Today, I reached a goal and that was to have forty followers by midnight. If you have a facebook or twitter account, or are part of a big community, it is not a problem to find some followers and every time I have a new one, my heart jumps a tiny bit. Especially, if the new person appears out of nowhere, because it seems I have posted about something someone found interesting.
I've said on several occasions I could easily live without blogger, twitter and facebook, for it eats a lot of time, but I now have somehow found a little love for the ability to post about what is going on in my life. Not only when it comes to writing, but also when it comes to my iguana and the mission to inform people about these wonderful creatures.
In addition to that, blogging is a great marketing-tool, since every author who aims to be published needs to do a lot of marketing and promotion herself or himself nowadays. Books don't sell if you don't get the word out there. Well, let's be honest, the majority of first time authors struggle.
Publishers and agents like to see their authors active, for the market is competitive and if you have a good crowd following you, the ones that really like what you write about, you have certainly an advantage to someone who doesn't blog at all. I personally am more inclined to buy a book from someone whose blogs I enjoy and who keeps me up to date with the process of the novel and I believe I'm not alone.
The internet offers great possibilities to promote yourself, you just need to overcome your shyness and get started. With blogging, it can be utter fun, as I have learned. So yes, it is promoting. What are you waiting for?
Nicole, Thanks for a great blog. Love your wall paper. Take a look at my blog and let me know what you think. I am trying to get the word out about my writing and books and need all the help I can get.
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole, thought I'd take you up to 47 followers!!! Haven't seen much of you lately, how are you? I went reluctantly to blogging, on the advice that I needed to show I could do the self-promotion thing to potential agents/publishers and like you, have to say, I quickly grew to love it! It's a chance to write quickly about anything you want and pretty much instant feedback is quite exciting - helps to ease the pain of waiting months to hear back from submissions :-) I'd love you to have a look at mine but please don't feel obliged to follow it if it's not your thing...http://jackiebuxton.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Hello, John
ReplyDeleteThank you for popping by and the compliment about my wall paper. You should've seen my first blog, it was just pink :-) Took me a while to get it to this state. I will take a closer look at yours later. First impression: it's far too busy and right in your face. I like the colour scheme of black and red though, it's VERY crime and you stick to it, which is good. I'll get back to you later with suggestions on promoting.
Jackie! I didn't expect you to turn up and I'm really happy you did. How can I not like your blog? Every time I see your picture I have to smile. Gorgeous! Will pop by at your blog later, too and read some of your posts. I have a feeling that I'm going to giggle a lot :-)
Just realised I have been very bad & not followed you.. what can I say.. Have now :-)
ReplyDeleteI initially created my blog as a way to promote myself in the writing world. I had just started writing the book and was in the very early stages of planning it (not very well, as you've since discovered!!). However, I've gathered a large blog, Twitter and Facebook following and am really proud of the hard work I've done over the past three years. I could live without Twitter and Facebook, but I'm not sure I could live without the Blog!
ReplyDeleteCJ xx
Hi, Crystal
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right, it's hard work. Putting up a blog and not advertising it, or reading other people's blogs, doesn't bring you far. You have quite a lot of followers and that's because you devote time to do marketing. Essential in the world of publishing. Many writers or bloggers in general, could learn from you. Just having a blog is not enough, it's like having written a book and putting it into the drawer.