#MFRWorg Newbie's World: Do I Need A Blog?

Newbie’s Corner: Do I need a blog?

Big question. There are as many opinions on this one as there are, well, you know how that adage ends…

The question always comes down to, will this bring me more readers? Will more people buy my books if I’m blogging?

Let’s explore.

Advantages:

• Trust: In order for readers to buy your books, they want to trust you, the author. So if you are continually serving up great content on your blog, then a potential reader might e more willing to buy your books. 
• Writing skills and time management: blogs are a great way to get out short, great messages, as well as a way to improve your dedication. 
• SEO: You want to be on the first page of Google, right? Well, blogs are liked by the magical Google spiders because they are updated more regularly than a static site. 

Disadvantages:

• Time: Ah, if only we had days and days filled with nothing but time to do what we wanted. But in our crazy writer lives, we are limited. So in between Facebook, Twitter, updates to our regular website, and actually writing, do you need another weekly commitment? 
• Platform: what are you writing about? It’s great that you have kids, recipes, and writing in your life. But do others want to read about that? (this is not meant sarcastically at all – some people have great blogs on all of the above. But is that your platform?)
• Reciprocity: A big part of blogging is the reciprocal aspect. Blog hops, sharing other’s posts, gaining new followers by posting comments to others’ blogs, linking to Google+ and Goodreads blogs, Triberr…it’s a long list, once you go down the rabbit hole of blogging. Do you have the time and energy for it? 

There is no easy answer for this question. For me, personally, I know that my readers like to read paranormal romances. But I don’t feel that I read enough in this genre in order to generate new content on a weekly basis.

My compromise with myself has been to write for others’ blogs or group blogs (like Heroes and Heartbreakers). This way, I’m reaching a larger viewership with established readers. And, the pressure is off for a weekly (or monthly) commitment.

However, I still need to relate everything back to Erin Moore, the author. That means keeping my messaging consistent – any of my readers could read anything I wrote. Here are some other general rules for writing for others:

1. Google Authorship: You want to make sure that you own your content so that Google searches for your name or books will link back to you. Here’s a very detailed explanation of how to do this.

2. Search for blogs in your genre with a large readership, but don’t neglect the small or medium blogs, either. These may have very dedicated followings. Trying to land a big blog? Try these tips.

3. Promote your guest post as you would for your own blog.

I know, I know…I still haven’t answered the essential question. Unfortunately, hard data on whether blogging promotes sales seems extremely hard to come by. If anyone has seen any real numbers on blogs increasing book sales, would love to hear about it!

For authors with their own blogs, the only way to determine if it is truly bringing in readers is by measuring traffic. Do blog readers click on buy links after finding your post?

In the end, like everything, it is a personal decision. Hope some of this information has been helpful.

Tell us what you think!

Is a blog necessary, or not? How do you negotiate the world of blogging?

Sources: Small Blue Dog  |  Jane Friedman  |  Savvy Book Writers  |  Boost Blog Traffic  |  Weblogs  |  Pushing Social

POSTED BY ERIN MOORE

Erin has been writing her entire life, but only recently found her voice in the paranormal romance world.

She's an avowed chocoholic, loves travel and good tea, and finds her inner peace by meditating and writing. Fantasy, historical fiction, and romance are her inspirations.

What Authors Should Know About Promo @jeffmp3 #MFRWorg #amwriting

Marketing for Romance Writers welcomes JP Adkins, founder of the new social media site MyAwesomeFans, for a look at authors and promoting well.

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MyAwesomeFans.com 

Share about who are you vs. what you're doing.

We all know creative artists for whom the only reason they go onto social media is because they need to promote their book, blog, or whatever. Authors and other creatives typically have many different accounts for each pen name, but rarely share insights as to who they are as a person. The secret of social media is that if you are not giving people the "why" of what you are doing, they will not care about the "what" you are doing. Social media is a powerful platform to grow your "knowability" and "likeability", two of the most important factors for why people choose your products and services.

Remember when you created for fun?

