a little vent about blogging

If you don't like it and find it a time suck, don't do it. You have free will. If you write a great book, no one is going to turn it down because you don't have a blog.

I love blogging--and I enjoy it because I decided not to follow the "rules" and blog about what I want when I want, no pressure. I use Wordpress, because I found it to be easy/intuitive. You can search for other blogs by subjects, the more you engage/comment the more people will find their way to your site. (also, add a link to your sig here)

Not sure why your friends have been unable to comment, they shouldn't have to have a WP blog to do so, I think signing up is minimal info, and they can subscribe through their email if they want notifications of new posts.

All this said, I don't know if it actually makes sense for you to blog if you aren't enjoying it. I never got comfortable with Twitter, but that's another route that many use and enjoy, you may want to try jumping in there. Ultimately, unless you develop a large following with numbers to attract an agent's eye, I don't think it matters when querying fiction. I've heard it's different for non-fiction, but I have 0 experience there.

Good luck with querying

Blogging is very much a tangential way for people to promote their work. It didn't start that way but the evolution of it has seen a blog as a potentially very powerful way to increase your online visibility SEO and as a promotional tool IF you are interested. It does take careful planning, work and time to do it right. It's also not an overnight kind of thing though but that shouldn't come as any kind of surprise.

So so at the end of the day yes it can be helpful. It's not the Mecca though.

If you are using Wordpress there are settings where you can allow anyone to comment. Give me a PM and I can walk you through these settings in more detail if you like.

B-girl, you mentioned being in the stable, so I'm guessing horses and perhaps other livestock. If that's one of your other passions, are you blogging about it? Just little anecdotes about animal personalities or funny things that happen with your critters are the best kind of blogging fodder. I've been blogging for ten years come September, and I think my co-blogger and I have managed to stick it out because we have a theme--our blog is about 19th century history, and we started it to talk about all the bits of cool history we dug up while researching our novels. Because it's a topic we're passionate about, we've been able to stick to it (though I won't deny that at times I'd just as soon NOT have to write a weekly post.)

I do have several Wordpress accounts (due to my sometimes diffuclt thinking) one for a book I am only the publisher, one for myself presenting myself as Author - where I post every now and then, in case I get something published (so far 3 things..)
and one where I do talk about books I have been reading and one where I am venting my opinion when I have something to say.. there is also somewhere a half hearted blog on traveling.. but none of them gets served by myself on a daily basis, nor do I post daily on twitter or on facebook. (where I also have accounts) I am am very much with Bomber Girl, but "people" keep on telling one that BLOGS are a MUST.. , so much public interest I am not sure, if really is interested in it. But anyway, as long as I do not have to pay for them blogs. ... and there wordpress is nice, and as allready said, no you do not have to have a Wordpress account to comment. Probalby you have somehow blogged Äm blocked the commentin funtion. ..

bombergirl69 said:

So, let me start by saying I dislike blogging intensely.

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You probably shouldn't do it, then. If you don't enjoy writing on your blog, people won't enjoy reading it. Should you decide to try and stick with it, there are resources (and people, even on this forum) who can give you tips to help you get started.

I am doing it because it was suggested that I needed to get active on social media if I was going to query and this seemed the easiest way.

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If you want easy social media, switch to Twitter. It's a little less complicated to "post" to and will take less time because your tweets will be shorter.

I just started with wordpress.
Is that really the best way to go?

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I find WordPress far more useful than Blogspot (which hates me) and Tumblr (which confuses me). "Best" is subjective.

I quickly found out that none of my friends or colleagues (no one I know blogs) can like or leave comments because they don't have a word press account (and no plans to get one) I'm not sure if there an easy non techy way to fix that.

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You need to go into the settings (WP Admin) and change the them to allow non-registered people to comment. I've made a picture of how you do this:

https://mrurbanspaceman.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/wp1.jpg

Just rambling I guess but I have used the "search" function to "find other blogs" and so far, have found maybe three that actually have anything to say (in which I have an interest.) I just don't have time to sit and read a bunch of blogs and then try to find something "new!!" "fresh!!" "exciting!" to get people to look.

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The best way to find blogs you're interested in is to search the tags (keywords) for example, a lot of people I know blog with "creative writing" as a tag, and look at a blog. If you like what you see, have a look at who that person is following. check out the blogs of people who are commenting on those posts. Most of the blogs I follow, I do so because they also follow blogs I like.

Once you start to Follow a few blogs, their posts will show up in your Reader. This is an incredibly useful tool which will show posts from those you follow as they come in. You can read them within the reader, which means if you're short on time, you don't even have to go to individual blogs to comment or Like.

However, if to you a blog is nothing but a means to an end, don't bother. Blogging, more than any social media, is a two-way street. The people you are Following want to know that you're not just a statistic, or trying to generate interest in your own blog; they want to know that you care enough to follow and read their blog. That you actually enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, there's zero point.

