____________________________________

Wednesday, March 14, 2007


Relationship Building Is Important

Writing is one of those skills exercised in isolation. You curl up with your keyboard and crank some words on the page. You pour your stories and your characters or your research and experiences. It's important to work hard at the craft of writing.

In addition to the writing, it is important to build new relationships and readers. It's a question authors continue to ask about blogging. It's time consuming and is it worth the time or not. I've decided it is worth it for me because of the relationship building part of it. In the March 5th issue of Publishers Weekly they tackle this question in the area of children's books. Sue Corbett writes in part of this article, "Okay, so blogging is not exactly how all writers like to spend their time. But the big question, of course, is, do blogs sell books? On that, everyone agrees that the answer is yes, though no one can point to any numbers, at least not yet. "Saleswise, I'm not necessarily expecting to see a post-for-post, purchase-for-purchase correlation," said Julie Strauss-Gabel, who edits Green at Dutton. "Blogging is a long-term endeavor, one that builds and sustains a loyal fan base over a career."

Cabot says that after she started blogging, visits to her Web site soared. [Sarah] Dessen used her blog to count down the days to her pub date for Just Listen, and readers stormed bookstores looking for their copy. "I had a lot of girls go to stores on the first day and when the book wasn't on display, they had someone go into the back and made them open a box," she recalled. "I really liked hearing that.""

I'm certain this discussion will continue for the days ahead. As for me and my house, I'm going to continue with these entries about the Writing Life.

Labels: , , , ,

3 Comment:

At 10:00 AM, Blogger feywriter Left a note...

What types of topics seem to gain readers? The writing process? Daily life? Opinion pieces? I'm currently using my website blog to mostly talk about the writing process, but wonder if I need a new approach, or just a new location (such as Blogger).

 
At 10:42 AM, Blogger Unknown Left a note...

A better question would be: do book signings sell books? Yes, the do, but only to those people who show up. I market RV products. I advertise in magazines, do direct mailings, do RV shows, etc. I can't justify any one of those activities based on sales credited to them. However, I know that a customer usually buys a product after being exposed to two more sources of my advertising. The internet, blogging in particular, is a no brainer. It's quick, it's free or close to it, and you reach thousands of customers every day. It should be a new writer's first source for establishing readership.

 
At 6:26 PM, Blogger Heather Ivester Left a note...

That's an interesting article in Publishers Weekly about blogging.

As a book reviewer, I'm much more likely to pick up a book from my stack if I've read a blog interview with the author -- it helps me feel a personal connection with them, so I'm interested in their book.

I've "met" a lot of people through blogging -- and I enjoy the relationship-building aspect. But I can't decide if I'll keep it up. It takes away time and energy from other writing projects. Some of the most prolific writers I know confess they don't have time for a blog -- yet they still have a fan base and have plenty of work coming in. That article was food for thought.

 

Post a Comment


That's the writing life...

Back to the home page...