Got Some Suggestions?

Ricardo Salepas

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Hey guys,

Ricardo here. I've been doing a bit of research into a couple things for my book I'm writing, and one thing that kept coming up was building an audience.
Upon further research I saw that starting a blog about my book would help with this.

Here are my question:

Would it really be a good idea to start a blog about my book? Characters, inspiration for it, world, things like that.

I know I'm still a long ways off getting my book finished, but I want to create excitement so people will know about it when I publish. I've started a few blogs before this and they've all inevitably failed, any advice as to how to stop it from going belly up?

Any help at all regarding this would be greatly appreciated.
 

PiaSophia

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Hi, Ricardo.

I think starting a blog about your book, talking about characters, inspiration for your book, world, etc. is not a bad idea. It will probably help you in your creative process and might spark inspiration where you didn't think you would have it.
I would, however, ask yourself what you want to get out of this blog. My own experience with blogging is that it's incredibly hard to find an audience if you're not remotely known on the Internet as is. So if you want a ton of feedback and/or interaction with your readers, I don't know if this is going to turn out you may expect it to. If you want to use this blog more for yourself and your writing process, I think it can be very beneficial!
 

Ricardo Salepas

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Hi Pia,

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I know having a blog and getting viewers is extremely tough. What I was thinking of doing was creating one, and also sharing it on other media platforms like Facebook and places like that to gain a bit more traction.

I don't necessarily think I need more inspiration at this point in time, it's purely to try get more people to know about my book I'm working on.

If I was looking at getting an audience going to try and create excitement, would you recommend using other social media other than a blog?
 

PiaSophia

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Hmm, yeah, I don't feel like putting up a blog really creates excitement to a large audience. Maybe if you'd post something every day, at least. And send out newsletters, be very active on social media (FB, Instagram, Twitter?) that it would work. But just putting a blog out there to create excitement without doing anything else won't work, I'm afraid.
 

Ricardo Salepas

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Okay great thanks for the help.
So looks like the best way to create some traffic for it would be to do everything via FB. That makes more sense for what I'm looking for.
I'll do some research into that route. I've still got a long time before this book is close to finishing though so there's no rush to get anything else started right now.
Thanks again for the insight it really helped!
 

Chris P

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If the blog is worth it for the sake of doing it, and the blog offers value to the reader, then go for it. That's my advice: make the blog itself worth it for you and the reader.

However, if you're doing it to build a platform I think it's going to be a lot of work with not much payoff. Why? Because unless the blog itself is the product you do not yet have any product--just the concept--to promote. Why would I follow a blog that solely promotes a product I can't buy? My interest if going to flag pretty quickly on that. Platform matters much less in fiction than non-fiction in any case. If you plan on self publishing then it makes more sense, but if you are going the agent/publisher route they will develop the marketing and publicity plan for/with you, and the messaging on the blog might complicate that.
 

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We have an entire subforum about blogging. Moving this thread there now.
 

Barbara R.

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Don't do it. Use that time and creative energy to finish your novel, not postpone it.

Honestly, no one but your mother cares about the origin story of your novel, and even she is just pretending. The results are what matter, not the process.

When you get close to finishing, you might spend a day or so upgrading your social media presence. Agents and editors want to see some ability to connect with potential readers, so you want to have a Twitter presence, a FB page, Instagram...not necessarily all, just the ones that float your boat. You don't have to show that you have a huge following, though it's certainly helpful if you do. But just being accessible is important. You can include a blog or author's website in the mix, but I'd think carefully about committing to a blog---they are huge time-sucks, and if they're just about your book, no one is going to read them. If you have expertise in other things that might draw readers in, it's worth considering. E.G., I started a blog a long time ago, but even though promotion is the goal, I rarely write about my own work. Instead I write about things that are useful to other writers, drawn from my years as an editor and literary agent. It's not very active now, but when it was, it developed a large following. But I have no idea if or to what extent that interest translated into book sales. My guess would be not much.

At a certain point in the long process of writing a novel, most writers get urges to do other things, any other things: refinish the wood floors, seal the driveway, reorganize the spice cupboard, start a blog...Try to resist them all, but if you can't, the first three are at least productive.
 

