What Do READERS Want From an Author Blog?

Photo by Terence S. Jones (creative commons) - Click pic for link
 Writers know they are supposed to have a social media presence. Writers know that ideally they should blog so they can connect with people (and eventually their readers). But there seems to be a big mysterious question floating out there in the writer blogiverse: what exactly do readers WANT when they go to an author's blog?

Yes, connection. I get that. That's what we're all looking for. But how exactly do they want to connect? Most of us have figured out how to blog for other writers. This isn't something that should be underestimated because the enriching experience of meeting other writers and finding people who become great friends is priceless. However, connecting with other writers and connecting with readers are not the same thing.

Yes, I know, writers are also readers. That's obviously true. But here's the thing--one we have a book out there, we don't want to be excluding non-writing readers by constantly jabbering about writing and publishing. Sure, some of that may be interested to a reader in doses, but not all the time.

So okay--channeling Kristen Lamb a bit here--we know blogging about writing indefinitely isn't really a practical long-term career goal (unless of course you're writing books about writing.) So once you've got your blog footing, have built your writer support group, how to you expand upon that to put up the "welcome" sign for readers?

Jody Hedlund has covered this topic before on her blog as well because, like me, she also has a blog about writing. Her conclusion was that most (non-writing) fiction readers aren't reading author blogs. From her observation, most readers go to author websites just to get info about the author's books. And frankly, that applies to me as well. I don't read my fave authors blogs regularly because most of the time it's just book updates and such. Not something worth reading daily/weekly.

But does this mean readers wouldn't be interested in an author's blog if it were um, interesting and engaging? Obviously people like Neil Gaiman, Meg Cabot, and Jennifer Cruisie have figured it out (of course, they've also written wildly successful books that attracted a lot of readers FIRST). But really, there aren't a lot of stand outs that I can think of off the top of my head.

So what's an author to do?

Kristen Lamb would suggest not doing a writing-only blog, to find other interests that you like to write about. In her workshop I went to she gave examples like an author who focuses on wine and books on her blog, so she's tapped into the wine people (and who may become people who want to buy her fiction.) And the lovely Tiffany A. White has a fabulous blog called the Ooo Factor where she reviews TV shows and keeps us up to date on what's new in TV world. 

But here's the thing--those examples are still niche-oriented. Just like a writing blog is. Niches are what work if you want to build a blog audience. People know what to expect from you and go there because they are interested in whatever that niche is. That's why I was able to build Fiction Groupie (my writing blog) to almost 1k followers before I even had an agent or book deal.

Niches WORK. But they also alienate those not in the niche. For instance, I'm not going to go to a wine blog because I'm not that interested in wine. I go to Tiffany's because I love TV and she does the work for me so I know which shows I should check out or not. But if someone else isn't a big TV person, they'll probably not stop by and visit her.

So where does this leave an author strategy wise? Build a niche blog so you can get a big following relatively quickly, but then be restricted by that niche when you do get a book published? Or be too random trying to appeal to everyone and have your blog will float off into the unread ether?

I have given this A LOT of thought, probably way too much. But here's the conclusion I've come to: Blogging for the unpublished author and blogging for the published author are DIFFERENT things.

Before you have a book out there, your main goal is to build a network and presence online and to meet other people like you. This is where a good solid niche blog comes in. You don't have to be so restrictive that you only talk about writing or whatever, but make sure people know what kind of content they are going to get when they go to your blog. 

However, once you are published, you have to realize that people who read your books or hear about your books from someone are going to get online and look you up.

And readers are looking for certain things from an author blog (as May talks about here at Smexy Books and Author Tech Tips talks about here.)

1. Easy to find book info including buttons to buy, the blurb, its placement in the series, if applicable.

2. Excerpts and teasers. 

3. News - Where you're going to be, what books are coming soon, etc.

4. Book recommendations from the author

5. To get to know the author and "see behind the curtain" but that does not mean boring posts about what you ate for lunch yesterday.

So here's what smacked me over the head when reasearching for this post--readers are a niche. Their niche is BOOKS. They come to you to learn more about the books they love and to get to know you a little bit.

