How to grow your blog community
Most bloggers would like to have more people coming to read their blogs. Most would like to see some results for all those hours of writing and sweating over their words and trying to write good content.
And I guess most bloggers would like to see people leaving comments on their blogs. In this way you can develop a community of readers who are loyal and regular readers.
But how best to grow a blog community?
Ben Yoskovitz on his Instigator Blog has posted a useful list of 8 Steps to Growing Your Blog Community One Person at a Time.
I’m pleased to say that I usually follow most of his suggestions. I am particularly careful to follow his first four suggestions.
- I often aim to write in a way that will encourage people to leave comments.
- I usually followup comments with comments of my own engaging the readers in conversation.
- First time commenters are usually thanked via a personal email.
- I also like to visit their blog to see what types of things they are interested in, their passions and topics.
- I reciprocate by commenting where appropriate. All this helps to develop that sense of community.
Related articles:
Setting realistic writing goals for 2007
On January 1st I posted a short article listing some of my writing goals for 2007. Setting goals is important in many walks of life. It is very important in a writer’s life because in many cases the writer is his or her own boss. It is easy just to aimlessly drift along. In this way the output wanes or meanders with no real purpose or goal.
Many writers need help in setting achievable goals. Angela Booth has some pertinent points about setting realistic, achievable writing goals in her article here.
What is your writing style?
What I have learned from the many books I have read about the craft of writing is that every writer has a different style of writing. There are many different methods, so-called secrets, formula and styles employed by successful writers.
Meticulous Planners
Some writers are meticulous planners. They plan the whole plot of a story or novel from the beginning to the end. Some use large sheets of paper and map out all the details; characters, settings, twists in the plot, sub-plots and so many other aspects of their story. Others use pieces of paper or post it stickers and rearrange all their notes until they make some sort of logical sequence. This type of writer may spend months or even years in this planning stage. The actual writing may then only take a few weeks or several months at most.
Seat of the Pants writers
Then you have those writers who come up with just a single thought, idea or snippet of dialogue and this is the sum total of their plan. This type of writer can sit at a keyboard and start writing, letting the story and the characters literally take over the plot line. This is “writing by the seat of your pants†type of writing. It can be very exciting if it works – or it can be very frustrating if it doesn’t.
Different styles:
In between these two extremes you have a whole range of approaches to writing. Some writers do some planning at the beginning, others may stop half way through and plan the ending. There seems to as many different styles of getting down that story as there are writers.
My Writing style:
As I develop as a writer I find that more and more I am able to write “on demand.†Blogging has done that for me. The goal of writing a new article every day keeps me accountable to myself. I find inspiration all around me and now I rarely struggle to come up with ideas. Often I feel swamped with ideas with too many to use.
I also find that I can write almost anywhere. I have my favourite spot of course but now I have a laptop I am very flexible in where I write. I sometimes write with music in the background, sometimes even with the television going.
I get a real buzz out of thinking of a setting, a character’s name or some other starting point for a story. I then start writing, letting the story or the characters take over. Discovering where the story or characters take me is just like reading a novel or story for the first time; you don’t know the ending. Sometimes the ending is as much a surprise to me as it is to the reader. Risky – yes; exhilarating – certainly.
To read more on this topic, read the article in the link below. It was written by Adelaide crime and romance author, Kirsty Brooks.
Related article:
· Writing fiction – planning your story or writing by the seat of your pants: individual writing styles written by Kirsty Brooks.
What is your writing style?
Tell me about it by leaving a comment.
The Place of Persistence
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On†has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.â€
Calvin Coolidge
Quoted in The Australian 29th July 2006.
Shooting yourself in the foot: writers and agents
Ever shoot yourself in the foot?
Painful, I’d say.
Trouble is, many emerging or want to be writers do exactly that – shoot themselves in the foot. Not literally, mind you. Inexperienced writers spend months – perhaps years – writing their “literary masterpiece”, the novel to top all other novels, the book that will bring them fame and untold fortune. Then they fail to do basic research on how to submit a manuscript to a publisher or literary agent.
Kirsty Brooks, Adelaide author of crime and romance fiction, has published a very useful article on this very subject on her blog. She writes about some of the pitfalls, some of the problems and how to overcome them. Click on the link below to read the article.
Link:
- Submitting your writing to literary agents and editors – the distant sound of gunfire.