A Blog like No Other

History repeats itself. Last year at our annual Writer’s Conference I spoke on SPEAKING.
Today on CWD/ACW, I am blogging on BLOGGING.
What would you say is next? Should I read a book on READING?

The helpful aspect about speaking on speaking was that the material I used to prepare my talk helped me perform my workshop better. So perhaps my research into blogging will help me write a readable blog? My little offering today is for those who are considering the pros and cons of blogging on your writing journey and would like a whiff of its perfume in order to be convinced of its lasting fragrance.

4 ½ years ago, I began my belated blessed blogging journey with a few bumbling baby steps forward. I have now written 220 blogs to date. I must confess though that I came kicking and screaming into it. You see, I couldn’t see the point of adding my mite to the surplus of blogs out there. Who would read them? Google tells me that in 2013 there were 152 million blogs in the world. Not a small number. A publisher friend finally convinced me that I should dive in. Surprisingly enough, once I jumped in (with a mighty splash), you couldn’t get me out of the blogging pool. The lake was cool and refreshing, and I am still being invigorated by its healing waters.

So what is a Blog? A Blog is short for "Web Log" later turned into "Weblog" and finally the simple four letter word: "Blog". As recently as 1999, there were supposedly only 23 blogs on the Internet. The reason for there being so few was that 17 years ago, bloggers needed to be web designers who created everything from scratch. Thankfully, times have changed and we have easy access to free blogging hosts in the 21st century world. So what’s your excuse to not blogging? None!

But let me add that as a Christian writer, you will of course need to ascertain if it’s right for you at this point of your writing journey. “The first thing you need to decide when you build your blog is what you want to accomplish with it, and what it can do if successful.” Ron Dawson.

How does a blog help an Author/Writer/Would be Writer?
1. It helps build your platform
2. It gives credibility to your writing
3. It helps develop publicity for your writing
4. It can promote your work
5. It helps you develop a fan base
6. It helps you keep in touch with your readers
7. It helps agents and publishers take you seriously
8. It keeps you writing regularly
9. It serves your readership with bite-sized flavourful chunks of your writing
10. It connects you to the world—writing can often be a lonely occupation

Some Important aspects to work out before you begin:
1. Name of your website/blog site—think hard. Think well. Let it stand out.
2. A page about yourself—allow your readers get to know you
3. Frequency of blog – daily/3 times a week/weekly/fortnightly/monthly/other
4. Subject matter – what would you like to focus on?
5. Make it readable – not only in content but also in presentation

Are pictures necessary? I’d say they are not essential but having at least one picture in your blog would add to it. I've done a little research and uncovered some sites with free pictures with no copyright issues attached, but please ensure you read the ‘terms of use’ before you download them.

Free Pictures for you: Please click on the links below to find them.
Dreamstime

Gratisography

New Old Stock

Free Nature Stock

Function

What hosts are available? There are plenty of free hosting blog builders that will help you create your blog or website from scratch and with ease. I used Webnode.com and have been more than satisfied with their services—it hasn’t cost me a cent. Other sites like Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, SimpleSite.com, Tumblr.com, and Wix.com are used widely as you may know. If you would like to use your own domain name, you will need to pay for it. Here’s a useful site which shares information on blog hosts: Web Hosting Free Reviews

What kinds of Writer Blogs are out there? There are blogs that teach the writer’s craft, those that talk of the writer’s life, others that write about current issues, some which share their experiences, others that write how-to articles, some which focus on book reviews and more. Fiction writers may share snippets of their stories to hook their readers or even serialise their work through a regular blog. When I started blogging, what a blessing it was to discover that God made it part of my ministry. It was a gift from Him, and has grown me and shaped me as a writer. But we are unique beings—called by God to different tasks. So follow His heart for yourself, not for anyone else. Your blog and mine will be vastly different. And that’s exactly how it should be.

A few Good Blogging Practices:
1. Determine the length of your blog. 300 – 600 words is a good number.
2. Images will add to the blog—use them.
3. Ask a question at the end or lead them to take action
4. Make it easy for others to share—make it public on Facebook
5. Link up with other writers’ blogs
6. Create a free email newsletter
7. Invite other writers to write guest blogs on your site—a good way of joining hands (and words) with other writers!

I hope I've whet your writerly appetite as you consider if blogging is something beneficial to you as a writer. Everything we do as Christian writers must be in response to a call from God. Is He calling you to start one? There are many of us bloggers on CWD and ACW who will be glad to give you a hand. So if you believe God is calling you to it, do jump right in. And may your expedition be God-breathed, exhilarating and take you to exotic places.