Therefore, I think the published author's challenge is to write engaging post that show off you and your voice and entice the reader to come back. You don't necessarily need a big blog theme like you did pre-publication. The theme is YOU and your books. (As my friend Steena Holmes suggested on Twitter the other night, it's a shift from blogger/author to author/blogger.)

So all of us need to write posts that:

1. Are fun and entertaining.

2. Show off your voice.

3. Offer readers some insight into your personality.

4. Engage the reader in conversation.

5. Relate to your "brand." --KNOW what would appeal to your readers.--You write funny? Probably should have humor in your posts. I write romance so things like Boyfriend of the Week relate back to who I am as a writer.

And don't forget about why readers came to you in the first place--books! Don't be afraid to talk about what you're reading or what books you love or what books you can't wait for. My author friend Suzanne Johnson does a fabulous job on her blog Preternatura connecting with readers over books in her genre.

So all of this still makes my head hurt because I maintain two blogs and don't plan on getting rid of my writing blog anytime soon because I heart my writing community peeps (and I can't merge the two without losing all my blogger followers so that's not an option either). But I also don't want to have my book come out in January and not have a reader-friendly blog for people to come to if they want to stop by. It's a lot to figure out.

Alright, I know this was a LONG post. But I'm curious to hear what you think of this whole reader/writer blogging thing? Take off your writer hat for a moment and tell me, as a reader, what do you want on an author's blog? How do you feel about niche blogs?

Shameless Saturday: Childhood Comfort Foo

 Welcome to another edition of Shameless Saturday where we air our guilty pleasures without shame or judgment.

I'm sure we've all watched our share of Oprah and shows like the Biggest Loser and such. We all know it's probably not a good idea to be an "emotional eater", meaning when we're down or stressed for some reason, we go looking for comfort in food.

Well you know what? I say screw that. Sure, you don't want to drown your sorrows in fried chicken every night, but every now and then you just need to retreat to something really, really not good for you and enjoy yourself. Comfort food didn't get it's name for nothing. And the comfort foods of our childhood are some of the best balm for the soul. It reminds us of a simpler time--before we had to count calories, before we had heaps of responsibility, and before we knew to feel guilty after eating it.

Now, as I've grown into adulthood, I've become a bit of a foodie. I love cooking and trying new cuisines. I get almost as excited to go to the gourmet grocery store as I do the bookstore. And I watch way more Food Network than is healthy. I also can be kind of a food snob now. I seek out restaurants that prepare their food fresh and don't just open up bags of already prepared stuff and deep fry it or reheat it.

However ,when it comes to the food I want when I'm seeking comfort, my palate is decidely less refined. Before my mom got remarried, there were many years where it was just me and her. She worked two jobs and I played sports, so in between all of that, it was hard to find time for a homecooked meal. So often things came from a box or a can. And those things have become the items I seek out when I'm feeling a little out of sorts.

So here are my top five childhood comfort foods that, yes, I will still totally chow down on if I need to:

Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls

Not cinnabon, not the kind with cream cheese icing, straight up cinnamon rolls--preferably slightly undercooked so that the centers are still a little doughy. And yes I can eat the entire can of 5-rolls for a meal. Don't judge. It's Shameless Saturday.

Kraft Boxed Mac and Cheese

Once again, none of the fancy stuff. I don't need deluxe cheese and all that jazz. Give me the orange powdered stuff that I have no idea what it's made of.

Spaghettios with Franks

No, I don't know what's in the franks. I don't want to. But this is a whole bowl of delicious childhood goodness right here.

Rotel cheese dip with tortilla chips

For those of you not familiar, all you do is melt cubed velveeta and a can of rotel tomatoes to make queso. Yes, my mother used to let me eat this for dinner. :)

Hubig's Pies - (Lemon or Apple preferred)

So most of you have probably never heard of these because they are a New Orleans only thing. But OMG, they are the most flaky delicious little fried pies you'll ever taste. I've tried other brands since I've moved away and none come close. This is a bucket list food if you've never had them, you can order them here. My mom occasionally brings a few with her when she visits, which makes me very happy. Probably good I can't get my hands on them regularly.

