10 Simple Ways to Support Authors You Love, and Love the Readers Who Support You

I’ll admit it, I’m a fangirl.

When an author’s amazing book inspires awe, when an agent teaches a class with the intention of improving and inspiring our burgeoning manuscripts, or either write a blogpost containing encouragement and advice for other writers–well, I want to return the favor of their generosity and give them a (virtual) hug.

I can’t get enough of author Jody Hedlund‘s blog, a vast compendium of rational, well-thought-out, organized and helpful advice on the craft of fiction writing. (She MUST teach a writing class. She must.) Her advice is so thorough, so intelligent, and in many cases so refreshing, that I began reading her books–I wanted to witness the application of Hedlund’s fascinating writing theories.

It is in the spirit of gratitude that today’s guest-post features excerpts from Jody Hedlund’s 10 Simple Ways to Support Authors You Love. “Before I was published,” says Hedlund, “I didn’t realize how much authors appreciated readers taking the time to publicly support them. In fact, I didn’t know my support was important. And even if I had known, I wouldn’t have had a clue what kinds of things would help my favorite authors the most.”

What kinds of action can we fans take to lend support? “Yes, THE best support is actually reading the author’s book,” contends Hedlund, “But, if you enjoyed the book, you’ll do the author a big favor by taking the support one step further. That one step can make a huge difference.”

Here are Hedlund’s ideas for choosing which “one step” feels right for you:

1. Write a book review and post it on Amazon. If you’ve ever ordered on Amazon then you’re eligible to post a review. It’s very simple to do and incredibly helpful (if it’s a good review!). Jody’s book, The Preacher’s Bride, has garnered several #1 slots on Amazon’s Kindle store due to the positive ratings readers have taken the time to write. [Side Note: If you’re a writer, use your author name when writing reviews. This can give your name extra exposure. For example, Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont, put the first review for The Preacher’s Bride on Amazon (and she did a fantastic job with the review!). Now her name and book are the first that people see when they visit the Amazon page for The Preacher’s Bride.]

2. Copy and paste your review onto other online bookstores. There’s nothing wrong with copying your Amazon review and using it on other sites, like GoodReads, Shelfari, Barnes&Noble.com or CBD.com.

3. Click the “Like” button on a book’s Amazon page. (You’ll find it near the top of your fave book’s page.)

4. Click on the “Tags People Associate With This Product” on Amazon. If you scroll down on The Preacher’s Bride Amazon page, you’ll see approximately 32 tags. The more tags and the more clicks, the better a book will come up in search results.

5. Tweet about the book. Recently Pamela Trawick tweeted a noteworthy tweet about The Preacher’s Bride. In 140 characters she managed to capture the essence of her reading experience: The Preacher’s Bride is outstanding. Great tension, good pace, fabulous plot. Read it.

6. Make a short comment of praise about the book on Facebook (or copy the one from Twitter). Twitter streams move quickly, and so tweets come and go. But on facebook, news has the ability to stick around a bit longer.

7. Pass along the book to a friend or to family. And ask them to pass it along when they’re done.

8. Buy the book as a gift for friends and family. Publishing houses keep track of every book sale. And each purchase is important to an author.

9. Ask your local library to carry the book. First check if they have the book (you can usually look it up online). And if they don’t, next time you’re at your library, personally request the book.

10. Make an effort to pass on your love of the book. Somehow, someway tell someone how much you liked the book. Word-of-mouth is the best way to help support an author! The more times a person hears about or sees a book, the greater the chances that they’ll pick it up and read it.

What other practical ideas have you done to help support authors? Have you taken the time to publicly support a book or author you’ve liked? Or haven’t you given it much thought before now?

Marketing is part of the job description of the modern author. Whether we’ve gone with self-publishing, small indie press, or the traditional route, all authors must market. However, writers tend to be happier working quietly, alone.

How can we avoid turning our marketing and promotion efforts into a litany to ourselves? Here are Jody Hedlund’s three ways:

1. Connect With Readers: Pay attention to what they’re saying on our blogs, facebook, and twitter. Be available. Make sure do the best we can to answer personal emails and messages.

