Gnu Writer Speaks: It’s a Start

Picture a NY street scene.  Not 5^th Ave.  A down market neighborhood with people talking on the stoops of brownstones and kids in the street playing stick ball.  It’s not your neighborhood but you keep showing up.  You don’t cause trouble and you may even throw the ball back into play if it rolls under a car near you.  You’re there and you get noticed.  Eventually, someone will make an opening remark that leads you into a conversation.  Before you know it, you’re part of the scene.

We have been told to hang out in the blogosphere and be patient.  Don’t do anything offensive and look for the opportunity to throw the ball back into play by posting a comment that is relevant and helpful.

I have been doing this for several months and, guess what?  Someone finally commented on my post and we had a short conversation.  She was in Alaska.  I am in Florida.  Does it matter?  Not in the least.  We had touched on a subject of mutual interest and rolled it around a little.  Nothing heavy.  The only significance is that the dialog has begun.  It’s a start.  Huzzah!

Gnu Writer Speaks: Blog Crawling

If you sign on with a traditional print publisher, the standard package normally has the publisher making various marketing and promotional arrangements to get some ‘buzz’ going.  If you self-publish, either in print or as an ebook, you must get out there and generate your own ‘buzz’.  A high-potential way to create buzz for your book in the electronic universe is to get into the blogosphere and engage in enough give-and-take to become part of the online community.  This takes time and diligence.

Where to start?  Googling ‘writer’s blogs’ will bring some starting lists like www.writersdigest.com/blogs or www.copyblogger.com or www.writingwhitepapers.com.  Then, it is a matter of opening and reading blogs until you find the ones you related to and posting your comments.  Eventually, you will get bounce backs to your site and, voila!, the dialog has begun.

As with other net activities, etiquette is involved.  Make posts relevant to the original blog post.  No overt ‘sell’.  No airhead generalities like, ‘Nice blog, thanks.’  (Those are spotted in a New York minute and can get you blackballed).  You are there to start a conversation.  Patience is a virtue.  There is no immediate payoff.  You are building a following and that takes time.