How important is this? It (to my totally goober, uneducated eye) seems like a black hole that will suck any time away from writing what I do like (fiction) If it is important, I can do it. My friend (who also cannot even like the page) and I were joking about bizarre and likely highly inappropriate blog topics and sure, I can, if I think about it, find something. But really, I'm not scaling Everest. My daily life is pretty fucking dull (and from what I can read, so are other peoples') Is this a time to pull up those bloomers, grow up and get after it? Or...not.
Just venting.

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If you want to blog about your daily life, go to Facebook. That's what it's for. Your blog can be anything. It can have a focus (Fashion. Figure Skating. Planking.) or it can be a showcase of your work (writing, photography, glass blowing, cooking, whatever) or it can be an information centre or a social hub or a series of recommendations... the world is your mollusc.

But, and this is the most important part, your blog isn't going to do your work for you. You can't just sign up and say, "I have a blog." What you actually have is a blank page. Fill it with you and the things you love, and if the thing you love is writing, fill it with dirty limericks and drabbles about planking and whatever else you take a fancy to. And you're going to have to learn how to use WordPress. Don't think of it as a blog, think of it more like an operating system. You can customise the hell out of it. Just take a look at some of the blogs of folks around here.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?1397-Have-You-Updated-Your-Blog-Today/page601

Believe me, people love animal stories. I throw in an occasional blog post about my house rabbits, and our readers love them. Plus, not all that many people know anything about taking care of large animals, so there's that too--the "wow, I didn't know that" factor. I think talking about your critters may be more compelling than personal growth stories (unless you can be sneaky and turn anecdotes about your critters into personal growth stories...)

Also, you can always use Blogger rather than WP--I think it's a little more intuitive to use than WP if all you want to do is blog (I do use WP for my website). My blog is on Blogger, and we've never had any problems with it. It's pretty good at keep out spam comments, too.

You don't need a blog. You do need a website with contact info, but that's all that's necessary.

You don't need a big social media presence, either. It's nice, and you can use Twitter for things like following agents to get an idea of what kind of match they'd be to you and your work. But again, not required.

You can change your settings for comments so anyone can comment: https://en.support.wordpress.com/who-can-comment/

Incidentally, if you have people trying to comment on your posts, you might reconsider and keep blogging. Building an audience isn't easy, so if you have one, even a small one, you're off to a really good start.

bombergirl69 said:

Oh I am not just following and sitting back. I comment on blogs. That's what I find takes time. I read and comment and like (seeing as I got that far) Okay, not very many (I don't follow many) but I really don't want to spend my whole day at my computer! I guess I never figured for an audience for my life!

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Maybe it would help you to think of Blogging as part of a writing schedule? For example, in times when I need to concentrate on writing, I set aside a small chunk of time, say 30 mins or an hour per day (usually over my lunch break) to catch up on blogs I follow and offer comments where necessary. So, even if I don't get time later, I've at least read a few blogs and caught up on some interesting posts, and I can then get back to work knowing I've done my bit.

I only follow blogs I'm really interested in, too, so that helps. I enjoy reading the posts of those I follow, because it's often food for thought.

I tend to set aside a day and try to write all my posts for the month (that's usually four--I post on Tuesdays and my blogger partner does Fridays). It prevents that, "Oh crap, it's Monday night and I need a blog post for tomorrow" panic.

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I tend to set aside a day and try to write all my posts for the month (that's usually four--I post on Tuesdays and my blogger partner does Fridays). It prevents that, "Oh crap, it's Monday night and I need a blog post for tomorrow" panic.

I'd totally read about animals. Not only because it's animals, but also because I'd much rather read about animals than about some random stranger's ordinary life.

I read something recently that said the time of blogging for the purposes of promotion has actually been replaced by the advent of Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

I only do it because every once in awhile, someone tells me they like what I've written and I'm nothing if not a praise junky.

You don't have to blog or use Facebook if you don't want to, particularly if you're planning on trade publishing.

If you're self-publishing they can be more important.

I would suggest reserving your domain, one based on the name you plan to publish under.

Marissa D said:

I tend to set aside a day and try to write all my posts for the month (that's usually four--I post on Tuesdays and my blogger partner does Fridays). It prevents that, "Oh crap, it's Monday night and I need a blog post for tomorrow" panic.

- - - Updated - - -

I tend to set aside a day and try to write all my posts for the month (that's usually four--I post on Tuesdays and my blogger partner does Fridays). It prevents that, "Oh crap, it's Monday night and I need a blog post for tomorrow" panic.

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THIS!!!

I actively blogged for about a decade and getting your posts "in the can" is the only way to blog imho. The key with blogging is consistency. Don't bite off more than you can chew, and think about what it is you want to accomplish with your blog. Is the goal to share stories with the world or to add a layer of social visibility? Blogging started as a way to share stories with the world, your own personal diary, thoughts, etc. but because of how it handles content, it was quickly discovered that blogging, specifically Wordpress, breaks out the content from the rest of the markup (HTML, CSS, etc.) and reports very well for search engine optimization.

So, people started adding blogs to their primary websites.

Then, Wordpress started to add additional flexibility so that an entire website could be developed around that platform. You can now add widgets (little boxes that sit to the left, right, above, or below the main content), customize themes (the way your blog looks and feels), and even add additional functionality through the use of plugins (there are tons of free plugins you can add).

