/

[HPvD]

'I just had a quick look at your blog, Looks Good!'

When I can find the time for it, I will have a closer look later on,

While my posts are usually rather Exclusive as you might have read in previous replies....,
When you like to find out more about Monetizing your blog you can have a look at a post that I actually did write today, just minutes ago on my
Writing Lifestyle Blog about doing Book Reviews with a little list of sites that pay for writing Reviews.
Btw. also on my Home Business Lifestyle Blog (you can find a link near the top of my Writing Lifestyle Blog)
you can find how with Affiliate Marketing you can use your Blog to (pre) Sell Books. (or other products))

All the Best,
To your Happy -Writing - Inspiration,
HP

[Lin]

Thanks HP I will need some advice with time although I am getting the hang of it as you can see.

Lin

[Gayle]

Interesting discussion. I've been looking at a number of writer's websites lately to get an idea of what sorts of formats people are using and what kind of content is considered basic for writers. Many have blogs but I'm always surprised by how many writers (even highly skilled professional writers) seem to forget that you have to know your topic before you start writing as soon as they start blogging. Most have little or no content and read like the diary I started to keep when I was 12-years-old.

I think before writers start keeping a blog they should seriously consider why you want to keep a blog in the first place. If you want to use it promote yourself and your writing, then you need to write your posts like a non-fiction magazine series. Choose a subject and write them like articles. If you just want a place to sort through your thoughts unconsciously, then your probably better off keeping a writing journal in a notebook then starting a blog. No one wants to read a string a off unorganized thoughts and your not going to bring in many readers to blog if you have wishy-washy content.

Interesting looking blog, Lin. Do you and your husband do a lot of conversation-oriented/animal watching holidays?

[Lin]

Hi Gayle

I suppose every holiday for us is wildlife connected.  I mean it's all around us isn't it?  I plan on my blog to mingle nature conservation with writing a book and writing in general.  Helping others to get motivated into writing.

Once I get my novel back from the RNA I shall start working my book into the blog by blogging about marketing and so on.

The blog has been updated in a big way in the last 24 hours so please visit itslinhere.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading

Lin  x

[Epicurean Ink Blot]

I find blogging has been a good exercise in regular writing as well as pushing through writer's block. There are so many websites that give you prompts you can write flash fiction or longer stories around, and a blog is a great place to showcase your informal work with links to any published material you may have.

I've maintained my blog for a very long time, on and off, but only recently have I started regularly posting on it. http://epicureaninkblot.wordpress.com/

The important thing you should remember is that to keep blogging, you need to settle into a regular routine - 3 days a week, 5 days a week, every day of the week, whatever you think you can maintain without giving up. Also try not to post more than one long post a day, as readers may have trouble keeping up the energy for discussion.

You should also remember that if you are going to be mentioning your blog everywhere, you should make it reasonably presentable - no ugly banners or colours, at least adhering to the basic rules of punctuation and grammar, and a basic sense of writing structure. This does not mean that you need to immediately worry about checking your posts 500 times before publishing them, just that you should keep it as reader friendly as possible. If you are unsure about the whole thing and want to be able to test stuff out before making changes to your blog, you can always create a dummy blog and keep it private. I actually created an anonymous blog when I first started out, just to get into the groove of things without having embarrassing content associated with me on the internet!

Wordpress also has some nifty features you can use - great user-friendly themes, the ability to get feedback on a post before publishing it, a featured image option so you can associate relevant images with your posts, stats to tell you where readers are being referred from, widgets to help readers subscribe to your blog and navigate it easily, and so on. Work them to your advantage. Especially looking at your conservation theme, the more the attention, the better, right?

You're off to a great start, Lin, keep the engines running!

[Lin]

TX EIB

[Epicurean Ink Blot]

Afternoon all, I was intersted in peoples opinions on blogs.  I have set one up, but it is not accessible to anyone yet.  How many of you have set one up and does it help with your writing?

s. jaguar x

Ouch, I didn't realise that this was how the thread began! Sorry saucyjaguar! My earlier post still stands, though.

[HPvD]

Thanks for your reply Gayle, indeed it's a good to find out why you want to blog, for example I don't (yet) think that many readers really like my current experimental 'Ongoing Writing Research Lab' with wishy washy content - or as I would rather like to call it - a variety in content, since I started it just because I like to play with thoughts and ideas and also because I wrote a tiny little ebook that I was thinking about possibly promoting on it, and find out about what others have to say about the topics I write about, and not specifically as a means to promote myself and my writing.

Although I did somewhat had (with my heels in the sand) the intention to also write on my writing blog to write about my tiny little ebook to promote it and collect readers feedback, only although for this tiny little ebook I did actually took time to look at writing structure and looked at things like grammar and spelling and even had it proof read, since I am still not sure if it's any good and think I have done it the wrong way to without first really doing any market research for it, or knowing who to write it for. So now I noticed that I don't even have it prominently on my Writing Blog. So now on that blog and many of my other blogs, my main focus isn't about promoting my own tiny little ebook anymore, and mainly is about just writing about a variety of things while (pre) selling all kinds of other Products through Affiliate Marketing.

[CarrieSheppard]

I've had a blog for a while and it replaced my 'journal' if you like. The beauty of it is that other people can look at it, whereas my journal (which was a writing collection rather than a diary) is completely private.

I am sometimes surprised by who comments on my blog, though a lot of time I'm sure no one sees it. However, if I do something, like lead a birdwatching walk at work, I will blog it and post the link on my facebook page. That works quite well. If someone is interested, they will visit.

Blogging is good writing practice. You need to be concise (never more than 500 words if you can help it) and get a story or message across in a clear and easy to understand way - whether it's something personal, or more business like.

Good luck to all bloggers! It is a vast repository of amazing (and terrible sometimes) writing.

Carrie

[Lin]

Carrie as you are into wildlife - go see what my Chris discovered two weeks ago on the Isles of Scilly - a rarity indeed

Go to the file on Wildlife  itslinhere.wordpress.com

Lin x

[CarrieSheppard]

I did! That lovely butterfly. Amazing.

[Chandara5]

EIB love your content and visuals...nice. I'm following

Following the others too!

Just wanted to add, if it wasn't already, that voice is important in your blog too.  Or so i've read.
 

[RebeccaEmin]

Afternoon all, I was intersted in peoples opinions on blogs.  I have set one up, but it is not accessible to anyone yet.  How many of you have set one up and does it help with your writing?

s. jaguar x

I have a blog that I started pretty much when I started writing seriously, after a publishing professional told me I "should start a blog". I was in 2 minds at the time, as I didn't really know what a blog was (shameful) but I had enough respect for her to realise she was right.

Since then I have joined the #fridayflash community via Twitter and I post a lot of flash fiction on my blog. Because of the hashtag and the community itself, all of these posts have a lot of visits and as a result my blog as a whole now does to. It has also helped me to develop my writing style a lot, thanks to helpful feedback from other writers.

Some of the flashes I have written for #fridayflash have since been published in fund-raising anthologies and by Ether Books (mobile publishing) so it's also helped it those ways.

On top of that, my publisher approached me about seeing my book ("if I was interested") on the strength of blogged fiction and the fact that I had a strong presence on the internet.

For anyone who is wondering, I now echo my publisher friend's advice and say writers can really benefit from having a blog.


Rebecca