Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and promoting your book on the Internet
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GingerWrite
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by GingerWrite » October 10th, 2011, 11:57 am

We young writers have to stick together! :)
"The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the more you grow." - Dr. Suess
Worlds can grow and crumble beneath a writer's pen. We just need to find the right one.
http://startingonthewritepage.blogspot.com/ :)

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Falls Apart
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Falls Apart » October 12th, 2011, 4:34 pm

*simultaneously jumping back in after two months and waving to the other teenage forumers*

This blog seems to be saying that blogging isn't financially rewarding. Agreed: in all likelihood, it won't be. If you're in it for money, or to become popular, then it's probably a bad idea. But if you just want to write, and share your writing with others, then it can be fun :)

Rachel Ventura
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Rachel Ventura » October 14th, 2011, 12:24 am

Falls Apart wrote:*simultaneously jumping back in after two months and waving to the other teenage forumers*

This blog seems to be saying that blogging isn't financially rewarding. Agreed: in all likelihood, it won't be. If you're in it for money, or to become popular, then it's probably a bad idea. But if you just want to write, and share your writing with others, then it can be fun :)
About being "popular" (even marginally so): isn't that the idea of what this whole marketing thing is about? I certainly wouldn't be in it for the money -- that's what the $1M advance is for. ;) Of course I just want to write and share my writing with others -- that's what the book would be for. :D

I'm still unsure of how blogging for an audience of 3-5 people max would ever translate to a number of readers of the book itself beyond those 3-5 people (or if it ever would). I'm sure that the blog itself wouldn't ever get noticed unless there's an additional outlet, such as FB, Twitter, Tumblr, or Google Plus Ochocinco to the nth Degree. (Or whatever these things are called nowadays.) It would seem as though the basic concept is this: 1) Write something on blog (homepage or "hub" for creative outlets). 2) Promote blog externally on social media sites (choose your poison). 3) Continue to work on WIP(s) in the hopes that once WIP(s) is/are complete and ready for submissions, you've established at least a moderate audience of possible readers via #1 and #2. Sounds deceptively simple until you realize that a whole chunk of time is devoted to #2 (uh...in more ways than one). :P

Don't forget the occasional scheduling conflict called life that needs to be accounted for. *sigh* I'm really beginning to think the digital marketplace, while ironically the brainchild (or brain-fart) of introverts, has set up the system to be "defective by design" for people of just such a personality. The thing is, introverted math and science geeks will thrive (because all your everything are belong to computers), while arts and humanities-oriented folks who aspire to greatness in the way of traditional media will either adapt or fall to obsolescence in the way of the lowly, lonely monastic scribe. It's no longer enough for an English major to be just an English major; there has to be some marketing savvy along with that in-depth study of 16th-century British fops in tights. :P I hope I'm not destined for immediate passé status because I don't exactly cotton to an image of Donald Trump lamenting poor Yorick while wearing Spandex and a puffy shirt. :lol: :lol:

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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Claudie » October 16th, 2011, 7:45 pm

Rachel Ventura wrote:EDIT: I just checked out Wicked & Tricksy. You folks are very smart -- actually, I don't quite think I'd measure up ;) But I just wanted to point out a technical bug: When clicking on the link to one of the guests' entries, called "Self-Publishing: No Longer a Fool's Friend" by a writer named David Gaughran, the link just redirects to the listing of guests and their respective articles.

The guest entries collection is http://www.wickedtricksy.com/?page_id=88 and the link for Gaughran's article points to the same page, not wherever his article is. Might want to fix that if at all possible. :)
Oops, that would be my mistake. Thanks for pointing it out. It's on my to-do list. :) For the record and from reading this thread, I can guarantee that Wicked & Tricksy isn't 'too smart' for you. Don't be shy. We'd love to have you.

On the whole blogging thing: Becoming popular through blogging is almost impossible. It happens, but starting with that goal in mind is like shooting yourself in the foot. You should blog because you want to share and connect with others, whether they are writers or people who share an interest. Yes, you might sell a couple of books through it (more if you get lucky), and yes, we get told that's why we ought to do it.

The truth is, though, that I've found there's a whole lot more to gain from blogging than a couple of sales. I made great friends through it. I grew as a writer. I recovered a lost love for crazy science. I might never sell a book through my blog, but it'll have made my life better. So I'm gonna keep going, and loving it. :)
"I do not think there is any thrill [...] like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." -- Nikola Tesla

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CharleeVale
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by CharleeVale » October 16th, 2011, 8:34 pm

So I haven't jumped in on this post because I didn't think I really had an opinion, but I do now.

If anything, my experience at New York Comic Con made me think that being a writer and a blogger is an excellent thing to be.

Why?

