Monday 27 February 2012

Do you blog for readers or writers?

I recently asked on a readers' forum about their take on author websites/blogs, if they feel inclined to visit an author's site or not, what they expect from it and what puts them off.
The answers were mixed: most would visit a website if they liked a book and wanted to find out about other works, updates on upcoming novels, etc.
Personally, I remember to have looked at Cecilia Ahern's site as well as Stephenie Meyer's and hung on every word as to how they started to write, what inspired them and their feelings about writing in general. I read with interest/disgust about Stephenie Meyer's negative experiences with trusting the wrong people, who then went ahead and posted a huge excerpt of her work in progress, Midnight Sun, Edward's point of view, which, by the way, I find so much better than Twilight itself.

Now, of course, someone like Cecilia Ahern doesn't have to go out and promote her novels, she's one lucky woman who is published with the big six and has her books made into films. For those of you, who don't know her, she's the author behind the film PS. I love you. Her website serves one purpose: give readers information about her works, what she is working on at the moment, what will be out soon. I noticed the website has FAQs and a forum, meaning it became more interactive. Fans will be able to talk to her -- whether it's really her who answers or some poor intern at Harper Collins remains a secret, but fact is, that people come to her.

Most Indie authors don't have that privilege, they are nobody in the world of publishing, they don't have a big marketing budget and their marketing will mostly circle around other Indies, which is a bit of a problem. Indies have it twice as difficult; they compete against each other trying to reach readers and are therefore constantly in readers' faces, which often backfires. They are forced to let their writing speak for itself, but how to get your writing noticed so it can touch a reader's soul? How to make a blog/website interesting for a reader? If you're an Indie with two books, there's hardly much to say and the website will most probably not be updated for a long time. A blog about writing will probably attract more writers than readers, because readers don't care about the struggles an author has; they want to read and enjoy the ready product, and rightly so.

Not too long ago, I ranted about the 'like' my page attitute Indies have and I'm still sticking with it, because it's fake. I don't want anyone to visit my facebook page because we made a 'deal'. I wish for readers who enjoyed my books popping by to find out about updates. Not because they're forced to, but because they genuinly like my work. I think this can only be achieved if authors did more writing and less promoting, they'll have a bigger chance (if the quality is up to scratch) to be discovered by readers and recommended by word of mouth, which will lead to success and therefore to visiting 'fans'.

6 comments:

  1. I stop by because you are a very cool writer. Now while I have a hard time reading novels online,I do think its neat that the internet has provided a voice to DIY artists who don't have "deals". Now you call your own shots and how well you do is totally in your control.

    and I'm now a huge Zorro fan.

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    1. Ah, good ol' flattery. :-) Hello, Michael and I love you stopping by. If you knew how right you are about the 'cool'... freezing, to be precise and I just put my heating on. lol

      I, too, think it's good to have the possibiliy of a platform. In the end, I don't know how many readers pop by without saying hello. Some write e-mails telling me how much they enjoyed the books, some tweet me and some leave comments. My take: it's there and won't do any harm. I'd like to think to have something for every one.

      Thank you for being a fan of Zorro. He's just munching on his dinner. :-)

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  2. I see you have a nice following of over 200 readers so you must be doing something right. With so many great blogs out there,its hard to really stand out without a good POV,talent or offering something useful. As for my own blog,its truly a whatever I feel like talking about,just a way to vent.
    Zorro is very big,much bigger then I thought...wouldn't want him grumpy at me...

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  3. Ah, Michael, that's not entirely correct. I will be honest here: The majority of followers are from the beginning when I played the game of I follow you and you follow me. If I would have to take a wild guess then I'd say maybe ten of my followers are actually visiting my blog regularly. The rest was just after my picture -- another follower gained and never came back again. I stopped caring about that a while ago. Of course I appreciate every new follower, especially if I interct with them on Twitter or here, dicussing things.
    I guess it's the competitve nature of people having trump others and gather as many followers as possible, like on Twitter or friends on Facebook. I couldn't care less. When I started out, I thought it's important, but figured, it's not. If people find what I write interesting enough, they will come, no 'I follow you, you have to follow me back now' necessary.

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  4. I agree. I find there to be quite a bit of "cross-pollinization" within the indie author (and would-be author) blog realms. Providing support for each other is all and good, but I do not think it translates to real readership for the most part. But everyone is told they need to "build their platform" so I guess that's what they are attempting to do.

    I actually just tweeted earlier today: "What if, instead of concentrating on growing my platform, I concentrated on writing something worth growing a platform for?"

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    1. Ah, Janie, I think I love you already.
      Perhaps what people believe (and I used to think that, too) is that publishers are impressed if you have 1000 blog followers or 2000 Twitter followers. What people don't realise is that having those followers, coming from I follow you and you follow you, doesn't actually translate to sales. It'll all look pretty, like wearing a padded wonderbra, but if you take it off...

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