The most common Wordpress setup is the free one, so when going this route keep in mind that your widgets, themes and plugin accessibility will be limited. That's ok because there are plenty in the free version. If you ever want to expand, it's very easy to buy a domain, and shift everything over to manage on your own through the use of redirects. So, don't worry about all the advanced stuff for now. Here's my suggestion:

1. Decide what you want the goal of the blog to be.
2. Pick a theme
3. Set it up (get help - again, feel free to PM fellow AW'ers that have offered their support/assistance)
4. Set a schedule and don't be too adventurous - you can always add more later, but if you start heavy then taper off, readers get bummed...

I find most bloggers could do very well with a schedule of once a week. Make it consistent though:

Every Monday at 8am or every Friday at 5pm or every Wednesday at 3pm - whatever. It really doesn't matter what day you pick initially...only serious bloggers who are in it for monetization, with newsletters, email lists, and advertising for things like podcasts start getting into the minutia of when most people do their blog reading.

When you first get started, a lot of the more technical stuff really doesn't matter as much - just do the above 4 steps and you're off!

Several people PM'd me about opening up commenting on your WP blog, so part of the message I sent with the OP I am also posting here for everyone's benefit:

Here's the full arena:
A. Default Article settings
1. Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article
2. Allow link notifications from other blogs
3. Allow people to comment on new articles

B. Other comment Settings
1. Comment author must fill out name and email
2. Users must be registered and logged in to comment
3. Automatically close comments on articles older than X days
3. Enable threaded comments
4. Break comments into pages

C. Email me Whenever
1. Anyone posts a comment
2. A comment is held for moderation

D. Before a comment appears
1. Comment must be approved manually
2. Comment author must have a previously approved comment

E. Comment Moderation
Hold a comment in the queue if it contains X or more links

*****
To allow non-WP users to comment, check only the following:
A3, and B1

*****
For security, (if your blog becomes popular or you start getting tons of comments) consider implementing:

B3, B4 and B5

*****
If you start getting a bunch of spammy comments, then consider adding:
C2 and D1 - So, this means that you need to manually approve all comments before they will appear

Just my 2¢ in a world where pennies are meaningless... LOL

Spaceman's pic he shared is worth referencing too...

And I posted a link to the instructions for comment settings, though apparently no one managed to see it. You could also use that page to find any other settings or help you need for WordPress.com sites.

https://en.support.wordpress.com/who-can-comment/

JJ Litke said:

You don't need a blog. You do need a website with contact info, but that's all that's necessary.

You don't need a big social media presence, either. It's nice, and you can use Twitter for things like following agents to get an idea of what kind of match they'd be to you and your work. But again, not required.

You can change your settings for comments so anyone can comment: https://en.support.wordpress.com/who-can-comment/

Incidentally, if you have people trying to comment on your posts, you might reconsider and keep blogging. Building an audience isn't easy, so if you have one, even a small one, you're off to a really good start.

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JJ Litke said:

And I posted a link to the instructions for comment settings, though apparently no one managed to see it. You could also use that page to find any other settings or help you need for WordPress.com sites.

https://en.support.wordpress.com/who-can-comment/

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100% right - apologies, I missed it entirely amongst the longer posts from the thread (about half of which were mine - LOL)...good spot!

CBJason said:

100% right - apologies, I missed it entirely amongst the longer posts from the thread (about half of which were mine - LOL)...good spot!

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Lol, the thread went fast at first, with a number of posts showing up in rapid succession.

The biggest pain with WordPress is finding current info--it's changed so much over time, and there's so much outdated info that still comes up in search results. That frustrates newcomers a lot.

Very true - WP is currently at 4.7.2 as of this writing (3/5/17)...I remember when it was still in its infancy at version 1.x - so much has changed!

Toward that end, I've actually been debating setting up a Wordpress blog about Wordpress because the open source community is so woefully lacking in keeping current, but it's so hard to compete in that space. Also, the domain I wanted is gone.

In keeping with that, Jane Friedman did a write-up on blogging and writers on her site here which I think might be useful. In part she says:

I encourage new bloggers, just the way I always have. It’s an excellent way to find expression, discipline, and experience. But if writers already have experience, and they are authors trying to promote themselves and their work, I tell them to steer clear. If they’ve already found themselves sucked into the blogging vortex, I suggest they might want to give it up and begin writing for larger platforms that don’t require reciprocity (an exhausting aspect to blogging and a big drain on the writer’s energy and time).

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I blog when and how I want, whether it's about writing, art, politics, etc. But the blog is primarily there for my use as an ongoing journal, followed by a few writing & art PSAs and how-to articles. I don't necessarily chase or even need reciprocity.

I bought my own domains back in 2012, and use Wordpress. It works for me.

You can let unregistered visitors comment on Blogger, is there really no way to do this on Wordpress?

Blogging does not need to be a core. If you have the page that lists your books and content details, the associate blog doesn't need to contain anything more than announcements of new releases.