When you were not worrying about deadlines or bottom lines? I have found that when you rely on your creativity for your food supply, it becomes a mad dash to reach more people, figure out how to get more sales, figure out how to climb the Amazon Rankings, how to get another review, etc. Sound familiar?

The issue we find is that in order to reach the most people, we have to be on many different media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook (Wall, Groups, and Page), G+, Pinterest, Instagram and the list goes on and on and on. We simply don't have time to  be human on all of these platforms and still have time to create. I have a couple of tips that can help authors create engaging content while allowing yourself to stay focused on creating awesome products that please you. In the end, if it doesn't please you, it'll never please anyone else.

If you can't add value to a community, drop it.

What are you doing to help the community along? Are you there just to promote yourself? Is everyone in this group just promoting themselves or are they genuinely trying to help each other? These are all questions that you should be asking yourself. Facebook Groups for example. I know authors who are in forty-five+ groups and more than half of them are full of other authors cutting and pasting their promo-of-the-day. The only advantage to staying in that group is search engine hits, but most of the groups are secret and won't even be crawled by the search engines.

So, how do I do it all and stay sane?

I say do what makes you feel good and automate the rest. I personally use Facebook as my main social media platform. I have a Twitter account, a G+ account and a Tumblr account I use for various reasons. My Twitter life was changed when Kayelle Allen talked to me about Paper.Li! It creates digests of content from sources you select. I have two. One is full of inspirational speakers such as Dr. Wayne Dwyer, Deepak Chopra, and others, while the second is full of author friends. They both get tweeted out daily and I get a digest so that I can keep up with everything without spending much time on Twitter. If I see something that inspires me, I generally retweet it or I may share a quote. Twitter is my inspiration station. I want to get on there, get an inspirational bit, then go do whatever it is that I was doing.

My Tumblr account is my naughty side. I use it to inspire some of the erotic artists I know. Most of this is through reblogging, although I have shared links and snippets too naughty for Facebook.

I use my G+ account more for the Hangouts feature than anything else. I enjoy sharing meditations on Monday where my friends can tune in. The rest is promo, but I will say most of my circle follows me on Facebook and really doesn't use G+ for anything but promo either. The reason I even do that is because Google said it will no longer search through Facebook or Twitter statuses.

This brings me back to Facebook. I have a page for MyAwesomeFans, my wall, and belong to more secret groups people keep adding me to than promotional groups. I only have one account my family follows, so I try to keep things generally clean. What that does is let people know who I really am. They know why I am doing whatever it is I am working on from a very personal place. I am human. I am not just a robot on the other side of a screen just trying to sell people something. I do promote, but it isn't the only reason I exist. I also share things that make me feel something, engage in conversation, and try to help others achieve their dreams.

It's about connections.

In the end, it is about connecting with people. When we can remind people that there is another person on the other side of the screen, one who is very much the same as they are, it creates rabid fans and maybe a friend or two.

About JP Adkins

JP Adkins is an artist, writer, designer, Zen master, and marketing guru. He likes to see himself as someone who works hard at making life better for the people he comes in contact with both professionally and personally. He created the new social media platform http://MyAwesomeFans.com to help creative artists to better reward their fans while saving creators time and to help them make a little more money while they do it. You can set up your Fanclub free for one month using the coupon code: MFRW

Author Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/jeffmp3

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jeffmp3

Fanclub http://myawesomefans.com/index.php/groups/viewgroup/1-jp-adkins

#MFRWorg The MFRW Newsletter History

When I started the January issue of the MFRW Newsletter, I reflected on how far we’ve come since we began back in November of 2008.  There weren’t very many of us in MFRW back then and the Newsletter was about ten pages long each month.  Now we’re up to sixty-plus pages some months, and in January we had a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author on our cover.  Who ever would have thought we’d be helping a best-selling author to promote her books?  Incredible.

I now have a staff of three assistant editors without whom I couldn’t possibly get this baby out the door.  Each month in this column, I’ll highlight one of us so you can get to know us better.

