Blogging Tips

typewriter

Should All Authors Blog?

Ten years ago, the standard wisdom was that authors, both fiction and non-fiction, should have blogs in order to gather an audience and build relationships with readers. Now, not so much. As social media and online marketing have evolved, my thoughts on blogging have changed. I think each author needs to carefully consider whether blogging is…
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To Blog or Not To Blog, That is the Question

Standard wisdom used to be that authors, both fiction and non-fiction, should build relationships with readers through blogs. As social media and online marketing have evolved, my thoughts on blogging have changed. The proliferation of blogs in the last ten years has made it increasingly difficult to stand out in the crowd. Many authors are blogging faithfully but…
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Blog

Blogs I Follow

I’m an avid reader of blogs. I have dozens in my Google Reader and I take the opportunity to read, especially on my phone or iPad, whenever I have a few moments to spare. I’ve been asked numerous times to share the blogs I read, so here is a sampling. My list might be a…
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Tape over mouth

What NOT To Blog About

Yesterday on the blog, we discussed online presence, and what our social media activity tells the world about us. Today I want to get a little more specific and highlight a few online no-nos. It can be easy to fall into a “letting it all hang out” mindset with blogging and social media, but from…
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light bulb

Possibly the Best Blogging Tip Ever

My post last Friday received the highest number of comments I’ve ever had on a single post (over 500). It was not because it was such a great post. Rather, I think it was because: 1) The post gave helpful information, but most importantly, it was about the reader — not about me. 2) The post…
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13 Simple Tips for a Better Blog

I was talking with a client who has a book releasing in about a year, and she was concerned about how to begin building her blog and increasing the traffic. At the moment she doesn’t have a great deal of time to devote to it, since she is still writing her book. We brainstormed and…
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little boy with laptop

When Do You Read Blogs?

I’ve been writing this blog for three-and-a-half years and this whole time, I’ve been on a Monday through Friday blogging schedule. So now I’m experimenting with posting on weekends, too, which I think will give me more time for some fun stuff like comics and questions and polls and contests and videos. But I’m wondering if…
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Vlogging, Anyone?

Guest Blogger: Jennifer Wilkov Society loves moving pictures. Movies and television have been around for a long time, but then along came the Internet—and YouTube is right up there with Google and Facebook as the most visited websites in the world. Vlogging, or video blogging, is a great way for you as an author to…
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What’s Your Blog Identity?

A WordServe client wrote me: I’m always trying to figure out what magic widget I need to put on my blog and my website to encourage people to be followers. It would be a HUGE BENEFIT to clients if you could get some techie to give a clear easy answer to this: best practices for…
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Blogs We Don’t Like

Somebody asked me recently, “What turns you off in writers’ blogs?” They wanted to know if there were certain things I saw that would make me not want to represent someone, or at least make me wonder whether I should. So I thought about it, and here are a few of my answers: → A…
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Q4U: It’s a Blog’s Life

I’ve been thinking about all these publishing blogs, and why we read them. (Yes, I read them too.) I’m interested in hearing your perspectives on the blogs. Feel free to answer any of these questions: What are your primary reasons for reading the blogs? How often do you read blogs? How often do you comment?…
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Social Networking in 15 Minutes a Day

A lot of people wonder how they can do all the online networking they’re “supposed” to do without it completely draining all their time and energy. Well, I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve developed a strategy that works for me, so I thought I’d share it with you. Blog 1. I write my…
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My Comment Policy

One of the most helpful blog posts I’ve read in awhile was yesterday on Michael Hyatt’s blog: 8 Blog Tips from Tim Ferriss. I’m going to try harder to put some of the tips into practice. But it was tip #6 that really got me thinking and re-examining. “Practice zero tolerance for negative comments.” I’ve…
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Do You Need a Blog Mentor?

Yesterday I was talking to one of my clients, the uber-talented Patricia Raybon, about building an online presence and using blogging and social networking to build a platform (all the things we’ve been discussing on the blog lately). She said she’d been reading all the recommended websites about blogging, and even got the book Blogging…
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