Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

My Book News & Advocate for the Writing Community ©

Wordsmith’s Collective Thursday – Tips on Maintaining Your Writer Blog

February 9, 2023
mandyevebarnett


Once you have set up your blog and identified your target audience and know what theme/topics you will cover, now you need to maintain it.

One of the most important tasks is to ensure you have a regular schedule, so your readers know when to expect a post from you. Set days and times that are manageable for your lifestyle and time constraints. Be realistic about how much time you can give to your blog, do not overwhelm yourself with unrealistic goals. Posts can be weekly, monthly or quarterly – as long as the schedule is recurring.

Remember having a schedule allows you to write posts in advance and schedule them. Make use of this option by dropping a quick sentence into a draft post of an ideas you have for a post. We all know we won’t remember the idea later!

So why do you need to blog consistently?

In short it establishes author credibility. Readers become familiar with your work and it attracts new readers to your site. Consistent blogging means you are continually attracting a stream of potential new readers to your site with fresh, updated content. Readers love to get an intimate view into the life of their favorite authors along with any upcoming events and book launches. The more you share the more they will want to come back.

Remember to keep your author information, pages, books and events current. It doesn’t take a lot of time to ensure any changes are corrected or updated. This includes the copyright statement for your blog content to ensure it is not pirated. This is essential for the safety of your content should you need to take action on unauthorized copying. Unfortunately, this does happen.

Make Connections to Grow

You want your blog’s reach and popularity to grow so connect with authors in similar genres and also readers of your specific genre(s). This should be a constant work in progress in the maintaining of your blog. Don’t let it become static. The more you connect the larger your reach. To attain growth here are a few tips.

  • Research similar authors, who have blogs and offer to guest post on each other’s websites.
  • Run regular interviews with people who fascinate you.
  • If you have a specific genre connect with other writers in the same genre as well as their following. See what they are posting.
  • Visit forums and post your blogs there.
  • Link your blogs to your social media platforms to gain exposure.
  • Encourage your established readers to post your blog links on their social media to spread the news to as many new sets of eyes as possible.
  • Utilize hashtags when you post to your social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networks always offer—as part of your static profile—an opportunity to link to your homepage.
  • Create a special introduction for people who visit your website from your Twitter profile, Facebook fan page, Goodreads page, etc.
  • Remember your SEO (search engine optimization) and include your ‘top’ search words in every post.
  • When creating the link from your website offer an intriguing question, lead in, excerpt, or explanation of why the post might be interesting to people on your social networks.
  • Write book reviews and use the author name and book titles as keywords. This will draw their readers to your site.

Additional Maintenance and Updating Tips

  • Create a dedicated page on your website for each and every book title.
  • For each book page, make the page title identical to the book title.
  • Use a full or extended description for each book.
  • Link previous blog posts related to each book to tell the story of its inception and launch.
  • Include links to your social media and other book related sites onto your front page.
  • Create a newsletter sign up form.
  • Include videos and/or podcasts you are featured on or host.
  • Share any upcoming events you are involved in.

Wordsmith Collective Thursday – Xmas Book Events

December 1, 2022
mandyevebarnett


At this time of year there is a multitude of events which could fill our calendars. The chance to meet readers in person and to sell books for Christmas gifts is a pleasure. Explaining how our stories developed, what we know about the characters and their journey and how we hope the story transports our readers is a special opportunity.

Even if sales are slow, you have reached readers you would not otherwise have met and that is worth your time. On the flip side you may have the opposite ‘problem’ and run out of books to sell. This is where a business card with your links on it are a bonus. Hand them out and let people know your books are available at other places, such as bookstores, libraries and online. You might not get that immediate sale, but there is potential for sales another time.

With so many events on the same weekends, it is difficult to know which one(s) to attend. It is a lottery of sorts. Even if an event doesn’t have super traffic, it is still an opportunity to connect with other authors and artisans. The bonus being you pick up some individually crafted items, rather than from a box store or retail.