2. Engage Readers: Don’t stand on the sidelines. Instead jump into social media conversations. Ask questions on Facebook or Twitter. Discover what people think or how they feel about issues.

3. Care For Readers: Find ways to let them know we appreciate them. Offer encouragement. Be real and open so they feel comfortable sharing their concerns and problems with us.

In one word: LOVE. Yes, love your readers.

If you love your readers, they’ll promote the heck out of you.

I’m sure we can all think of an author we’ve met online (or in person), one we’ve grown to admire and respect because of how personable and kind they are. I know it makes a huge impact on me when an author is down-to-earth, chats with me, retweets something I say, leaves a comment on my blog, etc.

I may have already liked that particular author. But my admiration rises even higher when they take the extra effort to connect with me.

On the reverse side, our admiration for authors diminishes when they act too busy for us, don’t respond to something we say, or only chat within a certain circle of author friends.

My point is that if we as writers grow to appreciate other writers/authors who connect with us, imagine how much that means to our readers when we make an effort to relate to them.

Marketing 101: Start by loving the readers we already have (including followers on social media sites). We may want more. But first we have learn to take care of those that are already sitting in our stadium. We need to figure out ways to bless and encourage the audience that’s before us.

When we’re loving and taking care of the readers and followers we have, they’ll WANT to support us. They may even go out of their way to help us and shout out the news about our books. They’ll be excited to promote for us, essentially taking a large part of “self” out of self-promotion.

We won’t need to toot our own horns so loudly because our readers will do the tooting for us.

What do you think? Have you supported authors because you’ve learned to like and appreciate them? Is “loving your readers” a good strategy? Or do you think it’s lame? If so, what do you think can work better?

Isn’t Jody Hedlund fantastic? If you would like to read more of her ideas, I’ve posted Hedlund‘s 5 Transformational Story Elements here. She offers a goldmine of excellent advice for polishing your WIP until story shines.

Seth Godin’s advice for authors’ About pages

When someone comes to your site for the first time, they’re likely to hit “about” or “bio,” says author and marketing genius Seth Godin.  Why? “Because they want a human, a story and reassurance,” according to his straight-from-the-hip article, Five rules for your About page. (Mine is called “Meet Rebecca Lacko”; it’s right here.)

Here are Godin’s helpful guidelines (okay, they’re actually imperatives):

1. Don’t use meaningless jargon:

... is a recognized provider of result-based online and mobile advertising solutions. Dedicated to complete value chain optimization and maximization of ROI for its clients, … is committed to the ongoing mastery of the latest online platforms – and to providing continuously enhanced aggregation and optimization options.

2. Don’t use a stock photo of someone who isn’t you (if there is a stock photo of you, congratulations). The more photos of you and your team, the better.

3. Make it easy to contact you. Don’t give a contact address or number that doesn’t work.

4. Be human. Write like you talk and put your name on it. Tell a story, a true one, one that resonates.

5. Use third party comments and testimonials to establish credibility. Use a lot of them. Make sure they’re both interesting and true.

Seth Godin has written a dozen worldwide bestsellers that have been translated into more than thirty languages. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. Talk to him at Seth@SethGodin.com.

Top Ten Ways Authors Can Use Twitter to Promote Books

140 characters: part treasure map, part scavenger hunt.

I’ll admit, I prefer Twitter over Facebook. My friends (the real ones, not merely FB “friends”) faithfully post to Facebook, which to a self-absorbed writer working from home with little more than a silent cat for company, means I must dedicate segments of time to read posts and comment. On the one hand, I’m thankful–I keep in touch with people I wouldn’t otherwise, I like to send well-wishes for new babies born, graduations, new jobs, and view photos of holidays and tender or wacky moments. On the other hand (I say, bristling) I occasionally feel my time is stolen when visits to FB cull info such as “XX is now a fan of sour cream/monkeys/dryer sheets, etc.” I’ve hidden all the Farmville-esque silliness, but when it comes down to it, minute for minute, I prefer Twitter (@RebeccaLacko).