Everyone was interested in me! The minute the words 'book blogger' fell out of my mouth I had a great conversation with whoever I was talking to! I got extra books from some independent people hoping for publicity, I got offers for interviews from four different authors, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I met an agent who asked me to send him a proposal as soon as I'm done with my mss.

I gave out my URL a ton of times, made connections with the publicity people of most of major publishing houses, and in combination with that and the ARCs I received, my writing career just got a huge boost! So right now I think that being a blogger/writer is a great thing to be!

CV

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Mira
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Mira » October 17th, 2011, 4:47 pm

Great point, Charlee - being a book blogger right now could be a very smart thing - they are in high demand!

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Falls Apart
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Falls Apart » October 24th, 2011, 5:05 pm

I think blogging only has a point if you have something to say, though. Just starting a blog for the sake of publicity, and not bringing anything original to it . . . that's pretty pointless. But people who can come up with a new idea, or bring fresh perspective to an old one, there's definitely a point in their blog, even if it never becomes well known.

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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by oldhousejunkie » October 25th, 2011, 12:10 pm

I scanned the article. He has some valid points, but in general I disagree. He seems to be aiming at the folks who are trying to make money from their blogs (which most of us are not, I would assume).

I'm slightly offended at the idea that if you like to network, then that must mean that you're not a serious writer. I like sharing my thoughts in a blog; it just so happens that 33 people think these thoughts are interesting. I've never been critiqued or anything, and the majority of the comments are posted by what I would consider "regulars." But I continue to gain an audience and those people have said that they enjoy reading, so in the end, my job is done. I get the extra bonus of meeting very unique people (some as far out as Israel and New Zealand) which I probably wouldn't have if I had never thought to start a blog.

So in the end, I think it's about what your goal is. If you measure your writing ability by how many followers you have or comments you get, then starting a blog is a bad idea. If you don't like to interact with people, then starting a blog is a bad idea. But if you want to exercise your writing abilities, get your name out there (even to a small audience), and meet great people--then a blog is for you.

Rachel Ventura
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Re: Article: Blogging bad idea for writers

Post by Rachel Ventura » October 26th, 2011, 11:37 pm

CharleeVale wrote:So I haven't jumped in on this post because I didn't think I really had an opinion, but I do now.

If anything, my experience at New York Comic Con made me think that being a writer and a blogger is an excellent thing to be.

Why?

Everyone was interested in me! The minute the words 'book blogger' fell out of my mouth I had a great conversation with whoever I was talking to! I got extra books from some independent people hoping for publicity, I got offers for interviews from four different authors, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I met an agent who asked me to send him a proposal as soon as I'm done with my mss.

I gave out my URL a ton of times, made connections with the publicity people of most of major publishing houses, and in combination with that and the ARCs I received, my writing career just got a huge boost! So right now I think that being a blogger/writer is a great thing to be!

CV
Good for you, Charlee! :D I'm starting to rethink the whole social media thing. I am indeed very shy in real life, and don't think I'd feel comfortable displaying the "real" me, whether online or off -- I have no problem expressing myself by proxy through fictional characters, it's when I have to "be myself" that I want to run the other way. Some might call this Mary Suicide or "sock puppetry"; I prefer to say "author surrogate." One could argue that Holden Caulfield was a Gary Stu for J.D. Salinger, in that he (Caulfield) shared a lot of his creator's opinions and attitude, and his misadventures running wild through the streets of New York were a "wish fulfillment" ideal. If Salinger were an author today and had to be a sort of memoirist in blog form, I think he'd want to "unplug" from the world even more so...!

The other thing is (and maybe this is the major sticking point for me), the Internet in general can be very time consuming and distracting from what one's real devotion ought to be, and that's writing the work in question. I personally don't have the energy or personal focus to do both, and am waiting until I finish more than one major project before I start in on the whole social media thing. Sure, it's great to network and meet new people, but after awhile, if you're not doing any actual "writing" writing, you (in general) have really lost focus on what should be #1 on your list of projects, and that's not getting +1s online... :?

But "Plus One," for you too, in that a lot of the stuffy literary zonkers would probably scoff at the fact you met your agent at a comic book festival. :x A pox on them, because many of those people probably "stuffed" thousands of dollars into boring MFA programs and got a bunch of A's on brow-beating Z-fests only a professor could love. :D (And in fact, their professors are probably the only ones who will ever read them.)

I got Poets & Writers magazine as a gift one year and am so bored by its focus on literary fiction versus the "taboo" of commercial stuff, which I find infinitely more fun to read. I actually checked out Amanda Hocking's blog a few days ago; the colors are a bit off-putting (neon green on black, ouch), but she writes really well and is very clever and funny. You won't find Amanda, Jeff "Wimpy Kid" Kinney, or Stephenie Meyer featured in P&W, and probably not Charlee V. either -- but I would take that as a compliment, 'cause it means you're way cool. 8-)

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