I was so happy to find a ladder planter for my deck and a beautiful Xmas decoration at the last event I attended.

How do you pick which event to attend?

Wordsmith’s Collective Thursday – Creating An Amazon Author Profile

April 29, 2021
mandyevebarnett


The next site that offers an author profile page is Amazon. As you can see from the image below of my author page on Amazon, it can detail not only your bio and books but have a link to your blog, book trailers, videos and more.

As with the Goodreads process there are steps to follow to create this author profile. It is a simple step by step procedure.

  1. Go to https://authorcentral.amazon.com/ and click “Join for free.”
  2. Sign in with your regular Amazon username and password. If you don’t have an account, select “I am a new customer.” You’ll need to give a little more information.
  3. Read the Terms and Conditions, then click “Accept.”
  4. Enter your author name, pen name, or book title into the search field. A list of possible books appears. (Once your account gets set up, you can add more titles by clicking on the “Books” tab in the navigation menu and select the blue button labeled “Add a Book.”)
  5. Select any one of your books to create the account. If your book is not on the list, you can search for it by title or ISBN. (Note: Your book must be available for purchase on Amazon to set up an Author Central Amazon Account.)
  6. Amazon will send you a confirmation email to finish creating the account. (Amazon may contact your publisher(s) as an additional measure to verify your identity, which may take three to seven days.)

Once again there is a follow button for your readers to click and you in turn can follow other authors. It is a great tool for marketing and increasing your author platform.

Let me know when you have yours set up so I can follow you and if you wouldn’t mind please follow me. https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01MDUAS0V

Wordsmith’s Collective Thursday – Creating A Goodreads Author Profile

April 15, 2021
mandyevebarnett


As authors we want readers to find us and our books. There are a couple of sites that offer author profiles that you can set up yourself. Firstly, there is Goodreads. Not only can you create your own profile but actively promote your book(s) and also connect with readers and review other author’s books. As many f you know I review every book I read on Goodreads and Amazon. It is my way of giving back to the community.

The process to set up your author profile is pretty easy and there is a helpful guide on the site if your get stuck. Follow these steps and add another avenue to your author platform. You will also have a follow button so your readers can click that to keep updated on your new releases etc. You can also follow all your favorite authors.

How To Set Up Your Goodreads Author Profile

Step one: Claim your book (or manually add it)

First, search Goodreads to see if your book has already been added to their database. One of your readers could have already added it for you.

If you don’t find your book listed, take these steps to manually add your book:

  • Click “My Books” along the top
  • Click “Import/Export” along the left side
  • Click “manually add books” along the top
  • Or use this link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/new

Once you are on your book page, click on the link for your name. It will open up to an author profile page. Click on the link that says “Is this you? Let us know.” and you will be able to send a request to join the Author Program.

Step two: Customize your author profile

There are many things you can do to customize your Goodreads author profile.

  • Add your author photo.
  • Add a compelling author bio
  • Add your blog.
  • Add upcoming events, give away’s and/or teasers for your next book.
  • Add ‘ask the author’ questions for each book. Make sure to activate

Step three: Getting started on Goodreads

When you are first getting started on Goodreads, here are three things we recommend doing:

  1. Rate at least 20 books. This will unlock additional features that are not available to you until you add and rate at least 20 books.
  2. Start adding friends. Personally, I got started by importing friends from Facebook. This helped me add friends quickly.
  3. Remember to ask reviewers to post to Goodreads as well. Get the URL of your book page and give it to reviewers who agree to post a review for you.

Now you have your author profile added here are several tips on using the site for promotion.

Getting exposure for your author profile on Goodreads can create interest in you and your books. Here are a 9 ways you can get your profile image to show up around Goodreads once you have your account set up:

  1. Update your progress on a book you are currently reading. Click update status on that particular book’s Goodread’s page.
  2. Vote on a list http://www.goodreads.com/list
  3. Vote on a poll http://www.goodreads.com/poll
  4. Blog updates – this will happen automatically if you’ve connected your blog to your author profile.
  5. Rate a book and/or review it.
  6. Add a book to your shelves.
  7. Find a book and click “want to read”.
  8. Click the “like” button under someone else’s review.
  9. Respond to friend requests.

