WRITERLY WISDOM: Beth Stilborn

It's time once again for WRITERLY WISDOM where every Wednesday we will sneak a peek into the world of writing and publication.   I am so happy my next guest blogger agreed to do a post for this series.  I was first introduced to Beth Stilborn when I participated in Tara Lazar’s PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) in November 2011 and I consider her a good friend.  Take it away Beth…

To Blog or Not To Blog: A few thoughts on writer blogging, the hows, whys, pleasures and pitfalls

By Beth Stilborn

As writers consider how to “build our platform,” we often ask, “Should I have a blog or a website? What should I blog about?”

Blog or website? I suggest you start with a fairly simple blog, one that allows for “pages” behind tabs. You can move to a full website later, if you choose. An example is Julie Hedlund’s website. Julie started out with a blog but as her career in writing expanded she had a website built which includes her blog and much more.

What platform should I use? Many companies provide blogging capabilities, and each has advantages and disadvantages. For most bloggers, I think either Wordpress or Blogger is simplest. Both offer free blog-hosting and are customizable.

Blogger offers Google Friend Connect, an easy way for people to follow your blog, flexibility in pages and add-ons, and good statistics information.

Sylvia Liu has suggestions to make your Blogger blog more like a website.

Wordpress is comparable, but without Google Friend Connect. I found Wordpress.com to be limited in widget capabilities (which allow for lists, and other add-ons along the sidebar.) It provides some flexibility, and good statistics.

Wordpress.org is the paid version, which gives widget capability, but few statistics, and less flexibility for post appearance. It’s a seesaw of positives and negatives, whichever you choose.

What url to choose? I advise you to use your name for your blog address, in the way it is (or will be) used on your books. That allows a reader, editor or agent to find your blog easily. Purchase your name’s url even if you’re not ready to set up your blog or website.

Content: The content of your blog is the most important consideration. It is what you write that will attract people to your blog and keep them coming back, not the appearance.

What do you have to share? What will show your area of expertise? Does much of your writing focus on a topic such as sports or science? Incorporate that. You don’t have to stick exclusively to one topic, but let that special interest show through so that a reader – or editor or agent – sees the basis for the focus in your writing.

Joanna Marple has a particular interest in endangered animals, and Miss Marple’s Musings highlights this in many creative ways. Patricia Tilton’s blog, Children’s Books Heal, focuses on special needs kids.

You may say, “I have too many interests to narrow my blog so much!” So do we all, but for building a platform it’s best to highlight one or two areas.

Some people, like Susanna Leonard Hill, find ways to reach out and involve others through their blog posts. Her Would You Read It Wednesdays and Perfect Picture Book Fridays allow an eclectic platform.

Cautions: It’s great to blog about the writing process, but leave giving actual writing advice to the experts.

It’s best not to post your manuscripts (in part or in whole). Besides the potential for plagiarism, many editors consider something to have been published once it’s on a blog, and don’t want to publish something that’s already freely available. To demonstrate your writing abilities, it’s better to use writing that you don’t plan to submit.

Copyright: Simply stated, if it isn’t yours, don’t post it on your blog without permission. This applies to photographs and artistic images as well as writing. Just because you can find a photo through google images doesn’t mean it’s okay to use it on your blog. Use a site that offers images for legal free use or a service such as Fotolia through which you can purchase licensing rights to images.

To read more of what I’ve learned about copyright, check out my three-part blog series.

Brevity: This post notwithstanding, brief posts are best. The sweet spot is about 500 words, although sometimes a post will be necessarily longer.

It’s easier on your reader’s eyes if the paragraphs are kept brief.

Scheduling: Schedule one, two or three posts a week. If circumstances prevent you from blogging, give your readers a heads-up.

Overkill: You may have many things you want to say in separate posts, or many books you want to review. Space these out over the weeks. Six or seven blog posts coming in from the same person over a period of a couple of hours can cause a follower to delete without reading after a while.

Format: You’re competing for people’s attention with thousands of other blogs. You need to catch their interest with a hook sentence and keep their interest with a good post.

Keep your font simple, not too large or bold, easy to read. Note: light text on a dark background is very difficult to read. A “busy” background or sidebar can detract from the overall effect of your blog.

You can learn much about format at Laura B. Writer’s blog. (Search for the word critique in her blog’s search box.)

Comments: Comments are one of the perks of blogging. It’s common courtesy to respond to comments left on your blog. (When you get to the point that your posts have a couple of hundred comments on them, we’ll cut you some slack!) Comments build friendships, community, and that all-important platform.

