Welcome back to Please Write Like You Talk! This eZine will keep you up to date on the latest happenings in social media so that you can make (and help others make) better decisions about how to use your time.
Each month I'll tackle a wide topic with a roundup of the best info that I've found online with plenty of commentary.
[in this issue]
- Trish Talks: Sometimes I Just Feel Like a Typist
- Your Monthly Action Item for Leveraging Your Web Presence: Does Your Blog Attract Readers?
- Case Study: Author's Guide to Twitter
[trish talks]
Welcome to June! It's blog month here at real/brilliant. If you've already got a blog (or are just considering a blog), you'll want to stay tuned for a free blogging resource coming this month (yes, I'm a bit behind schedule because I took a vacation!).
It was a good one. A family reunion in a really tiny town just over the border from California in southern Oregon (my home state) and then a side trip from there to Crater Lake.
If you've not had the pleasure of seeing Crater Lake, picture a very tall mountain that's actually missing its top and instead of snow and ice inside the crater, there's a brilliant dark blue lake (one of the deepest lakes in the world!). We were there on one of the sunniest days in all spring, which was great considering our rental cabin was still buried in snow!
While I was on vacation, I continued to monitor social media and publishing developments (thank goodness for my iPhone!). I even "took dictation" as my brain found inspiration in the great outdoors. All that fresh mountain air! It helped me finalize plans for the upcoming social media bootcamp I'll be teaching for . . . wait for it . . . Writer's Digest University!
It is official and Writer's Digest and myself will be talking more about it with you all and the world in months to come.
I've typed madly for days on this bootcamp. I told someone the other day that I feel just like a typist! Sometimes it's all I do! But isn't that what we writers want to do? (Better than any other job in the world, says I!)
Visit real/brilliant's Facebook page for soon-to-be-leaked (shhhhh!) sneak previews of the upcoming bootcamp as well as extra blogging content and discussions all through June.
[leveraging your web presence: does your blog attract readers?]
Why cover blogging? Because it's a writer's home base. You can blog for Huffington Post (several of my clients and
fellow authors do each week) or on your own domain, but having a blog
helps solve a major problem all authors have.
What is this problem?
Finding readers, of course!
It's so much fun to write a book, sell it, and then the excitement of publication, of holding a copy of your "baby" in your hands, and yet, just at THAT moment is when a lot of people begin to think about who will buy and read it. (Of course, you have been planning for months! You wouldn't wait until it's published to have a plan to reach readers, right?)
That's where a blog comes in. I say blogs are prime real estate online. First, rather than a fancy static site that only stays the same day after day (which is still a good thing, just not the best thing), a blog is continuously updated.
It sounds like a lot of work, right?
Only if you don't have a strategy. Bloggers who start a blog and don't plan on what they intend to accomplish with the blog (finding an audience does not count, no; you need more than that) will quickly find themselves burnt out and sick of the entire idea. Once an author is worn out, their blog looks like an abandoned creation, hanging out there alone, ignored, skipped over, and forgotten.
Your blog doesn't have to be like that. Consider two things:
1. You need to find an audience, yes, but you need a HUNGRY audience.
2. You must CREATE interest in the book you've just written and published.
Think about those two things in the next fortnight (how very British!), and in the next eZine, I'll have a blogging resource for you to take a look at. This one will be worksheet-heavy, so sharpen those pencils!
[case study: Author's Guide to Twitter]
Because I'm late creating the new blogging resource, my free ebook (for eZine subscribers only!) about using Twitter is still available for download. Twenty-two pages of ideas to create your strategy for Twitter. Any questions or comments, email me. To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, go here. And then to download the pdf of Author's Guide to Twitter, go here. The password is: twitterstrategy.
[need help with social media?]
Many small businesses (and now authors!) have worked with me to develop a social media strategy to build their tribe, attract clients, and develop their platform. The amount invested was small compared to the results. If you'd like to learn more about my social media strategy/consulting services, go here.
[link up with others on real/brilliant's Facebook fan page]
We'd love to see you there! To visit real/brilliant's fan page on Facebook, go here.
[read back issues of PWLYT online]
Missed an issue of Please Write Like You Talk? Back issues are
available online to subscribers at the PWLYT web archive.
[forward this eZine to others!]
Thanks for reading! If you know of any authors or small businesses that would benefit from reading this eZine, feel free to pass it along.
| 
Return to Archive
[June: About A Blog]