Woollybear

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hey Ricardo,

What do you personally enjoy as a consumer of blogs? And what annoys you about blogs?

Use that to guide your own.

I try to blog periodically (like three times a year) just to establish that I've been "a person doing things" for a while. I try to make my blog posts something that is unique to me -- nothing generic, but whatever I think I can bring to the topic of writing a novel that is a slant on the boatloads of other blogs out there. Since I'm writing eco-fiction, my blog posts usually have to do with nature. Some science. The writing part is minimal in the posts, but usually gets a nod.

No one reads my blog, and I don't expect anyone to. I don't read blogs, unless I'm researching something like 'how to write a query letter.'

Still, it's possible that someday someone will be curious about my blog, and at that point they'll be able to go back through a half dozen posts. If they want. It's like a photo album.

I'd say decide what you like and dislike about blogs and go from there.
 

Ricardo Salepas

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Okay well to start, I'm writing a fantasy novel. So fiction. I work on it whenever inspiration hits me or whenever I get the time. You could say it's my hobby right now, with the final goal of it all to self-publish.
Self-publishing seems the easiest to me as I don't have the finances to go the actual hardcover route. I'm okay with that at this stage though seeing as it is my first writing project I feel the most invested in. Right now even though it would be nice to sell my e-book when the time comes, it's more about actually having something out there to say that I've done it. I've completed it.
I'm in it more for the recognition of becoming an author (successful or not) and being able to say "Oh hey yeah that's my book!"

Barbara R is very right in saying that during the writing process you get distracted and want to do other things. So I do need to keep my head down and work on this behemoth task I've set for myself.

To answer your question Patty, it's not so much the fact that I want to blog, I've read online that it would be a good idea to start building a reader base and audience through it. I've tried it for various other things I'm passionate about in the past but they've flunked because I just completely run out of time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like the idea of it. Putting down all my thoughts and throwing caution to the wind while doing so. It'd be nice to get people to notice my book once I'm done, but I don't really know what the best route to take would be, especially since I'm self-publishing and under monetary strain.

I don't know if I'm being ridiculous thinking so far ahead because honestly It's going to take a while to finish and haven't quite seen that bridge yet.
So that's where I am at the moment.
Sorry for the long one, I only now thought I may as well bring you guys into the mess that is my very cluttered mind lol.
 

Laer Carroll

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A web site is an absolute necessity for a professional writer nowadays. But it's useless as a publicity device. So are the social websites such as Facebook or Twitter. THE ONLY THING THAT SELLS BOOKS ARE BOOKS.

When your first book is published is when you need a personal site. It is totally under your control & a central place for your growing fan base to come to find out about your new and up-coming books. And get a little bit of background perhaps on your characters and their settings.

Start the site now, just a very basic one. Then when you do have time from writing your book(s) you can slowly build it to reflect your unique brand. It takes time to learn the technical and (more importantly) the artistic side of building an interesting and useful site. Start it before you need it.

Newbies don't like to hear this. "Surely my genius will be instantly recognized and I will soon be rich and famous." Nope.

The best advice I've come across on using the web to promote your books is on AW. This from an engineer whose obsessive about researching EVERY DAMNED THING about any subject.

How to promote your book like an intelligent human being and not an SEO Dweeb

THIS IS A CORRECTED LINK. Please follow it not the bad one.
 
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BPhillipYork

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I think if you're going to write a blog you need to think of a way to promote that. So you end up promoting something that's promoting something else. And you've said you don't have your novel finished yet. So if you're talking about characters or an inspiration for an unfinished novel, what is there for a reader really to connect with?

So find a way to add value. Maybe talk about the characters in terms or writing, why this character is or isn't effective. Then you're talking about something else, but in the context of your novel. If you do this then you can go about promoting it on social media, like pinterest or something like that. If you write a blog about protagonists and talk about your protagonist in it then people who are solely interested in writing might become interested in your theories or ideas and get interested in your blog, and ultimately, your novel, that way.