Nearly everyone in the writing and publishing industry has an account; (Twitter is after all the ultimate challenge in sentence clarity and brevity–how can they resist?) I am now connected to a network of admired authors, editors, publishers and PR geniuses, and at any moment of the day I can log on to posts of their links featuring information I really want to know. I’ll always love my Friends; I have much to learn from my Tweeps.

Writer Dana Lynn Smith says ” Twitter is a great tool for building an author platform and promoting books.” Here are Smith’s Top Ten Ways Authors Can Use Twitter to Promote Books:

1. Help others by sharing information, while you gain a reputation as an expert. You can post links to helpful articles, recommend resources, and teach mini-lessons.

2. Meet potential customers and stay in touch with existing customers. Promote your Twitter URL everywhere you’re listed online, and include keywords in your tweets to attract followers who are interested in your topic or genre.

3. Stay on top of news and trends in your field and get ideas for your articles and blog by reading the tweets of the people you follow.

4. Promote live and virtual events such as book signings, podcasts, virtual book tours, teleseminars, and book launches.

5. Gain visibility and new followers by hosting a Twitter contest where you give away a prize to a randomly chosen winner, or give a free gift to everyone who follows you and re-tweets your contest message. See this post for tips on creating a Twitter contest.

6. Ask for help and get instant responses. When you request product recommendations, referrals to experts, or help with a technical issue, it’s amazing how helpful folks are.

7. Spread good will by helping your peers. Introduce other people in your field or genre, or recommend other related books or products.  Re-tweet interesting posts from people that you follow.

8. Promote your book and other products and services. The key is to be subtle and make promotional tweets a small percentage of your overall communications, so people feel like they gain value from following you, not just a stream of sales pitches.

9. Meet other authors, experts, publishers, marketers, and vendors. Twitter is ideal for networking and it’s a great place to meet potential joint venture partners.

10. Keep in touch when you’re on the road. There are a number of applications that facilitate twittering from mobile devices.

Have fun! It’s fascinating to meet people from all over the world, gain a glimpse into their lives, and develop a cyber-relationship.

Excerpted from the Twitter Guide for Authors by Dana Lynn Smith. For more book marketing tips, follow BookMarketer on Twitter and get Dana’s free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you visit her book marketing blog.  Learn more at Dana’s “Boost Your Book Sales with Twitter” teleseminar on August 12.

Follow me on Twitter @RebeccaLacko

Browse the Best Books of 2010… so far.

Free Your Pen — Eric Maisel’s advice for “Wishing”

Have you ever read a book on the writing process that could not simply be read, savored and applied to your practice? Unable

to sit quietly on your bookshelf amid other volumes of writing advice, certain publications stir your inner creative force and cry out to be shared. (If you would like to tell us your favorite book on writing, click here!)
Writer Jes Davidson has one such hot property and she is ready to spread the good word. The blogger for Free Your Pen, Ms. Davidson  won the Euroscript Screen Story Competition with her screenplay THIS OTHER EDEN in 2008.

The Brighton, UK, resident’s winning screenplay is pitched as follows:  “A reclusive carpenter leaves his isolated shack in the woods to embark on a horse-drawn odyssey through the wilds of Northumberland on a quest that will reawaken his heart, transforming his life forever.”

Davidson recommends FEARLESS CREATING by Eric Maisel, a guide to the creative process, packed full of advice, support and exercises. “It’s written for artists,”he says, “but what he means by that is anyone who creates. Creating is a powerful and scary activity, and I find myself returning again and again to this essential book.”

Eric Maisel sets out six stages of the creative process. The first stage of the creative process is about nurturing your dream, your desire to create something. Eric Maisel calls this stage WISHING. It’s where you go looking for ideas and inspiration, stories to obsess over, dramas to enact. This section also resonates with me as I continue to wrestle with my outline. I’ve received plenty of helpful advice from experience writers (and readers) but in the end, I must sit quietly and allow the story to unfold in my imagination. Here are excerpts from Jes Davidson’s review of the book:

The Desire to Create

To feed your desire to create you must be still – inside – give yourself space to allow what wants to be created to come out and play.