The more you interact the more exposure you and your book(s) will get, so get it done!

Good luck and let me know when I can follow you! Here’s mine:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477059.Mandy_Eve_Barnett?from_search=true&from_srp=true

Wordsmith’s Collective Thursday Blog Writing – Workshop Tips

October 1, 2020
mandyevebarnett


I hosted a virtual workshop last Saturday for the Words in the Park event. It was fun to utilize Zoom so that participants from far and wide could join me. As the workshop was free, I thought I would share the bare bones of the workshop. Hopefully, it will give you some helpful information in creating a blog of your own.

There are numerous blogging sites but these tips cover the basics for you to start.

The number of blogs available on the internet is mind boggling – every topic you can imagine is covered. Whether factual, diarized, crafting, a myriad of interests or informational, you can find several postings about things you are interested in or want to know about. 

So why should you blog? Or indeed why not!

The first and most important question is – why do you want to blog in the first place.

There is a huge range of reasons to blog but maybe the best idea is to ask yourself if any of the following relate to you.

 1. To create something you are proud of

2. Challenge yourself

3. Strengthen your knowledge on a particular subject

4. Meet others with similar interests

5. Help other people in a specific field or topic

6. Gain confidence

7. To improve your writing ability

8. To learn new skills

Once you decide on starting a blog there are several key elements you need to decide on.

  • Name Your Blog

This may seem easy – however, you need to search what names are already in existence, will the name reflect the topic OR theme you will be writing about. Is it a personal blog, a business blog, or a specific interest blog? Does the blog name read OK when it’s in a domain URL format?

Later you may want to purchase your own domain name so consider how it will look.

  • Define Your Target Audience

For an author, this will be readers in your genre, for business people, it is who wants/needs your services. Will you mentor? Cover aspects of health, travel, personal training, or something else?

  • Tone Of Your Blog

What tone or voice will the writing reflect? Strictly business or more personal/friendly?

  • Reason For Your Blog

Will you be building your brand around your blog name or the other way around? Is the blog part of a website or standalone? What do you want to achieve with your blog? Choose one area you have the most expertise or interest in. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself straight out of the gate. Your passion about the subject will bring about the following benefits:

  1. You’re more likely to put the time and effort into your blog to make it shine.
  2. You’re less likely to abandon your blog in the future.
  3. You’re less likely to run out of ideas.
  4. It shows through in your writing, and your readers can feel that. This, in turn, will lead to a larger following.

Tips for Writing A Blog

 Understand your audience

 Write for yourself first

 Build you

 Love your existing readers/followers/clients

 Focus on building an amazing call-to-action

 Be consistent

 Give away your knowledge

 Be true to your voice

 Give it time

Write catchy headlines

Be Yourself

Keep it short

 Positives to blogging:  

1. You’ll gain confidence.

2. It’s a form of diary.

3. Blogging is great writing experience.

4. There is potential financial gain if that is your future goal.

5. The blogging community is great.

6. It allows potential for self growth.

7. It allows development of technological skills.

8. It gives people a creative outlet.

9. Blogging is the current way to market a business or product.

10. And it creates opportunities. Whether in the form of friendships, financial gain or self-growth.

Key Elements for a Blog Post

Make sure to include images in every post. A block of text is seldom read. (Attention spans are very short). Rule of thumb is to use one every 300 words or so.

Format your blog post – longer text should be divided with headers and sub-headers

Use bulleted and numbered lists

Bold and italicize key points

Use short paragraphs – 3-5 lines to prevent ‘skimming’ by your reader

Stick to a theme

Don’t wing your content. Make a plan and schedule your posts.

I either write several blog posts at a time and then schedule them or create a draft when an idea pops into my head.

Blog at WordPress.com.