So:  How do you put together a successful Newsletter?  First, decide how often you’re going to issue it.  Once a week? Month? Quarter?  I wouldn’t go any farther out than quarterly.  You want to keep your audience engaged.  I think monthly works, unless you have help.  After all—you want your newsletter to be attractive, fun, and informative, but you also need time to write and keep up with your other promotional activities.

Next, what information do you want to disseminate in your newsletter?  Of course you want to announce new releases and maybe keep your readers apprised of how you’re doing on your works in progress.  Do you want to have guest authors?  How much space do you want to give them?  Do you want to post a bio? Interview? Tag Line? Blurb? Excerpt? What about cover art and photos?  Don’t forget—the same copyright rules apply to photos you use in your newsletter as on your blog.  How do you assemble this material?  We’ll cover that in upcoming months.

Meanwhile, check out the MFRW Newsletter.  You can access it both in our files and at Issuu.com.  Here are the URLs.

Our Files:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MarketingForRomanceWriters/files/MFRW-Newsletter/2014%20MFRW%20Newsletter/

Issue:  Issuu.com:  http://issuu.com/mfrw/docs

And here’s a bit about me:

Rochelle Weber is a Navy veteran and holds a BA in Communications from Columbia College in Chicago with an emphasis on creative writing.  “Would you like fries with that?”  Her non-fiction article, “Bulimia,” was featured in Hair Trigger 9 & 10, the acclaimed Columbia College student anthology.  Her first novel, Rock Bound, is available at CreateSpace, Smashwords, Amazon and BN.com.  The digital version of her second novel, Rock Crazy is available at MuseItUp Publishing, Inc., and the print version’s available at CreateSpace and Amazon.  She edits the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter, and for Jupiter Gardens Press.  Rochelle lives in Round Lake Beach, Illinois.

Website:  http://www.rochelleweber.com

Blogs:  http://rochelleweber.blogspot.com

http://rochellesreviews.blogspot.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=1067356188

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/RochelleWeber

Amazon Author’s Page:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002HVPRVM

#MFRWorg Blogging Etiquette: Be A Good Guest

How Polite are You?

Blogging Etiquette from contributing blogger, Vicki Batman

Don't you just love having different folks guest on your blog? I do! It's an opportunity for both of us to pique the interest of other people. 

I asked fellow Plotting Princesses—Michelle Miles, Liz Lipperman, Pamela Stone, Karilyn Bentley, and Sylvia McDaniel—and top-notch authors who host blogs—Paloma Beck, Kayelle Allen, and Christina Cole—for their thoughts about blogging.

Do you ask others to post on your blog? I invite loads of folks for Handbags, Books...Whatever and the Plotting Princesses. I have placed my contact and submission information in yahoo groups' databases.

At Ye Olde Inkwell, Michelle generally asks writers she knows who have a new release. Paloma told me she has moved toward creating special features at Romance Beckons with invited guests who fit in with her own writing. Christina says she asks people to post on two of her blogs, Time for Love and Seasons of Love. Kayelle doesn't invite guests on her personal blog, Unstoppable Heroes. However, the Romance Lives Forever blog is geared toward guests.

Do you share the post with your followers? Michelle, Sylvia, and I funnel our blogs through Triberr. I post to yahoo groups, FB, and Google+. Michelle uses a special Wordpress plugin which spreads the word. Pamela says yes, especially when on the Plotting Princesses or on a guest blog via Twitter, Facebook, and email.

Paloma writes her post goes to Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and, of course, Triberr. If it's an author she has read or knows personally, she'll do a bit more to promote; otherwise, it's just the standard in these social media outlets. Christina actively promotes all guest posts through Twitter and Facebook.

Kayelle's blog is shared via Networked Blogs, Bloglovin', and Linky Followers, automatically shared on Facebook and Twitter, and feeds to Triberr which amplifies the post thru a network of like-minded bloggers on Twitter. It's tied to Paper.li, a newsletter that auto-curates material based on the blog's RSS feed and the hash tag #RLFblog. Guests on Romance Lives Forever get an average of two newsletter mentions and about forty-five mentions on Twitter, plus links to at least three pages on Facebook.