As you quiet down inside, hold the idea in your mind, turn it round, look at it, let it breathe. What does it want to be? Who is this character? Don’t force it or second guess. Let your imagination go loose, let it play, see what happens. Write it down.

Hungry Mind

The anxiety of this stage is called Hungry Mind anxiety. This is where you can get overwhelmed by all the possibilities and ideas running around in your head – where do I start? What is it anyway? It might be nothing. It’s a lot of work.. You start to argue with yourself about whether or not the story should be written, before you’ve even worked out what it’s about.

This swirling chaotic mess in your head is a good sign. It means you want to create something and it’s absolutely normal. This is the kind of anxiety you will have to accept if you want to spend your time creating anything. Get used to it. The worst thing to do in the face of this anxiety is to shut down, turn away, switch on the TV. You need to feed your creativity.

Appropriate Feeding (of your mind/creativity)

Follow the Work – do what the story requires of you. I spent hours at the beach with my camera whilst working on the first draft of Bluebird. (A psychological thriller set in the surfing community at Tynemouth.) I walked the streets my protagonist walks, stood in the sand and watched the surf, and noted how moods change with the light. I’m sure it’ll end up in the script somewhere.

Plant Seeds – give your imagination something to work with. I keep a folder full of ideas, scraps of paper covered in scrawl, clippings from newspapers, half thought out possibilities. Every now and then I sift through what I’ve collected. Something will always surprise me.

Think by Feeling – this one’s for the intellectual types: don’t over-think everything. Keep in touch with your feelings by feeling them – laugh, cry, live. You are not feeling when you’re talking or thinking about your feelings. As Bruce Lee says in Enter the Dragon, “Don’t think, feel.”

Eat with Two Hands – dig deep into research for the work. Obsess over it, dream it, devour it. Let your story penetrate every pore, every nook and cranny of your life.

Find Masters – return to and relive books and films that have inspired you. It will fan the flames of your enthusiasm. Remind yourself why you wanted to write in the first place.

Serve – share your enthusiasms and your joy. Teach others what you need to learn. This is partly the motivation for this blog.

Hush – be still, be silent. Surrender to the trance of working. Let the writing take you, let it lead you where you need to be.

Think Well – analyse what you’re trying to do. Think about life and art. What have the masters taught you, what do you know from experience? Think about why you think the way you think. Why do you write the stories you write? Why this story? Why now?

You will need to be able to combine systematic, left-brain type thinking with more free-flowing, imaginative right-brain type thinking – and jump back and forth between them. It is possible to do both simultaneously on different levels, as it were. Your head runs through the permutations while your guts and heart let rip with intuitions and inspirations. It’s a matter of being willing to stop and start thinking, change gears mid-sentence, jump from image to words to sensations to sounds – mix it up.

The important thing at this stage is to affirm your desire to create. Do everything in your power to support that desire. The more you undermine yourself at this stage the more likely you are to give up. And you know you’re not a quitter.

What do you think? How do you feed your creative urges? Share your best advice in the comments below..

To find out more about Eric Maisel and Fearless Creating go here

Jes Davidson is currently working on a new screenplay, BLUEBIRD (A psychological thriller set in the surfing community in Tynemouth. A young woman fights to free herself from the past and find the perfect wave); and a novel, ADDLED (Zoë Popper thinks she’s losing her mind, but reality could be stranger than she realises. Addled is the story of her search for enlightenment, true love and the perfect chicken kebob.)

8 points to consider when writing your synopsis

As I regrettably procrastinate over writing my novel synopsis, cherished writing time slips through fingers that ought to be on the keyboard. There simply isn’t time for procrastination, either. This summer ought to be my most incisive lesson on focus; with my children’s wildly varied summer schedule requiring me, your humble fiction writer must perform duties of activities director and chauffeur. The time I can grasp for myself–for my book- are precious indeed.

Tomorrow evening is the Pen On Fire event, and I am very excited indeed! (Thank you so much to everyone who helped critique chapter One.) While it will be a casual meet-and-greet with literary agents, I don’t want to be caught empty-handed under any circumstance.

