May 17, 2012

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Guest Post: Connect with Readers Through Book Club Visits

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Big thank you to Cindy Hudson and WOW! Women on Writing for setting up this guest blog post and sending me a copy of Book by Book. With Mother’s Day coming up, I think you’ll find it’s a very appropriate read!

By Cindy Hudson

Technology has made it easy for book clubs and authors to find each other, and many authors are opting to attend meetings of groups who read their work, either virtually or in person. While it may be tempting to see these connections as a major benefit for the book club but a chore for the author, I believe writers can gain a lot when they encounter their audiences.

Here are two of what I consider the major reasons authors may benefit when they get together with book groups:

  • They hear readers’ perspectives about their books and possibly get ideas that may help them in future writing. When my guidebook for mother-daughter book clubs first came out I was asked to attend a reading group for women in my neighborhood. I knew none of them had daughters and didn’t intend to start clubs of their own, so I was curious what they would find interesting in my book. We ended up having a great conversation about parent-child reading and how to choose books to read with sons or daughters. I learned a few things that night that may help me expand my audience.
  • They get to interact with an interested audience and possibly create a group of loyal readers who will pick up whatever they write in the future. I know this is true of both of my book clubs. We’ve attended readings at bookstores for Gennifer Choldenko and Zlata Filipovic. We all enthusiastically read whatever they write after meeting them and getting to know them a little bit. Author Laura Whitcomb also attended one of my mother-daughter book clubs to talk about A Certain Slant of Light. Now we can’t wait to read the sequel when it hits bookstore shelves.

And you can bet we all spread the word to our friends about those books too.

The biggest concern I hear from authors who opt not to interact with book clubs is their fear that it will take too much time. But with so many ways to connect, getting together doesn’t have to take a lot of your time or energy. Book groups are often happy to connect whether you send them an email, have a Skype conversation, recognize them from the stand at a bookstore reading, or make a personal appearance at one of their meetings.

Keep in mind that you’re in charge of how much time you’ll spend meeting with book groups. It may be helpful to remember that when you find yourself having too much fun getting together with your adoring fans.


Cindy Hudson is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, October 2009). She is the founder of two long-running mother-daughter book clubs, and she lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two daughters. Visit her online at www.MotherDaughterBookClub.com.

Interested in contributing a guest blog post of your own? Check out the guest blogger guidelines.

Filed Under: authors, book clubs, Cindy Hudson, guest post

Open Thread: Meeting Blog Readers

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All this conference chatter got me thinking about meeting blog readers and fellow blog readers in the flesh. Sure, you don’t always know who you’re dealing with and there are there a few horror stories out there about internet meetups gone awry. But when I visit a new city, I generally look up fellow bloggers or readers and suggest a meeting over coffee. And when readers or bloggers ask to meet up, I’m usually happy to oblige. Since I haven’t driven in eons, I’ve even car-pooled to Starbucks or Borders with people I just met.

A few people are shocked by this admission, but I think it’s a big reason why I was able to go to my first ASJA conference last week and already know several people in the room. I’m not one of those bloggers or writers who wants to live and die at the computer. Meeting in person helps foster community and sometimes the conversation can take a different direction than it would online.

I think it’s a good idea to exercise a few precautions, though. I feel more comfortable meeting someone who also has a blog, so the relationship feels more balanced. They know a bit about my life, I know a few things about theirs. To avoid the whole “is this business or pleasure?” conundrum that sometimes pops up over ambiguous coffee meetings, I tend to meet female bloggers (not saying male bloggers or readers are all bad – I’ve heard of cases where a blogger met a reader over coffee and ended up marrying them!). And I always tell someone where I’m going and when to expect me back. So far, I haven’t had any problems. In fact, it’s been great meeting some of the bloggers I admire!

What about you? Have you met a blog reader or fellow blogger in the flesh? Or does the idea completely sketch you out?

Filed Under: blogging, open thread

5 Lessons from the 2010 ASJA Writing Conference

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It’s been a whirlwind weekend of networking, coffee, pitch sessions, and schmoozefests. I arrived home last night from New York City, where I attended the American Society of Journalist and Author’s annual conference. Some of you who follow me on Twitter have seen my tweets, mostly sound bytes from the panels and speeches I attended. Now that I’ve had a chance to digest the information from the conference, I thought I’d share a few of the over-arching themes and tips that emerged.

