From the archives . . .

cj Sez: June22, 2009    That was the date I clicked“publish” on my first Lyrical Pens post. Fourteen-years ago. Wow.

As if
  You can click on the date to read my amateureffort, not that I now consider myself a pro by any stretch of the imagination.My first (and only) encouraging commenter for that post was Joyce Scarbrough ( https://www.facebook.com/joycescarbroughbooks/) … Thank you, Joyce.
  Lyrical Pens was created as a marketing tool forthree, unpublished, writing/critique-group buddies (Mahala Church, TracyHurley, and me) who wanted to “get our names out there.” Mahala and Tracy hadjust co-founded the Mobile Writers’ Guild, and I had joined them as a chartermember and Secretary…or maybe that was Treasurer (faulty memory). Go-getterTracy worked through the technical part of building the perfect website. Sadly,Tracy died in 2010—way too young—andMahala and I carried on. Today, where once there were three bloggers, there isnow one. Mahala retired from the site in 2016.
  After fourteen years, I think I have enough bloggingexperience to offer two observations for new bloggers:

  First one comes with a caveat: “To thine own selfbe true.” 
  That is to say, identify your goal for the blog and write your postswith that in mind.
  Do you want to share tidbits of personal data as away to grow your relationship with fans and readers? Do you want to shareprofessional writing info to appeal to fellow authors? Maybe it’s a combinationof both, which is where Lyrical Pens sits, although it does lean more towardthe professional writing information.

  S

econd: A blog is a great (and cheap) way to marketyour works and build an author brand. And if/when you're published, link your posts to your author Facebookpage, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, BookBub, et al. Be sure to embed buy links and booktrailers. 
  Did you notice I wrote “author Facebook page?” Ihave two FB pages, one for personal notes and one for author stuff. The coverpage is different for each site. Your personal social media followers aren’tthere for sales pitches. They want to share conversations with the personbehind the writerly persona. Keep the advertising low-key on your personal, andpossibly private, site. A new book notice or a sale reminder is fine, but heavyslugs of “Buy My Book” advertising in every post just might drive away some ofyour new Friends. Some of your old friends, too.

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  My life-time motto/goal is to “learn something new everyday,” and the learning continues. Today’s new something is the word “hypertufa.”I knew what it was, but I didn’t know the correct word for it. How cool is that!
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  That’s it for this week’s post. You-all guys keepon keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy andsafe summer…with lots of time for reading!

cj

   My booksare available on Amazon or through your favorite eTailer and bookstore. Got alibrary card? You can read the ebooks free from Hoopla.
  Little note: TheHaunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER,contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  If she happens to be out, I also have a smallstash. Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in herown right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you any book(s) byany author of your choice.
➜ Follow me on . . .  ➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6