So, I am completing a one-page synopsis of my story. The beauty of this task lies in my synopsis’ multi-use value; For as important as it is for me to clearly express a persuasive outline of my story, it will be both motivating and clarifying to revisit it throughout the writing process, checking to see that I am on the correct track, focused (there’s that word again) and remaining true to my vision.

I found Chuck Sambuchino’s excellent blog “Guide to Literary Agents” and his easy-to-understand advice for writing a synopsis. Here are eight pieces of Chuck’s useful advice with helpful links.

1. A synopsis can sell your story. Agent Caren Estesen discusses why you need a good summary.

2. The advice “show, don’t tell,” doesn’t apply to a synopsis. Author Diana Peterfreund explains why.

3. Here’s how to write one. Agent Nathan Bransford shares his guidelines on writing the synopsis.

4. Ask yourself five questions. Writer Beth Anderson asks five questions in order to write a tight synopsis. Find out what they are.

5. Keep it simple. Romance novelist Brenda Coulter suggests dropping the pretense and just tell your story.

6. A writer answers common questions. Writer Sally Hanan answers commonly asked questions about the synopsis.

7. Grab readers, even with a synopsis. Romance Author Meredith Bond believes you have to “grab them by their eyeballs and don’t let go” and that’s just the first paragraph.

8. See examples of fiction synopses. On this very GLA blog, you can see many posts related to synopsis writing – including several actual examples of synopses in all genres.

Hungry for more? Check out Crafting the Perfect Outline Identifying 5 Major Plotpoints

Follow me on Twitter @RebeccaLacko

Browse the Best Books of 2010… so far.

5 Tips for Writing More, Writing Better. Cultivating a laser-beam focus

Last week, we lost our Internet connection for more than two full days. The initial shock rendered me temporarily immobile. What could I possibly do? I couldn’t work without connection to the outside world…. could I? No, the pain and discomfort was too much to face. I decided instead to get my car keys and run all those errands I’d put off. Oh, and make all those important phone calls on my to-do list.

When we finally fixed our connection I realized something monumental. The Internet had been wasting my time. Well, perhaps to be more accurate, I allow entirely too much of my creativity and productivity, and even my devotion to my family’s needs, slip away while I check email, update Twitter and Facebook and fiddle about looking at book reviews, reading “news” and trying to keep up with what everyone else is up to.

Without my connection to the Grand WWW, I had gotten so much accomplished! My fiction book took flight, I meditated, I read, I cooked, I planted flowers, I played more with my children, I made every phone call necessary to our lives, I booked appointments for playdates and doctors’ appointments, scheduled date nights with my beloved. Had I rediscovered, dare I say it, a full life? Gasp!

In fact, as a mother, wife and freelance writer, the moments I actually have to work at the computer are few and far between and I have clearly been squandering them with online time-wasters. (I will admit, however, that I just discovered Goodreads.com and I’m in love with it! But more on that later.)

Writer (and fellow Canuck) Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen says, “the biggest mistake I make is multitasking.” She is the creator of website, theAdventurousWriter.com, and freelances for magazines such as Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest Online, alive, Glow, Health & Spirituality and More. A Feature Writer for Psychology Suite101, Pawlik-Kienlen specializes in articles about emotional, spiritual, and intellectual health and wellness.  She also collects inspirational, thought-provoking quotations for her blog.

For writers hoping to cut through extraneous time-waters and improve productivity, Laurie suggests we use publication coach Daphne Gray Grant‘s  five tips for writing more and writing better are about cultivating a laser beam-like focus. She also recommends we check out Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer (“It’s one of my favorite books about writing,” she says.)

The Biggest Mistake Writers Make?  5 Tips for Writing More, Writing Better

Daphne Gray Grant

In theory, multitasking sounds brave and competent. Truth be told, however, it’s more accurate to describe multitasking as “being distracted.” I think there are five main ways in which writers try to multitask (and I suggest you avoid ALL of them while you’re writing).

1. Checking email. This is probably the most disruptive — and compelling — distraction of our day. According to a calculation by Merlin Mann on 43 folders, if you check your e-mail every 5 minutes, then you’re checking it 12 times an hour. Multiply 12 times an hour by 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (assuming you take two weeks of vacation and not counting your at-home email habits) and that means you are checking your email some 24,000 times each year. That’s awesome — in a bad way! As Mann asks: “What are you not working on during that time?” (you’re not writing more or writing better, that’s for sure!).