So those are my go-tos when I need a little taste of childhood. I will say, in my mom's defense, that she has now done a 180. She's become Ms. Organic, Whole Foods-shopping, Whole-wheat eating, Anti-processsed food lady since then. She just called me the other day to make me swear I wouldn't feed my kidlet McD's chicken nuggets because of the crap she heard are put into them. So I'd never be able to get away with the stuff above now (well except for the Hubig's pies. We both still love those.)

So what are your childhood comfort foods? Do you find yourself seeking those foods out at certain times in your life? And what can you shamelessly eat the whole box/can/whatever of?

It's YOUR Blog (and You Can Pimp If You Want To)

Photo by Raffi Asdourian I'm annoyed. Not specifically at one person but more a nebulous cloud of annoyance aimed in the general direction of certain kinds of people on the internet.

We all know about blog trolls--those I-have-no-real-life-so-I-live-to-bitch-at-and-insult-perfect-strangers (usually via cop-out anonymous comments.) For the most part, the best way to handle these foul creatures is to ignore them completely. Don't poke them with a stick because they only get more unintelligent and vile when acknowledged.

We all understand those people are just another part of the internet. But what is fueling my annoyance lately is that I've noticed more and more writers acting decidely troll-like. And nowhere was this more evident than on former-agent-turned-author Nathan Bransford's blog last week.

Nathan did a tongue-and-cheek post about having a pledge drive and asked people that if they enjoyed his blog to consider buying his book. The post was polite and light-hearted. No biggie, right? Well, apparently it was to some people. A few of his blog readers jumped his shit like Nathan had asked them to sacrifice the blood of their first born child to him. It was ridiculous.

Newsflash from Captain Obvious: Authors are expected to promote their books. And, hello, it's HIS blog.

He didn't come to your house and hand you a flyer, he didn't clutter your inbox with an email pimping his book, he didn't spam you on Twitter. He talked about HIS book on HIS blog. Being insulted that he did that is like being insulted someone walked around their own house naked. His blog is his place to talk about whatever he wants. It's your decision whether you stop by to read it or not.

Newsflash from Captain Obvious' Sidekick--Mr. Well Duh - Most of the people online who are blogging regularly are doing it as a form of self-promotion.

Yes, connecting with others and sharing ideas are the bigger pieces of it. But I can tell you (as someone who has blogged 5 days/week for two years) that blogging that consistently is HARD work and a time suck. I enjoy doing it and am so grateful for all the people I've met through it, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to lie--I also hope it helps sell my books.

And as someone who has spent all this time blogging and making an effort to provide hopefully helpful (fiction groupie) or fun (this blog) content, I don't want to feel guilty about asking readers to consider buying my book when it comes out. I'm not going to beat anyone over the head with it, but I'm also not going to apologize for bringing it up.

And I certainly don't feel offended if a writer I follow and enjoy does the same. If I like your blog and have gotten to know you online, I WANT to buy your book and show my support. In fact, I did it yesterday for Tawna Fenske. It's a nice thing to do. And an effective way to find good books since chances are if you like their voice on their blog, you'll probably enjoy their writing as well.

So you writers out there, stop apologizing when you do a little self-promotion. It's okay. It's part of your job. Asking people to consider your book does not mean you've become one of those annoying people on Twitter or Goodreads whose first message to a new follower is "Check out my book at wesuck dot com!" 

If you are taking time to genuinely connect with other people and, as Kristen Lamb says in her books on social media, being service-minded--meaning go into social networking with the mentality of what can I do to be of service to others?--you're going to be fine. It's the "me, me, me" people that give self-promotion a bad name and an icky feeling. You are not that person. Nathan Bransford is not that person. That person is busy setting up auto-post "buy my book" tweets on Twitter.

So be friendly, be genuine, and be comfortable promoting something you've worked hard on.

