April 2007

Back at the beginning of April, I blogged about having a Criteria for Writer’s Blogs so that one could evaluate a blog from a technology viewpoint. How well does the blog use technology to market the writer’s work?

Back then, I didn’t have any criteria — just my personal biases. After looking at a lot of writer’s sites over the last month, I’ve come up with seven criteria for evaluating a site.

Note that my criteria is my opinion — and I’d love to hear yours as to what makes a great writer site. And, it is not my intent to be critical of any particular site. Indeed, the ones I select will be ones that I consider as doing well in meeting the criteria. Ones that you should emulate in working with your blog setup.

Let’s take a quick look at the seven criteria and then I’ll expand on them in the next few days to more fully explain what each section means.

The seven:

1. Great Content. All blogs, not just writers blogs, need great content. Without great content, there is no reason for a reader to read what the writer is writing.
2. Blog “About” Page. This would explain what the blog is about from the writer’s viewpoint. Is the blog about a particular book that you have written and you are writing about the subject in the blog? Or is this the personal writer site where you write about your success and struggles in writing the next big novel? Either way, a reader should find this out from your About page.
3. Contact Information. A reader — or publisher, editor, or others wanting you to write for them — should easily be able to find out how to contact you.
4. Subscription Information. It should be easy and obvious to subscribe to your content in your blog.
5. Media Page. This is a page that talks through your bio. I’m particularly biased towards several views of your bio — a tag line, a short bio for a paragraph at the end of an article, and a long bio where one could formulate questions to do an interview with you. Pictures that can be used for an article in different sizes and/or poses a plus.
6. Top Posts. This is a place to make it easy for your readers to find what you think, or your readers think, are the best content from your site. There are lots of blogs where the most popular and read posts are from a year ago through yesterday. Continue to promote those posts by showing them on the front page.
7. Good Blog Design. Not necessarily fancy or custom — but a design that doesn’t detract from the message you are trying to promote on the blog.

It has been an exciting month looking at all the different sites seeing what works best.

And, clearly, I have a lot of work to do on my blog based on my own criteria. Time to get at it!

Scot

When all else fails, technology can be simply paper, pencil, and a great booth at your favorite restaurant.

As a perfect illustration of technology in motion, I offer you Alison Kent’s post called “Wrapping up the book…” In it, she describes all the places in her manuscript where she simply put in things like “NAME OF BRIDGE?” so that she could go back and put in what needed to be put in place.

To describe it all, she engages her husband by drawing a picture of what the plot is all about — and he does the same with a timeline.

See, it’s not about the particular technology. It’s about the right technology to communicate with your readers. Or, in this case, your husband to help you in your writing.

Enjoy your weekend.

Scot

Yesterday, I posted a request for help in Searching For Heroes from Inkthinker.

Also on the Inkthinker blog worth mentioning is a specific post on how Jeremy David’s Great Writing Challenge has been retracted and what he has learned from the comments.

The lesson:

Ironically, launching the Great Writing Challenge was a very educational process in itself. The stark yet honest comments I received clearly established that this is an adventure I am going to have to embark on my own. Blankly soliciting assistance from random people without engaging them first (or putting much thought into it beforehand) was silly.

There are other points as well and if you’d like to read them, you can find them on this evolving writing blog at Jeremy David.

The point I wanted to make here was that when I originally came up with the idea for Ten Keyboards, one of the main concerns of people who did not have a blog was the utter criticism that can come along with putting yourself out there on the blogosphere.

It is both a valid and invalid concern.

If you write controversial ideas in a controversial area (say, politics), you can expect to receive commentary that is both childish and brutal amongst the wonderful gems of insight that will support your particular point of view.

On the other hand, if you contribute to others in your writing and your comments on other blogs through extending the conversation about the points brought up (even if you disagree with other writings on other blogs), you will find that the response is a willingness to learn about your point of view and trying and understand how your thoughts can influence that which is written.

The exciting thing to me is how writers can change your opinion on something and contribute to an idea that is now a sum of your idea plus their idea through your blog. It’s happened to me and well worth the effort — and risk to your ego.

I moderate comments on my blogs. I check my blogs about four times a day to moderate the comments. I don’t moderate the comments so that I can ignore legitimate commentary on my work. I moderate them to get rid of the minimal spam that my spam plugin doesn’t catch so that you aren’t subjected to utter stupidity contained in the spam.

But constructive comments? That’s a good thing.

It’s the price of admission whether you write a blog, web site, article, books, or query letters. Rejection is rejection. But using technology that helps you market your work, rejection is also an opportunity to learn.

Go for it.

Scot

Over at Inkthinker, Kristen King passes along a good request from Gary at American Legacy Media, LLC, which I am now also passing along to my subscribers:

Will you help me research my next book?

I’m still in the preliminary stages, but the working title for the book is: “Quiet Heroes: America’s Greatest Stories of Heroism You’ve NEVER Heard.” I am hoping to find stories about unsung or little known American heroes.

The hero may only be known to your local community, or just family and close acquaintances. The heroism could have taken place at war-time, at work, or in the course of everyday events. Regardless of whether the act was publicly recognized or not, I want to hear about it. It’s also important that the hero still be alive, as I may need to talk to them.

To be specific, I am looking for stories about someone who, in a singular act, ignored their own safety to protect or save the life of another AND, since that event, has lived a life of honor and integrity.

If you know someone who has accomplished something heroic, please let me know by completing the form here:

http://americanlegacymedia.com/unsungheroes.htm

It’s a good thing to contribute to.

Scot