2. Surfing the web. How often are you checking Facebook, Twitter, blogs or just generally surfing the web? Sure it’s attractive (I adore Twitter for example), but I don’t let it control my life. All computer related habits should be delegated to set times of the day. Start by trying to limit yourself to once an hour for each. From there, reduce even further to only once or twice a day. Or, possibly, use this “distraction” as a reward for when you finish your writing.

3. Talking on the phone. Here’s a hard one. Not only can it be fun, it can also be essential for your job. If there’s a call you can’t afford to miss, it takes nerves of steel to ignore a ringing phone. To solve this problem, try to schedule your writing as an appointment — and then treat it like a meeting with your CEO. If necessary, leave your office and perch in a coffee shop or at a boardroom or library table. (One of the biggest mistakes I make as a writer is not getting out of my home office once in a while. Writing elsewhere increases my creativity and productivity).

4. Doing research while you write. Please, don’t ever mix your writing with your research. These are two separate tasks and the research should always come first. That doesn’t mean there won’t be information gaps when you write but don’t use them as an excuse to stop writing. Instead, insert a blank “marker” in your text — like this ________ or this XXX — and then research how to fill it/fix it later, when you’re editing.

5. Eating lunch at your computer. This is a bad idea — not just for you, but also for your computer. Crumbs and liquid can kill your keyboard. My daughter lost her laptop when she spilled a glass of orange juice over it. But it’s also bad for you. When you’ve been working hard writing, you deserve a break. So, pat yourself on the back and go eat your lunch (or your snack) elsewhere.

Multitasking. It’s not just being an extra-hard writer. It’s being a distracted one.

Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a free weekly newsletter on her website; subscribe at The Publication Coach.

Gray-Grant also contributed Tips for Avoiding Writer’s Burnout and 5 Ways to Salvage Writing Disasters, here on Quips & Tips for Successful Writers.

Do you multitask — and is it the biggest mistake you make as a writer? I welcome your comments below…

Please follow me on Twitter! @RebeccaLacko

Dog lover and author Sheryl Matthys scores BIG with her self-published book

My prevailing goal in 2010 is to be more focused. I’ve discovered that in my attempt to have many eggs in several baskets, what I have actually created are several extraneous time-wasters.

Worse than that, I have blurred and sullied my various efforts resulting in only a handful of knowledge on several topics, when what I truly admire (and believe will ultimately lead to realizing my long-term goals and dreams) is that I must become an expert in my field(s). Not an amateur of many, but a trustworthy source for the goals I most cherish.

I’ve discovered one such shining example of a writer/blogger/new author who has created a wildly successful enterprise from a relatively narrow niche–while injecting it with an upbeat attitude which demonstrates her passion and interest in both the life of dogs—-and their owners.

Sheryl Matthys is the creator of leashesandlovers.com, a fabulous website connecting dog lovers, offering events, advice and the chance of romance. It is so popular, Matthys includes interviews with celebrity pet owners such as Cesar Millan, Howard Stern and Rachel Ray!

Matthys had an agent and several publishers vying for the rights to her book, Leashes and Lovers: What Your Dog Can Teach You about Love, Life, and Happiness from 2007-2009. However, after a lengthy period of time in which she lost creative control of her work and was informed she’d be responsible for most of the book’s marketing, Sheryl decided to take back control and forego traditional publishing, and opted to self-publish through Amazon.com’s CreateSpace.

Since making that decision, she is one of CreateSpace’s top sellers and Leashes and Lovershas been featured on popular TV and radio broadcast programs, including Animal Planet, Ambush Makeover, E!, Bravo, ABC NEWS NOW, FOXNewsChannel.com, Fox & Friends, Martha Stewart Living Radio and Sirius-XM. She also has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, FIDO Friendly, Modern Dog and Entrepreneur Magazine, among many others. Since the official launch of her book on March 31, 2010, Sheryl has been approached by news organizations and popular blogs to write ongoing columns based on her book!