Some people use Disqus for the comments on their blogs, which allows them to respond both on their blog and via email. I’ve heard positives and negatives about Disqus, but have not used it myself.

It is also crucial to read other people’s blogs and comment on them. The more you involve yourself with others’ blogs, the more they’ll involve themselves with yours.

Purpose: A personal blog can be random. A writer’s blog needs to have focus.

What do you want your public to know and what is it not necessary for them to know? They don’t need to know that you cleaned the bathroom yesterday – they do need to know what sort of a writer you are, what drives your imagination, what you read.

What would you want an editor or agent to see if they checked your blog? Heed this agent’s post – don’t air your dirty writing-laundry on your blog.

For more about blogs, check out Kristen Lamb’s post on blogging in which she calls it “an author’s most powerful social media tool”, and Robert “My Name is Not Bob” Lee Brewer’s blog.

Joy: Blogging can be, and usually is, a joy. It is a great way to hone your writing skills. It is a way to build community as you interact with your readers and reach out to other bloggers. I wish you that joy!

Beth Stilborn lives in a prairie city, and writes in a converted bedroom in her apartment, but she’s often elsewhere in her imagination! Most, but not all, of her writing projects (picture books, chapter books, middle grade fiction, adult fiction) include a focus on the arts, particularly theatre and music.

Beth blogs about “reading, writing, the arts and life” at By Word of Beth. She is a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers), the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the online Children’s Book Hub, and 12x12 in 2013. Along with Emma Walton Hamilton, she is co-host of the Children’s Book Hub Facebook Group.

You can find Beth at her blog, http://www.bethstilborn.com

on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethstilbornwrites

and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethStilborn

The Money Blogger

***I did this post last month as a guest blogger on www.writingwithshellyandchad.blogspot.com, but with hackers and scammers so prevalent these days, it bears repeating to be careful who or what we allow on our blogs.***

I probably spend as much time on my computer blogging as I do actually working on my children's stories or even at my full time job.  I have only been a part of the blogging community since December 2011 and have found out rather quickly that it can be addictive, both for the bloggor and the bloggee.

I imagine there are probably thousands if not millions of different themes for all these blogs I come across on a daily basis.  But no matter which blog I look at, I think I could categorize them all into one of three groups.

1)  Pleasure blogging...this is your Aunt Mable's blog where she keeps the family updated with photos from last year's Christmas party or tells you little Jimmy has the flu so maybe you shouldn't come over for a visit next weekend.  It's also those blogs out there that provide wonderful recipes for Southern Pecan Pie or gives you a peek into the fashion mind of a sixteen year old.  Everyone has something to say on a personal blog and everyone thinks we all want to hear about it.  There is no other motive than to share a bit of their lives with friends and family.

2)  Professional blogging...this is where writers, doctors, lawyers and any other professionals post words of wisdom, advice or general information of importance to a more select audience.  The professional blogger is trying to work on their "platform" of getting their name out there, and they are striving to draw a larger fan base to their blog.  This is usually to either help promote their particular services or create a foundation for future endeavors.

3)  Money blogging...these are blogs whose main concern is making money for the blogger.  Their blogs page will be crowded with advertisements enticing their audience to purchase or do something which will in turn generate money for the blogger.  Their posts may be interesting to read but everyone needs to keep in mind that the sole purpose of a "money" blog is to get you to hand over your money to someone else instead of keeping it in your own pocket.

Is there a way to do both?  Can a person provide information and/or services to the blogging community while creating a source of additional income for the blogger?  Some say this is possible.  I read a very interesting article the other day covering this very topic.  Robert Lee Brewer of the My Name Is Not Bob blog provided a way, in my humble opinion, of being able to "monetize" a blog without seeming like a scam artist out to rip off the public.  You can read his post at http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-monetize-blog-how-to-blog-and.html and see for yourself if some of these methods might work for you.

With the right fan base of followers, a person who is interested in going down this path could certainly see this as a way to make easy money.  But be careful.  What is the true price of jumping on that money blogging band wagon?  Well, I guess it depends on what do you want people to think of when they think of you?  

As a new blogger I want to be very careful about the image I present to the world.  I write children's picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels as well as other literary works.  I want my readers to see my blog,http://www.donasdays.blogspot.com , as a source of inspiration.  I provide daily posts about issues all people might be able to relate to, not just writers, but most importantly I want people who visit my blog to go away with a feeling of goodwill, not a lighter wallet.

So I say bloggers beware.  What may look inviting and tasty at first, may end up costing you more in the way of lost integrity than what you would receive in that additional income.