  1. Think multi-platform. Several panelists and speakers bemoaned the death of print markets as we know them. Others suggested ways for entrepreneurial writers to capitalize on new technology by creating iPhone apps, eBooks, podcasts, online videos, and other products. It’s no longer enough to write great articles. Compelling stories can carry over from print to video and other media.
  2. Get social. But be transparent. Social media in varying forms came up in virtually every panel or speech. Some writer embrace it, some writers hate it, but the consensus was that we can’t afford to ignore it. During his keynote speech, Peter Shankman said, “bad writing is ruining America. Good writers will win at social media.” That got a round of applause! Shankman also emphasized the importance of transparency and relevance in social media. If you don’t give readers information in the format they want (be it RSS, email, vblogging, or podcasting), they’ll get it somewhere else.
  3. Buy the domain for your book title. This issue came up in multiple panels. I’m not actively pursuing a book deal yet, so I focused on panels for journalists rather than book authors. But panelists kept mentioning how important this is (one even bought the domain before the deal was formalized, just in case), so I filed this away for future reference.
  4. Think of yourself as a “content expert.” These days, most publishers insist on buying all rights to articles, which kills the writer’s chances of selling a reprint. Instead, one of the panelists urged writers to repackage all that research and knowledge, reslanting the piece for a different market. My blog readers know this isn’t a new idea, but the way she described us as “content experts” got me jazzed about revising my old articles for possible reslants.
  5. Remember, everything is negotiable. Given the rapidly changing media landscape, it’s understandable that some writers feel powerless to negotiate better contracts or payment terms. However, as the panelists in “Self Defense for the Self-Employed” pointed out, it’s still possible to negotiate. Beyond negotiating for more money, writers can ask to drop or alter indemnity clauses, adjust deadlines, and shorten the exclusivity time period.

Did you attend ASJA, too? What was your impression of the conference? Anything you’d add? Or if you didn’t attend, do you agree or disagree with these tips?

Filed Under: ASJA, Peter Shankman, social media, writers' conference

Guest Post: To Blog or Not to Blog?

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By Marian Perera

The earliest blogs date back to 1995, when dinosaurs stalked the Web, and the word “blog” itself was coined in 1999. Since then, blogs have become increasingly widespread – chances are most of the writers you know will have one. Although a web search for “dangers of blogging” brings up a surprising number of problems, there’s no denying the usefulness of a blog.

Do the pros outweigh the cons, though? I decided to look into that.

Pros of blogging

1. Ideas

My blog is mostly about fantasy writing, so all I need to do is start out with a topic – say, five unusual uses for mushrooms – and my imagination goes into overtime. Under no pressure to write a story, I just let the ideas flow.

2. Writing skills

To gain readership, a blog requires content on a regular basis, so that’s regular writing – which has to be as typo-free and grammatical as possible. I have a habit of writing in long paragraphs, but I learned from blogging that bite-sized pieces go down better than slabs.

3. Promotion

The results of those improved writing skills can be showcased for clients or editors or readers on a blog. They have an idea of what they’ll get when they buy your article or your book.

4. Connection and inclusion

Promotion also occurs through social networking, and a blog is a way to be part of such a network. Writing is usually a solitary activity, whereas blogging lets us be part of a community or make online friends.

5. Returns, financial and otherwise

For most of us, blogging doesn’t generate income – or at least, not significant income – but blogs can make a difference in other ways. I’ve been emailed by writers who thanked me for a post on vanity publishing, and it was great to know I’d given something back to a community which has helped me.

But there’s a reverse side.

Cons of blogging

1. Time sink

My blog takes a time to maintain and update, and I know some writers who have taken leaves of blogging so that they could use the time to work on their writing. It’s possible to compensate – I compose posts on the subway, where I can’t write. In the end, though, that’s often time spent on doing something other than writing.

2. Illusion of writing

And yet blogging can make you feel that you are writing, which can be another problem. Sometimes I have to remind myself that writing about writing isn’t writing. There are many benefits to it, but blog posts are not what publishers will buy.

Blogging is easy compared to writing. Posts are short and don’t have to be as polished as work submitted to publishers. Commenters offer quick acknowledgement and praise, whereas agents rarely do.

It’s a temptation. I don’t always resist.

3. Lower standards

The ease of blogging may lead some writers to take less care with their posts than they would take with their articles or manuscripts. But if I see multiple errors or typos, I’ll assume the writers don’t care about putting their best feet forward. It won’t make me look for anything else they’ve written.

4. Inappropriate disclosure

This would be the danger of using a blog as an online diary. Blogs may have begun that way, but you may not want potential agents to read your diary. Mentioning that a manuscript was rejected eighteen times is unlikely to make an editor reverse the trend.

And using a blog to vent just comes off poorly. Controversy is good – spirited discussions on publishing, such as those on J. A. Konrath’s blog, attract people – but that’s not the same as a writer complaining about a poor review online.

Even if such posts are removed later, the Internet is forever. Our audiences may be larger than we know, and they may also contain people like the writer who called me at my home because he took offence to a post on my blog.

I enjoy blogging and I’m grateful for the blogs which have educated me, helped promote my book and given me a connection with other writers. But the disadvantages are real. And if blogging ever becomes a chore, a problem or a serious distraction of writing, then it’s time to re-evaluate.

Marian Perera’s first novel, BEFORE THE STORM, was released earlier this year, and she blogs at Flights of Fantasy when she’s not working on a sequel.

Interested in contributing a guest blog post of your own? Check out the guest blogger guidelines.

Filed Under: blogging, guest post, writing
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