As Sheryl developed her blog, she worked diligently to build relationships with pet owners through groups, events and social media. Her residual-income-generating events are in conjunction with Outward Bound and offer dogs and their owners the opportunity to enjoy day trips hiking or kayaking or even wine tasting! She also generates income through “Marketplace,” an advertising section specific to dog ownership. In this way, Matthys’ site is a one-stop trusted resource for pet owners, and a demonstrated target audience to prospective advertisers.

Sheryl is a marketing genius, to be sure, but I also admire her focus. Her product serves a small niche audience and she has leveraged that to her best advantage. Sheryl Matthys, I salute you! (You can follow her on Twitter @thedogexpert)

Writing And Blogging: “The Good Way”

Today’s guest-post will inspire bloggers and writers seeking to sharpen skills, improve clarity and have more fun! It was written by Of Parchments and Inks, a blog authored by “Brown Eyed Mystic.”

The Brown Eyed Mystic makes these observations, “You may have a reason to blog; and even if you have none, writing in a corner of your own will come to invent a reason on its own once you do it.” Personally, I think this is a true statement for all types of writers. When a first-grader writes her first story, it is this sense of achievement which plants the seed for a lifetime love of writing and story-telling.  Brown Eyed Mystic goes on to say, “You’d sure want your blog-place to be of value, even emotional value.” Maybe especially emotional value? In an effort to help us “blog the right way,” here are the suggested tips:

Ways to Blog the Good Way

1. Become focused: This is the most said one by the better bloggers out there. Becoming focused will not only help you to write something of value and usage, but also will rejuvenate your mind when you look at your creation once you’ve finished. Seriously, nothing is more pleasurable than looking at something you wrote and getting the stings of joy. Pay respect to your blog when you are engaged with it and be involved in it like you’d do with a human.
2. Write for the reader: When you write for the reader, you have a hit. People would come to you only if they sense that your writings have some inherent value. Say if you’re into crafts, you can put up your creations on your blog, and share how you did it with your readers. How-to’s are always great to read. Keep the reader in mind and then blog.
3. Serve others with fresh comments: When you read someone’s blog and like something about it, make a point to leave a comment. Leaving your trail marks this way is like making the web realize you were there. As you know, links are beneficial for your own blog too; others reading your comments have an inclination to see who has actually put up the little nugget of comment. That said, don’t spam the blogger’s comment area; you may be blocked or you won’t throw a great impression on the readers and will be, at best, ignored. Ignorance is not what you want your blog to suffer from, so be courteous and intelligent while commenting. Along with this, try to keep a track of the blogs that have gone huge, and try to place a comment in the top 5-10 placeholders in their comment’s area. You get to have more visibility that way.
4. Make commenting possible on your blog: Turn on the comments so that others can post in the area. Along with this, make sure you have a way for the readers to subscribe to new comments on your blog. This creates stickiness which allows traffic coming back to you.
5. Link the right way: Look out for any links that are no more functional, or no more relevant to your blog. Remove links that throw the notorious 404 error. Your readers and the bots on search engines will be more than happy for this act.
6. Read, and then read some more: Reading is a good habit, and it applies to blogging also. When you are planning to write a new post but lack an idea, just read others’ pieces. That doesn’t mean plagiarise, no. It means to get inspired and build up something else altogether on reading someone’s post. This happens to me a lot. Try it before your mind starts to hear the clunks of uncertainty and panic!
7. Socialize virtually: Man is a social animal. Socializing online with other bloggers not only gives you exposure, but also makes you learn more about different niches out there and about other writers’ lives. Just as in the physical world you meet someone and exchange information about you, in the virtual world you give out your website or blog address which lets people know more about you.
8. Give something away for free: Yep, an e-book is one great example. I know creating a product such as this needs time and commitment, but hey, didn’t we discuss before to keep the reader in mind? Write an e-book or make a video, give it away for free and make someone’s day
9. Include details: Do not assume that your readers know all the basics about your niche. Now it may be tempting to assume so, with so many resources out there on so many niches, but what separates you from them in that case? Are you joining the rat race and hopping on the bandwagon too? Taking small introductory things for granted is a grave mistake and will send the innocent reader to another place thatbetter  understands their needs.
10. Never say never!: Don’t get disheartened with your blog’s success. Know that you have a lot to do and to put in before expecting rainbow-colored results from your web’s corner. An upward moving traffic graph is what every writer wants, no doubt, but getting there takes time and effort investment. Don’t give up yet! Be committed to it. Make a relationship with it. Bond with it.
11. If you write in English, please write in English: I get turned off on reading blogs that have “compressed” words to save on typing/time/effort or whatever. “Words” like u, plz, or wud make me cringe. No offense to anyone, but if you are targeting mature and educated public, please show them that you care by writing real words and decently correct grammar in your blog. I’d probably stop reading much further if there’s a lot of compression and bad grammar in even an otherwise content-rich post.
12. Write in your own voice: One of Brown-eyed Mystic’s readers, Dr. Tom Bibey, commented succinctly: “About all I can add is to write in one’s own voice and not try to be anyone else. I love Mark Twain, but there was only one of him. All I can do is be the best Dr. B. I can be.” Well said.

