anyone has experience with co-op blogs?

All I can say is, you should probably get people together that you actually know. I wouldn't just jump in with some random people for the sake of promoting. I would talk with some authors you are familiar with and see if they're interested.

I would suggest two things. One is, go for a smaller group of people you are sure will be active and have an up front activity requirement, like a post every two months--which if not met gets you automatically dropped from the blog. The other is that although the goal of the blog is book promotion, that cannot be the subject of the blog unless one of the authors is a bestseller. People tend to tune out promotional material.

In order to actually have readers, and so be effective and worth the time you put into it, the blog has to have a hook. There has to be a reason for people to want to read it. I would suggest picking a subject related to your books--like regional events related to writing and books. Then your promotion fits in, but the blog has a wider appeal.

Make sure everyone is active. I was part of one and after a while it pretty much became "The Q Show! With special guest...a bunch of other people who don't post."

Yes, I think that is the most common outcome.

Hey! You're in Halifax! Cool beans!

I'm currently involved in a group blog of aspiring YA writers. None of us are published but we try to post things that would be of interest both to YA readers and to aspiring writers.

I think the two key issues, which people have already touched on, are content and commitment. Personally, I like having a schedule sent to me so that I know when I'm expected to post. Without scheduling, you run the risks of having jam-packed weeks followed by the sound of crickets chirruping.

I assume you're talking regional books as in the ones put out by the small presses that are of regional interest? 1001 Nova Scotian Sea Disasters, and the like? You could try contacting the local presses to see if some of them would be interested in contributing and/or whether or not they could send some sort of request to their authors on your behalf.

Hi--This thread petered out a few weeks ago, but I'll chime in anyway...

I had the privilege of joining The Debutante Ball group blog this year, and it was set up really, really well. It's four years old, and every year a different group of five female debut authors are chosen to become the new "debs."

Each deb has a weekday that they post; Saturdays are for guest posts; Sundays is "news." There is also a topic specified for each week, with a mix of seasonal topics, personal, creative aspects of writing, and the business of publishing.

When we started as the new year of debs in September, we each chose our posting day (I'm Monday) and our "jobs" (I'm responsible for those weekly topics, while the others manage guests and news and whatnot). We have a good core audience, many of whom are book bloggers.

I think it's a wonderfully designed blog, and I'm proud to be part of it. You can click the link in my sig to check it out.

Another option is a blog alliance, where people who already have blogs agree to respond to comments on the blogs of others in the alliance, provide guest postings, etc. I've got an article about this in one of my recent newsletters and will forward it to you if you send me a note offline to [email protected].

Also...The Debutante Ball blog sounds great -- I'll have to check that out. Thanks, Emily!

Cheers,
Sandy

As a few others have mentioned, a blog hook is really important. Why should visitors come to your blog over all the 2 million other blogs just like it?

Activity is also really, really important. I've done many blogs with many different levels of activity and from different participants. The blogs that do the best (and are therefore worth your time and energy) are ones where you (or someone) posts every single day. I've tried to get away with weekly and/or monthly posts and heavily advertise "these are the days I post each month/week" and it has never done as well as daily.

I'd also recommend having a defined list of topics you cover. Will you post a weekly review? If so, pick a day of the week where you post reviews and stick to it. Perhaps you post a craft article on Mondays and have a guest blogger on Wednesdays. All of this gives your blog structure which readers seem to like and you'll like further down the road when you're having to figure out what to blog about seeing as how you've blogged every day for the last 437 days.

Find people who are dedicated to your cause...the blog. Use the blog as a promotional tool in that you offer a great blog that isn't all about you, you, you and your book, book, book. Offer something first. Something useful. Articles. Reviews. Recommendations. Occasionally mention you and your book. In other words, don't make every post and every square inch of screen real estate a promotion for your book.

Consider a smaller core group with open invitations to a larger group of authors. With a smaller core group you will have to post more often but you could perhaps have monthly guest columnists...people who have a standing date they show up to your blog with a post ready.

Start a schedule early and make sure all group members are aware of it.

Encourage group members to schedule (as in post to your blog) blog posts well in advance. This gives you flexibility and will ease stress in the long run.

Delegate. Have one person in charge of reviews. Another in charge of guest bloggers and so on.

I've been thinking more and more about the alliance Sandy mentions and they're a really great idea. I know of one group who does this and it's working out famously for them.

Hope that helps!
Ally