Now, enough about that, who wants to pre-order CRASH INTO YOU? ;)

How do you feel about self-promotion? What annoys you about it? Do you mind when a blogger/writer you like talks about their book? What completely turns you off when it comes to self-promotion?

Shameless Saturday: The Boys of my Pre-Teen Dreams

 Welcome back to Shameless Saturday where I come clean and air my guilty pleasures...

So you all know I have an appreciation for a good-looking celebrity--hence the boyfriend of the week posts and that whole romance writing gig I do. :) However, this is by no means a new obsession. Oh, no. When I was 13, my room was literally wall-papered (including the ceiling) with pages ripped out from the likes of Big Bopper and Teen Beat. (Much to my parents' chagrin. I think they're still trying to cover up the stains that sticky putty left on the walls.)

And it didn't end there. Me and my best friend, Tammi, also created this whole fictional world where we were each dating our respective crushes. Pretty normal, right? Um, well, is it also normal that we would write each other letters as if we were truly dating said crushes? Yeah, didn't think so. I'd like to think those elaborate letters detailing the scandalous (i.e. kissing and holding hands) exploits of me and my boyfriend Joe McIntyre (of New Kids on the Block) were the start of my romance writing career.

So I thought today I would honor those baby-faced boys who started me down this path. 

Welcome to the walls of my pre-teen bedroom...

So this was the exact poster I had on my wall and it was my FAVORITE. *sigh* How I loved him...

(He's still hot for the record--even if I grew up to be taller than him, lol.)

Jonathan Brandis was second only to Joe. I fell in lurve with him in that movie Ladybugs and then SeaQuest. However, looking at this picture makes me sad. Jonathan, unfortunately, struggled in his career once he became an adult and in 2003 took his own life. His friends said he'd been suffering from depression over his career. : (  R.I.P. Jonathan

Eddie Furlong in his Terminator 2 days. My first glimpse of how good a bad boy could be. :)

Elijah Wood pre-Lord of the Rings, though frankly, he doesn't look all that different now, lol.

And another New Kid because frankly, I was obsessed. (I still heart them.) And lemme tell you, Jordan has gone from cute to mega hot with age. I think he may make an appearance on Boyfriend of the Week one of these days.

Alright, so there they are--the boys who stole my little pre-teen heart. So, fess up, who was on your walls? 

The Beauty of Books: Why the Literary vs. Genre Debate Isn't Necessary

 Yesterday on my writing blog, I asked the question: How Fast Do You Have to Write to Build a Career? Well, the post sparked a comment from the lovely and talented Meghan Ward (who btw, is a kickass blogger as well) and the following exchange:

Meghan: "Wow. I'm kind of shocked by this post. I don't know any literary fiction writer who writes one book per year. That's fast, the kind of speed I thought was reserved for the Stephen Kings of the world. And honestly, I don't care how much money she makes, I have no interest in reading a book written by someone who writes 8-10 books per year. It takes time - at LEAST a year - to write a really good book. Keri Hulme took 14 years to write The Bone People, and it's an amazing book. I'd much rather read a book that the author took time to simmer on the stove for two or three years than one that was panfried in two months and slapped onto Amazon so the author can have a back list and quit his day job."

Me: I appreciate your perspective but I don't agree that amount of time=quality. Like I said in the post, I love Maya's books. They're well-written. And apparently others agree because she's a NYT bestselling author. 

Also, I would hate to think that just because it took me 7 months to write my book and not 7 years that people wouldn't automatically assume that my novel is crap. I worked hard on my book just like anyone else. It has gone through both an agent and an editor. It has been diligently revised. And from time I started writing it until time it's out is going to be about 2 years. So when I say Maya writes 8-10 books a year, it doesn't mean she's publishing all those in the same year. They are still going through editing and the traditional publishing process. Plus, she's writing stories for four different publishers and genre jumps so it's not 8 books in the same series.