Which one do you think is a way to blog the good way that’s missing here? Do you have a special tried and tested method to share?

Writing And Blogging Can Improve Your Health!

Last night, my husband and I were discussing the future of blogging. With so many social media outlets–most of which requiring only a sentence or less, did blogging have a future?

It’s easy to jump to “yes!”, especially if you are a writer who simply must write, or if you generate an income from your blog.

However, blogging and the web’s instant gratification has killed printed publication (but saved trees) and made what the public perceives to be bonafide journalism out of, well, the often unjournalistic, the implausible and the unresearched. We’ve actually reached a place where news can arrive in less that 140 characters–and we believe it.  Where does that leave the blogpost, with its (comparatively hefty) average of 450 characters or more?

John Khoury, CEO and founder of Liquic.com, a comprehensive online health and wellness resource encourages writers, amateur and professional alike to do it for good mental health; “Jotting down your thoughts on a daily basis will not only add some ‘me’ time to your schedule, but will unfold the writer and philosopher in you. From daily diaries to travel logs, journaling/blogging can help left and right brained people organize ideas, and boost their well-being.”

For Khoury, these are some of the most rewarding aspects of maintaining a weblog:

• Clarify your goals. By logging your thoughts, you can examine your feelings and objectives with a different set of eyes.  Blogging gives you the unique opportunity to provide yourself with feedback from the person you trust most.
• Meditate through your journal. Believe it or not, blogging can be a form of meditation. It quiets your mind, and it is as soothing as turning off all lights and sounds around you to focus on what truly matters.
• Make some time for you. Think of your blog as your personal time, where you remember and analyze all portions of your life.  You’ll be setting aside time to reflect on the best parts of your day and all your actions and feelings. Making you will feel valued and refreshed.
• Make a Decision Easier. Expressing your doubts and anxieties allows you to weigh your options.  Should you change jobs?  Should you move to a new neighborhood? Listing the pros and cons of each choice will point you to the right direction.
• Eliminate negative thoughts. Scripting all negativity in your life feels as liberating as lifting a weight off your shoulders. Venting to your friends is a good idea, but having them “in print” can help you identify your fears and get rid of ideas that only bring you down.
• Track each step of your life. Scribbling your actions keeps you aware of your mistakes and accomplishments.  It will also highlight the aspects of your life that you should be paying a bit more attention to.
• Improve your relationships. Writing will give you the opportunity to communicate your feelings towards others–and choose your words carefully.  The experience will let you value perspectives not understood before, and will provide you with patience and reasoning to deal with conflicts. You will also appreciate your family and friends more and recognize the essential role they play in your life.
• Do what makes you happy. With work and responsibilities, we end up spending most of our time pleasing others and performing mandatory tasks.  After a while, you may find it difficult to distinguish what part of the day was dedicated solely to you.  Through blogging, you will discover ways to include things you enjoy into your day: like something as simple as listening to your favorite song to grabbing lunch at your favorite spot.

What are your favorite aspects of blogging? What do you think will be the future of blogging?