I sent a post to Kveller for their Raising Kvell blog, and they published it this week. It’s totally the opposite end of the spectrum from this week’s Tablet piece:
It’s light and fun, but also meaningful. Check it out. You know, if you wanna…
Following up on a suggestion (I wish I could remember who passed along this hint!), I was scoping out historically significant anniversaries occurring in 2014 as potential topics for my writing.
St. Louis, Missouri – 250 years and counting!
In theory, choosing a topic that’s–well, topical–can be a marketing advantage. Unfortunately, none of the anniversaries I’ve found has inspired me so far, but I thought they would be worth sharing because maybe one of them will inspire you. Continue reading
While I prefer to write fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy, I do write other genres. This includes personal essays. I took a little break from writing personal essays over the summer, mostly because writing them can be emotionally draining.
Lately, I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’m not being delinquent; I’m just being practical. Thank G-d, I’ve been doing a lot of writing in the last couple weeks, writing that is both fun and paying (my favorite combination). G-d willing, I’ll be publishing a short 5-part serial in Binyan in the next few weeks, as well as a few other exciting projects that have been time-consuming.
It’s true that blogging is not independent of my work–I maintain my site largely to create an audience for my writing, promote it when published, and help others overcome some of the professional hurdles I’ve come across (sometimes stumbling along the way). However, writing a decent post that I don’t mind having my name attached to takes time. Lately, for good reasons, I’ve felt my time has to be spent elsewhere. But posting regularly is key to maintaining a good blog.
How do the readers out there strike the right balance between blogging and other professional activities?
Pretend you’ve just opened up your favorite magazine. You see a name–the name of your favorite writer, whose articles you always like. You flip right to the page with their latest story and start to read.
Or maybe there’s an author you like so much that you head for the book shop as soon as their newest title comes out. Or perhaps your librarian knows they are your favorite writer and steers you to all their books.
Or maybe there’s a book you always recommend to friends, but no one’s ever heard of that author or that book before.
How do you love me (and my blog), let me count the ways…
I’ve been doing research about marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) in the last few weeks, and what’s interesting is that for writers, many of the best ways to promote our work are free—but depend on the participation of our fans to succeed.
How can you help writers like the ones I described above improve their sales and market visibility?
Here are a few steps. Continue reading
Rebecca Klempner 