And I also appreciate that writing is an art--it is. But I don't think there is any shame in thinking about writing with a business hat on as well. I love to write. I want to write. I also want to be able to feed my family and not have to have a day job to fund my writing. I don't have the luxury of being a starving artist who can slave over a book for ten years. If another author prefers to do it that way, that's fine. I just don't think it's necessary to throw daggers or insult the writing of those who may not choose to do it that way. Some people can write fast and do it really well. 

If I've learned anything in this writing world, it's that every writer is different. We all have different methods and strength, And what works for one person may not work for the other. But it doesn't make one way right and the other wrong. Just my opinion.

Thanks for sharing your view though. Always appreciate a good debate. : )

Meghan: I'm glad you're up for a good debate :) I'm not judging your writing, and it's true that more years put into a book doesn't necessarily equate with higher quality. It's great that you write fast, and that you have the time to crank out more than a book per year. More power to you. But being a New York Times bestseller doesn't mean a book is well written. It means it appeals to a lot of people, for whatever reason. It may have a great plot, great character, who knows what, but that doesn't make it great literature. I'm biased because I love literary fiction (and nonfiction and memoirs). Of course, we all dream of making it big. Who doesn't want to make $600k/year? I just hope that, during this shakedown of the publishing industry, all the great literary writers don't sell out and start writing zombie novels in order to pay the rent. It will be a huge loss to our culture if writers only think about making money. I hope there will continue to be many who will work day jobs (like teaching) and write on the side, or who will be willing to live on a modest salary, in order to produce something that will last.

Okay, so I was going to go ahead and comment back but realized I had more to say and thought it'd be a great topic for a blog post. So here's my opinion: This debate and division between the Literary with a capital L and genre fiction is not productive. This should not be a discussion of who should be considered a "real" writer of "real" books. Is the fact that someone writes a zombie novel automatically mean there book isn't worthy, that the writer is automatically a "sell out"? I'm sure Carrie Ryan who wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth (which is has zombies in it) didn't pen her book thinking--ooh, this will make me the most money the fastest. Just like the rest of us, I'm sure she had characters whom she loved and a story in her heart that she wanted to tell.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is the book that convinced me in 5th grade that reading was awesome and that I wanted to be a writer. I know it did the same for many. Well, that book was about time travel and witches. Judy Blume helped girls everywhere understand things about adolescence that maybe they were too afraid to ask. Her books were funny and entertaining and sold well--does that mean Judy Blume was a sell out?

Obviously, I don't believe that. I think the difference between literary and genre fiction is not a matter of quality, it's a matter of STYLE DIFFERENCE. Literary fiction is basically shh...a genre. My favorite definition was giving by Nathan Bransford: "In commercial fiction the plot tends to happen above the surface and in literary fiction the plot tends to happen beneath the surface." So in literary fiction, the big climax might be a simple decision made by a character after a big internal struggle. Whereas, in genre fiction, the climax won't be something you could miss. It doesn't make one type of book more important than the other.

The value and beauty of books is what they do for the reader. So if someone reads a literary memoir about the Holocaust and it makes them connect with the past and feel the anguish of what those people went through, that's a powerful thing. However, if a woman is reading a romance in a hospital while she cares for her sick child and is able to escape from the current sadness in her own world, that is just as powerful in my opinion.

We write because we want people to feel something when they read our books. I don't care if you write high brow books worthy of Oprah's Book Club or if you write science fiction about aliens--we all have that same goal. And none of us are in it thinking we're going to get rich. My goal for wanting to write faster is not because I think I'm going to be a millionaire. It's because I love to write, I want to tell my characters' stories and with that I want to make at least the same salary I was making when I was a social worker so that I can help support my family and be home with my son. That's it. I don't think that's selling out. I think that's being a woman following her dream.

So I hope we can all rise above this silly delineation between "them" and "us." A well-told story is a beautiful thing. No matter where it ends up shelved in the bookstore.

Write and read what stirs your heart and brings you joy.

Simple as that.

So what's your opinion--as a writer or a reader? And though I know people can get super passionate about this topic, let's all play nice in the comments. We are intelligent people having a healthy discussion. :) I'm glad for Meghan's comments on yesterday's post because it's a great topic to tackle and there are many who feel the same way she does.