If you have other things in your life—family, friends, good productive day work—these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.” – David Brin

“Writing is its own reward.” – Henry Miller

“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” – Barbara Kingsolver

Anusha Atukorala is a writer and speaker with music in her heart and a message to proclaim. The abundant love of a faithful God is her theme song. God’s call to writing in 2007 led Anusha on a Grand Adventure which continues to surprise and thrill her. Anusha loves to build the body of Christ and to encourage others through the written and spoken word.


Her first book ‘Enjoying the Journey’ is comprised of 75 little God stories. She has twelve short stories published in Anthologies and lots more in the pipeline. Do drop in to say G’day at her website Dancing in the Rain. She’d love to meet you.

Blogs for authors - How do you find the time?

I have been blogging for years, the oldest post I still have is from 2008, though I was blogging earlier than that. Over the years I have had blogs on a number of different themes - business, parenting, writing, fiction, non-fiction.

Most recently, I am focusing on two different blogs. The first is Melissa Writes, a blog I started in 2011 when I started writing fiction again as a way to share my journey and keep motivated. On this blog I share my writing progress, calls for help with different stories (such as a call out for help with a name for a gadget), writing tips, and anything else to do with my writing. The audience for this blog has turned out to be mostly other writers.

My second blog is Melissa Gijsbers, my author site. As I write it has a coming soon page as it's undergoing a face-lift, there are scheduled posts ready to go once it's live. This blog is aimed more at readers of my books. There are posts about me based on questions readers posted on my Facebook page, information about events I've presented at, details of books that have been published and anything else that may be of interest to my readers. The audience for this blog will be readers of my books.

There will be some crossover in the audience, but they have two different goals, they also take different amounts of time to maintain. How do I find the time to post on two different blogs both related to my writing and books?

I try not to spend too much time on my blogs, otherwise I wouldn't have much time for anything else. Here are some of the things I do to keep my blogs humming:

• Post regularly - I like to make sure I have at least one post on each blog every week. Sometimes I'm able to blog every day, and other weeks not so much, but I like to have something regularly.
• Keep posts short - most of my posts are short, generally around 300 words. This means they are quick to write, and quick for people to read.
• Schedule posts - I use Wordpress for my blogging platform and can schedule posts in advance. This way I can write them when I have a bit of time and they will be published in advance.
• Keep the process simple - most of my posts I just write and publish. I do a quick read to make sure they make sense and there are no obvious typos, however I don't spend hours editing them as I would a manuscript. This saves a lot of time when adding blog posts.
• Automatic publishing to social media - using a mixture of tools, I have an auto feed from my blogs to my Facebook page, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, my author page on Amazon and GoodReads, and a number of other places. This also saves time letting fans know when my latest post has been published.
• Limit my blogging time - because life is busy, I try to limit how much time I spend on my blogging. Generally I can write a couple of blog posts in half an hour, including finding an image to go with my post.

Whenever I write a post, I think about the audience. There are times when it's obvious which blog a post should be on, and other times when it's not so clear. For example, a post about writing tips goes on my writing blog, however announcing that a story has been published can go on either blog. When this happens, I try and write something slightly different for each post rather than a copy and paste, but not so different that I spend ages on the post.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how I find the time to maintain two different yet similar blogs.

Melissa Gijsbers lives in Melbourne and writes in between working as a bookkeeper and being the mother of two active boys. She is a blogger and author of flash fiction and children's books. Follow her writing journey at www.melissawrites.com.au

Author Etiquette 101

by Narelle Atkins

We are now living in a world where the majority of author-reader interaction is taking place online. How can authors negotiate this new world and the expectations placed on them? 

Imagine an author is walking along the street, or at an in-store book signing. If a reader approaches the author by name, says hello, how should the author respond? Good manners dictate that the author will greet the reader and possibly have a short conversation. The author may apologise if they’re in a rush and can’t talk for long. 

If the author ignored the reader and kept on walking along the street, how would the reader feel? Embarrassed? Slighted by the fact the author ignored them? And, what if there was a crowd of people on the street who were watching the author-reader interaction. What would the crowd think of the author who ignored the reader? 

Let’s transfer this example to our online world and social media eg. blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc. Readers who comment on blogs are looking for interaction with authors. They are the readers who are walking along the street and calling out the author’s name. The blog visitors who read the blog posts and don’t leave a comment are the crowd on the street. They will all form an opinion of the author by watching the author’s interaction in the blog comments. 

