Recently, an agent wrote that blogging could be a waste of time for fiction writers. What she said made sense. Then I found dissenting opinions. They made sense as well. What's a fiction writer to do?
The Arguments Against Blogging
1) The blogosphere is too crowded, so the average writer will never generate impressive traffic.
I seem to have plateaued at about 1,500 visitors a month, my number of subscribers increases by about 20 a month -- I now have 102. I won't be impressing anyone.
2) It's time consuming.
I spend four to eight hours on each blog -- time I could be spending finishing my novel.
3) If you blog about writing, your audience is writers, not readers.
Hmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, right, in my own blog. And yeah, most of my traffic is from writers. A former agent I spoke to said I should focus on blogging about topics covered in my novel, namely dating and single life. He said I should be forming alliances with dating sites. I've taken some of his advice, but I'm afraid my traffic numbers will drop! (I watch my traffic numbers the way a cardiologist watches an EKG.)
Things I could be doing instead of blogging
- Trying Twitter, Yet Again
I can't stand Twitter, it seems to be a real waste of time, a torrent of crap. But it also seems to offer the best option for connecting to potential readers and, more importantly, people who can influence a lot of potential readers. So, I'm going to focus on connecting with people with clout in subjects of interest to my potential readers: travel, singles and dating, humor.
- Applying for Fellowships at Writers Colonies and Grants.
I'm guessing a fellowship at Yaddo or the MacDowell Colony would be more impressive than having 2,000 Facebook Fans. Here's a short list of writers colonies and a longer searchable list of Writers Colonies.
- Posting and Commenting in Forums and on Blogs Frequented by Potential Readers.
- Blogging about Topics of Interest to Potential Readers.
- Finishing my novel
(Have I said this a dozen times already?)
The Arguments for Blogging (At Least in My Case)
1) It builds the resume
I've gotten freelance job offers that I've had to pass on to friends because I working on my novel. Eventually, I'm going to for another Web marketing/Web writing job, so I'll have a body of work to show.
2) I enjoy it.
3) According to this post by indie writer Yesenia Vargas, some readers of a blog about writing, may buy your novel. If people like you're non-fiction writing, they may try your fiction.
4) I may self-publish an e-book for writers about one writer's experiences in book marketing hell.
5) I'm still hoping for the serendipitous event: Some agent spots one of my blogs in a forum or Linked In group, comes to my blog, sees my other stuff and...
What I'm Going to Do Differently (at least for right now)
- My blog covers multiple topics -- writing and topics of interest to potential readers. To target the audiences separate, I plan to capture e-mail addresses for different mailing lists using newsletter sign-up boxes at the end of individual articles. Once I get enough names, I send out short, monthly newsletters that cater to readers' interests.
- Post short audios of me reading from my novel. In the past my videos and audios have generated a fair amount of traffic and these will cater to my specific audiences. For a sample, here's an excerpt called, "The Day I Almost Became Gay." (This piece carries content warnings for prescription drug abuse and men kissing on the lips.)
*Full disclosure: I have time to experiment because I'm not working. I quit a contract gig in April to finish my novel. I drive a 20-year-old car held together with Bondo and will likely need to find a part time job in April.
*Distorted face image at top of blog by Miguel Angel Pasalodos
Can't Get Enough Book Marketing?
- Book Marketing: Seven Month Progress Report
- Book Marketing for Nitwits: SEO
- How Writers Can Earn a Living
(Content warning: men eating lightbulbs, being run over by cars, hit with sledge hammers.)
9 comments:
I came to that conclusion awhile back, and quit blogging AS MUCH. I still blog, but I don't really anticipate that my blog will bring a lot of traffic for my book. I didn't really have regular followers anyway. However, for people who want to know more about you and your process. (You know, those things we call fans!) It is a neat place to connect with them. It is also a convenient way to put together my own "press release" and announcements about my books et. al. and then pass that around on my social media outlets.
Chicangell: thanks for confirmation that I'm not going insane! I'm thinking of cutting my blogging in half and focusing on other promotion stuff.
I'm so glad that agents like Rachelle Gardner are backing off the dictum that "every author must have a wildly successful blog." A year ago she was saying if you don't get 15K-20K hits a month on your blog, you have no chance of ever getting a novel published.
But you're still right that having a blog is going to get you noticed more than not having a blog. Yes, too many of us are already writing for other writers, but writers also read. in face, sometimes i think more people write than read :-)
I agree that the blogosphere is pretty saturated and there's not as much chance of starting a break-out blog today as there was 3 years ago, but still, an author who has an interactive Web presence, even if he only updates once a month, is more likely to reach readers than somebody sitting in his mom's basement pounding out novels on an old Smith-Corona and sending snail mail query letters to agents.
Anne: Thanks for reality check. I could have sworn Rachelle and others were exhorting writers to blog and Tweet and Friend. Over the years, I attended a bunch of writers' conferences and they all had tracks on platform building. There would always be some expert going on and on about how much fun Twitter was and how they only spent 30 minutes a day, but still had tens of thousands of followers. Most of these people started years ago and had no idea what it was like to start out now.
Let's do a reality check... Agents said that prospective authors need to blog, so everyone took their advice and started blogging and now the agents say that there are too many blogs? And we rely on and trust and need these people because...?
because they're the only ticket to a big New York publisher? Perhaps, they're following the lead of legacy publishers who are as lost as the rest of us? (I thought that having a decent platform might give me a leg up when my query letter crossed an agents desk. So, I've been building a platform with very modest success. Best advice seems to be: write a good book. Then write another one. If you're a writer that's what you do. Once I'm done with this one, not sure I'll jump right in and start another. Maybe I'm not a real writer. (I have friends who write one book after the other, sometimes they query an agent, sometimes they don't. but they always start a new one regardless.)
OK, so there are these people who can make us jump through blue hoops this year and green ones next year because they have power. That makes us performing monkeys. We don't need "professionals" who can't tell a good book when they see it, but prefer to judge a book by the packaging of thousands of imaginary friends. Forget the platform, I wanted to write books, and I shall do just that and bypass the "experts". KindleNook, here I come... ;-)
I can't help but think that the writers who are spending a lot of time on social media and blogging every day don't have full-time jobs.
Anyone heard anything in particular about BookBaby? I talked to one of their marketing people at the Boston Book Festival, and am thinking of self-publishing with them.
I don't have a full time job! (And I'm only blogging once a week, cutting back to three times a month.)
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