Do you have rigid submission formats for the blogger to follow? Ms. Lipperman told me no, and Michelle asks the post be sent at least 24 hours in advance since she schedules posts. I do have requirements for my #handbag Monday posts as this day is about my favorite accessory; however, I do let authors include a jpeg, one line blurb, and one buy link. Sylvia doesn't have submission formats either; however, her blog is new and she is learning.

Christina tells me on Seasons of Love she has a very strict format regarding how the information is to be posted and presented. On Time for Love, it's more "anything goes" -- as long as it doesn't include promotional material.

I've had to format posts with a specific font and size. Fix my jpeg a called-for size. On Handbags, Books...Whatever and the Plotting Princesses blogs, I've dealt with Rafflecopter. Pictures here and there. Crazy html—yikes! All takes up too much time when I should be writing.

Paloma uses guidelines but wouldn't call them rigid. She has a specific page on her blog with all the information. Check out how she does this at this LINK.

On Romance Lives Forever, Kayelle provides specific formats for five interviews. She has spent too much personal time cleaning the posts for publication. Images are placed in areas for the most views, and the font is easy to read.

Princess Karilyn likes blogs with questions; however, guidelines are helpful. She likes to talk about her books, but not craft. She also adds that in her head, no comments has her wondering if anyone saw the post, but realizes the trend is not to comment.

Several of us think keep it simple is most beneficial. 

What are pet peeves? Ms. Lipperman and Pamela say they're annoyed when people don't check back to respond to comments. I agree. I am also upset when the blogger doesn't share my URL in any social media outlets like I have.

Paloma doesn't like late submissions. Would you arrive at a dinner party an hour late? I think not. So please be mindful of your time when coming as a guest to my blog.

She adds: Not promoting yourself. Guests should promote their post and encourage others to visit the blog. Then they should be there to answer questions and engage with those who comment.

Christina is peeved when guest bloggers ignore the rules: sending a 150-word "blurb" over the asked for 25 words or less, or ignoring the "no promotion" restriction and sending a post all about their latest release.

Kayelle finds it annoying when formatting requests are ignored, for example: all URLs must be written out and not embedded because the free promotion the author will receive is being included in a pdf at the end of the year that provides the author's buy links for their books. You'd think people would love that, but often the links are embedded anyway. That's not just annoying; that's rude.

 

Anything else? Kayelle says if you build a good social media platform with your blog, you will get results.

In summary, for the Blogger, I recommend:
1. Share the post with your followers, yahoo groups, Facebook, Twitter, Triberr and anywhere else you can think of.
2. Don't ramble. A 250 word post is really long enough.
3. Turn in your post on a timely basis.
4. Don't over use fancy fonts.
5. Send pictures in jpeg and note in the post where to insert each one, but don't overdo the picture thing.
6. Writing about a proper topic and not shouting "Buy My Book" or whatever.
7. Provide working URLs.

For the Host, I recommend:
1. Share the post with your followers, yahoo groups, Facebook, Twitter, Triberr, and anywhere else you can think of.
2. Don't overdo the formatting requirements.
3. Do provide reasonable content guidelines.
4. Be flexible because...stuff happens.

To sum up, blogging etiquette is really what our moms told us: Be nice. 

TALK TO US... What kind of blogs do you like to visit or read about?

Michelle Miles  |  Pamela Stone  |  Karilyn Bentley  |  Liz Lipperman  |  Christina Cole  |  Paloma Beck  |  Kayelle Allen  |   Sylvia McDaniel

Moderating the MFRW Facebook Group: So What’s the Big Deal About Spam? #MFRWorg

"Spam? I don't think so...."

As I’ve alluded to in my first two posts about screening and contacting potential members, one of the things I consider within the purview of my responsibilities as an MFRW Facebook group moderator is preventing spam profiles from becoming group members. In addition to moderating the request/join process, we also choose our group settings according to the general seeking of balance between allowing the group to be accessible to the public and potential members and disallowing illegitimate members access to it.