What if an author is a guest on a blog? They may have written a guest blog post or are being interviewed by the blog owner. What happens if the author no-shows and doesn’t respond to any of the comments? This is kind of like an author not turning up to their birthday party that someone else has hosted. 

I asked the ACW blog members and the awesome Australasian Christian Writers Facebook group for their thoughts on author etiquette. The Facebook group includes authors, reviewers, bloggers and readers. I’ve summarised their helpful feedback below. 

• I like authors who personally interact with readers on blogs and Facebook, and share some of their real life. 
• It’s not nice being ignored by authors and it doesn’t inspire a reader to buy the author’s book. Authors should respond to reader letters and emails. 
• Subscribing readers to email lists without their permission is annoying and prohibited by law. 
• I’m a reader and I’d like to attend Christian author retreats for readers. eg. A group of authors could organise a retreat for one or two days that is specifically for readers. Love Inspired recently organised a reader luncheon in Florida. 

Blogs: 

• Authors should give as well as receive. eg. Commenting on other people’s blogs, guest blogging. 
• It’s bad when an author asks for promo on your blog but doesn’t have the good manners to acknowledge blog comments or emails from the blog host. 
• Authors need to ensure the blog prize that is promised in a giveaway is actually delivered to the winner. It’s helpful if all giveaways state if the giveaway is worldwide/international or limited to certain countries. 
• Recent ACW blog guests Julie Lessman and Laura Frantz are an excellent example of authors who interact with all the commenters. Dotti mentioned Mary Connealy visited her Ink Dots blog and was amazing in the professional way she conducted herself. 
• Interacting with blog commenters can foster a family relationship, and readers can become friends with the author. 
• Readers feel good when their blog comment is acknowledged by the author. But, it’s important authors reply to everyone who comments so none of the readers feel slighted. 

Facebook: 

• It’s a big turn-off if an author only posts self-promo and book information. For example, spamming Facebook groups with book sales links or like my Facebook page requests, and never interacting with the group in any other capacity. The same goes for personal Facebook status updates that are always about self-promo or buying the author’s book. 

More specific information on annoying Facebook behaviour can be found in this article. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/annoying-facebook-behavior_b_4081038.html

Goodreads, Amazon and review sites:

• Authors should never respond to reviewers on Goodreads, Amazon, or other review sites. Authors need to resist the temptation to defend their work in a public forum. 
• Goodreads is a site for readers, not a place for authors to market their book. 
• Don’t recommend your own book on Goodreads. Instead, let others recommend it for you. 
• Most readers on Goodreads don’t want authors making any comments on their reviews. Goodreads author groups are the place where readers want to interact with authors. Eg. Love Inspired Historical group. 

Authors interacting with other authors: 

• It’s good when authors are interested in promoting other authors eg. sharing links, reading and recommending other author’s books. 
• If someone has helped an author in any way with their manuscript, good manners dictates that the author gifts them with a copy of the book when it comes out. It’s extra nice if it’s autographed and accompanied with a personal thank you. It’s even nicer if the author spells their name right. 
• Another way to thank authors who have helped you with your book is to endorse, recommend or review their books. 

The following quote summarises the essence of our author etiquette discussion. 

Grace and gratitude should go hand in hand. 

If another writer gives you the gift of time, it should go without saying that you should thank them. It doesn’t matter how busy you are. All too often simple courtesy falls by the wayside. 

If that gift of time involves a couple of dozen hours of beta-reading or proofing, an email ‘thank you’ probably isn’t enough. In fact, if that’s all you ever do, it’s pretty close to an insult. It devalues the sacrifice, trivialises the gift and sends the subtly arrogant message, ‘My time is more precious than yours.’ 

If you are blessed by another writer, returning the blessing should be an automatic response. In a world where it’s increasingly about you as much as your writing, little things matter more than ever.

What are your thoughts on author etiquette? Do you agree or disagree with any of the points mentioned? Iola will talk about reviewing and author etiquette in more detail in a future post. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

NARELLE ATKINS writes contemporary inspirational romance and lives in Canberra, Australia. She sold her debut novel, set in Australia, to Harlequin's Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line in a 6-book contract. Her first book, Falling for the Farmer, is a February 2014 release, followed by The Nurse's Perfect Match in May 2014 and The Doctor's Return in August 2014. 

Narelle blogs regularly with International Christian Fiction Writers. http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com/ 

She is a member of the new Inspy Romance blog for contemporary romance readers.
http://inspyromance.com/ 

Narelle is a co-founder of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance (ACRBA). http://acrba.blogspot.com 

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com 
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