Meta Blog
My teenage daughter loves meta everything — commercials about commercials, books about writers, she even has a t-shirt that says “This is my hipster t-shirt”. So, I thought I would be meta today and write a blog about blogs.
Blogging and reading blogs has become an integral part of being an author
A good number of authors have their own blogs. Most are about their own work, sort of a “see what I’m doing now” or “lets get close and personal with my characters” sort of thing.
This is great! I love getting to know characters better and finding out more about what’s happening in my favorite authors’ lives. And having a reader-centric blog is also a really good marketing tool. Readers love them and they help sell your books. I think it’s a win-all-around situation.
But the one thing I notice about blogs like that is that they’re written sporadically — whenever the author has something to report or feel the need to push one of their books, or even a series. So how do readers know when to go back for the next installment?
And then there are blogs by authors and other publishing professionals meant for writers (like this one). Naturally, these are the ones I read most. Like Writer Unboxed, Romance University, Anne R. Allen’s blog, Terrible Minds by Chuck Wendig, The Book Designer and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, to name a few of my favorites. Each one has its area of specialty where you can learn an amazing amount.
If you go over to these blogs, you’ll also notice something else — they blog regularly either every day, once a week, or on some other schedule. But the point is, there is a schedule. I know that, at the very least, every week I’m going to get a new posting to read. This is really important.
If your readers know you’re going to be there, they’ll keep coming back.
You know that I’m going to post a new blog every weekend (I try to get it up on Saturday, sometimes life intrudes and it’s not up until Sunday). I do so without fail every single week. Even when I’m away for whatever reason, I always make sure that there’s going to be a new posting every week for you guys to read, and hopefully, enjoy if not learn from. And here’s the really amazing thing — I’ve been doing this since October of 2011! Yes! Nearly two and a half years! Holy Cow! This is my 128th post! If you’ve been with me the whole time, THANK YOU! If you’re new to my blog, THANK YOU for coming, for stopping by, for taking a moment of your day to read what I have to say.
It’s not always easy to figure out what to write (any guidance you can give on topics you’d like to see me cover would be greatly appreciated) but you know that I will always be here to write about something (hopefully something interesting to you). But the message here is to write… consistently… regularly.
Write a blog.
Do it on a regular schedule — whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly. And let your readers know what that schedule is so that they know when to come back.
Write on something that interests you. Something you would want to read. If you don’t, you won’t keep it up. You won’t get to the moment I just had where you realize that you’ve been posting to your blog for so long.
I love writing this blog (even though I sometimes have trouble thinking of what to write) and I hope that you enjoy reading it (and don’t mind putting up with my, sometimes, cringe-worthy grammar).
I know you all are not big on writing comments (that’s ok), but if there’s anything you’d like me to write about, tell me, and if there is a blog that you love reading, share it — I’m always very happy to have another blog to read on a regular basis and I’m sure other readers wouldn’t mind getting some recommendations as well. Please share, thanks!