In creating or moderating a Facebook group, one of the first things one selects is the group type. On any group page (whether you’re a member of it or not), there is a tab toward the upper right corner that says “Create Group.” After choosing a name and having the opportunity to invite particular people to join, a group creator also needs to choose whether the group is “Open,” “Closed,” or “Secret.”

MFRW is an “Open” group, which means the public may see the group members and the posts made in the group. This is because promotion is a big part of the MFRW Facebook group, so of course we want people to be able to find it easily and see the content in it, since most of said content is intended to reach potential readers. (A “Closed” group allows the public to find the group and see who is in it but not view the posts on the group page, and a “Secret” group hides the members and the content from the public and is not accessible via a search.)

In addition to this setting, the “Membership Approval” setting is one to which moderators may want to pay attention. (If you moderate a group, the place to edit these settings is found by clicking on the little wheel-like icon at the top right of the page and choosing “Edit Group Settings.”) The two choices here basically indicate that 1) any members can invite and approve other members or 2) moderators must approve any invited members. MFRW is set to the second option. With this setting, members can still invite others to join the group, but the request then goes to the queue to be moderated like any other request.

Facebook additionally has an option to “block” someone who is requesting to join. The “Block” button appears alongside all member requests in addition to the “Add” and “Ignore” buttons. I have only used this feature about half a dozen times, but I have found it helpful in cases of accounts I’ve already determined to be spam sending multiple requests even after I’ve rejected them. Moderators may unblock blocked members at any time by clicking on the "Members" tab in the horizontal menu bar along the top of the group page, clicking the arrow next to the default “All Members” option next to the search box, and choosing “Blocked” from the drop-down menu. The list of blocked members will appear, and a “Remove Ban” link will be next to each name.

So, at this point in these posts, you may be wondering what difference it really makes if a spammer does manage to infiltrate the secure fortress of the MFRW Facebook group? (That is a joke, of course…very little on Facebook is secure, and one should always practice due diligence there in general!) The risks this poses range from mildly inconvenient to more pressingly relevant to one’s professional online persona. They include the following:

1) Well…spam ;)
Right, so obviously one of the things a spam profile tends to do is post spammy links on group pages. Spammers sometimes receive financial compensation for each instance such a link appears, so the spammer’s goal is to place these links in as many places as many time as possible. In general, these links are likely to advertise “make-money-quickly” schemes, easy-to-“win” products, or simply any variety of items for sale. Were this to happen on a moderated group page like MFRW’s, it would likely be spotted and subsequently fixed with a deletion of the post(s) in question and removal of the profile that posted it/them. This falls into the mildly inconvenient category.

2) Credibility Questions
However, were I to be away from my computer for several hours (which seems to happen absurdly infrequently), a spammer could do a fair number on the group page while I wasn’t looking. I’ve personally tended to feel this would affect the group’s credibility were a new or potential member (or current members, for that matter) to visit the group and see a bunch of obvious spam links bombarding the page.

3) Malicious Third-Party Applications
Furthermore, some spam efforts have more widespread consequences. In phishing schemes, for example, while the actual post from the spam account doesn’t affect the group members or page (this is the case in general with all posts), if someone were to click on the link in question and enter, for example, her/his/their Facebook password or other sensitive information, that data would then be in the possession of an entity with potentially malicious aims. In general, incidentally, Facebook users should be quite careful to only enter their password on what they’re sure is the actual Facebook site (type the address into the address bar yourself) and not offer this information on a landing page from a link on which they have clicked.

These are the main reasons I and MFRW work to keep spam accounts from gaining membership to the MFRW Facebook group. While links and promotion are welcome in the Facebook group, we want to do all we can to make sure those links are legitimate, safe, and fulfill MFRW’s purpose of connecting the hard work of our members with the readers who will love it. :)


Emerald
Emerald is an erotic fiction author whose short stories have been featured in anthologies published by Cleis Press, Mischief, and Logical-Lust. She serves as an assistant newsletter editor and Facebook group moderator for Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW), and she selects and posts the monthly inspirational quote on the MFRW Marketing Blog. Find out more about her at her website, The Green Light District.