B is for Blog Hops

Blog hops are fun and challenging and you meet many people, so participating in them may not feel much like marketing. But exactly because you meet many people - people who are actively seeking new relationships - blog hops are an excellent way to build up your followers.

Now I must state that the number of followers you have does not actually mean as much as the quality of engagement you have with your followers. You can have a thousand followers who stop by one time and never again. That's not really useful for you as an author.On the other hand, you can have one hundred followers that will tweet, facebook, and blog on your behalf at the drop of a hat. Followers become great marketing tools when you know them well enough that they stop by often, comment often, share your news/posts with others, and are happy to guest on your blog or vice versa.

Just to be real clear, followers are people not statistics. They are opportunities for engagement. If you don't engage, the number of followers you have means nothing.

But because it is an easy number to monitor, we are going to look at my follower numbers to show how much a blog hop can change the opportunities I have for engagement. As I schedule this post to run, I have 331followers. Let's see where we are at the end of the month, shall we?

How have your followers jumped since you started this blogfest?

Making the Most of Campaigns and Blogfests

This is the last day you can sign up for Rachael Harrie's AWESOME platform-building campaign so I suggest you get over there NOW!

If you are planning on participating in this campaign or really in any blogfest, there are just a few points to consider before signing up:

• Be available.  If you are going through the most hectic time in your life, don't sign up. Campaigns and blogfests are meant to help build relationships. You will not build very meaningful relationships if you aren't going to be available to participate. And it isn't fair to others who are trying to connect with you.
• Fit the guidelines.  Read what the blogfest or campaign is looking for. If you write picture books only, don't sign up for a YA blogfest that is intended to build YA relationships. Again, they won't be meaningful relationships if you aren't who they're looking for.
• Write meaningful posts.  It's like when you're planning to have guests over at your house.  Not your best friends, but new people you've never met before.  You clean up and bring out your best dishes, don't you? Same thing on your blog. New people are going to be stopping by at all hours of the day and night. Make sure you've got your best posts up, no filler fluff or off-topic randomness (unless that's who you are all the time). Broken record alert - you are building relationships. Let your visitors know what they're getting into, what they can expect from you so they'll want to return.
• Give back. Don't just wait for people to come to you. Go visit them, leave a comment, say hi. No one wants to be the only one putting out in a relationship so make sure you do your fair share.

A big howdy hello and thank you to all my newest visitors, particularly the ones from the campaign! (WAVE!) These are just a few tips, do you have others about making the most of campaigns? Please share or just say hello in the comments.

Following Blogs: How Do You Keep Up?

Oh, me, oh, my, I'm sure posting late today.  It's been a crazy week with my jobs that pay.  All my real work is keeping me from reading and writing!

And that leads me to my post for today.  It's actually a question for you awesome followers, and I seriously want feedback.  How do you keep up on the blogs you follow?  I'm not talking about the blogs you just say you follow, I mean the ones you actually read.  What are your methods for keeping up and sifting through?

Now I have my own method of blog sifting, which I'm happy to share: Along with following a blog, the ones I really want to make sure I don't miss I subscribe to through Google Reader. Not familiar with Google Reader? From their website:

Stay up to date
Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Whether a site updates daily or monthly, you can be sure that you won't miss a thing.

Simplify your reading experience
Google Reader shows you all of your favorite sites in one convenient place. It's like a personalized inbox for the entire web.

Discover new content
Millions of sites publish feeds with their latest updates, and our integrated feed search makes it easy to find new content that interests you.

I have Google Reader on my computer and my phone.  They link together so that when one updates, so does the other. Whenever I find myself waiting in line or with my kids at the playground, I can sift through a couple of blog posts. I skim through posts until I find things I'm really interested in. If I love a post, I star it as a favorite.  I'm pretty happy with this, but I'd like to hear from others.

Now your turn.  Do you have a better method? How much time do you spend reading blogs? I would love to hear what it is.


Also, congratulations to all the finalists in Deana Barnhart's blogfest first 200!  While I'm sad to not be a winner (boo hoo) I was sincerely impressed by the talent I saw in the other excerpts.  If you haven't had a chance to check them out, please do.

Monday FAMP and Blogfest First 200 words.

Today I'm going to write a very contradictory post. Don't say you weren't warned.

I am participating in Deana Barnhart's fourth week of her month long blogfest.  This week's assignment is to post the first 200 words of a novel.  I am posting from my WIP because, to tell you the truth, I am kind of over the book that I am currently querying agents with. 

Now here's my contradiction:  From a marketing perspective, blogfest and contest posts can often turn off your followers. I know. Insane, right? But it's true. Yes, blogfests can build followers, which is awesome. And contests can help connect you with other and help get your work critiqued, again, awesome for the aspiring writer. 

But, depending on your message (remember you gotta have a message?), a follower who comes to your blog to find advice for themselves and frequently finds you are instead posting only self-interest posts such as critique my first 200 words, well, they may get bored.  You may be the best writer, and your first 200 words may be AMAZING, but let's face it, we're all a little self-involved. And sometimes readers see you've posted your query, or first page, and say to themselves, "Um, what's in it for me?" True story.

I'm not telling you not to participate in these fests, but do so in moderation.  Be aware.  Remember your readers and try to keep in mind what they want and what they're getting.

All that being said, I am very much enjoying Deana's blogfest and am continuing with my entry below. 

Laura Barnes

sWITCH
middle grade fantasy 

First 200 words

Mina hated waiting, and even her mother’s best Patience spell was not enough to keep her from aimlessly pacing her room. In less than an hour, she would celebrate the thirteenth hour of her thirteenth birthday, and her magic would finally flow from her fingertips showing once and for all that she was not a weirdo in the world of witches.

Mina moved to the Mystic Revealer again. To any outsider this would look like an average girl staring endlessly into a mirror, but the object showed more than her reflection; it showed traces of magic. She searched the outline of her image, like she did most mornings, looking for any sign, small as it may be, of her magic leaking. This time she truly expected to see something different – a glint of what was about to come, a shimmer around her reflection – but the Mystic Revealer didn’t show anything but the same old Mina. Today, she told herself. It’ll be there.

“Mina? Time to go!” her mother’s voice sounded as if it was in the room with her thanks to the Close-Call spell, but she knew her parents were already in the garage. 

I welcome any comments. This is still a work in progress and I need the feedback.  Even if you aren't participating in the fest, your thoughts are welcomed.

  

Facebook Friday: Getting Past 420

Considering how most of us are writers, I'm sure there is more than one of us that sometimes find 420 character limit on Facebook just a little too short to get out our full message. 

Guess what. I have a solution.

Ok, this is such a simple solution, it's probably not even worthy of a full post.  But I have to tell you I am embarrassed how long it took me to learn this which is why I'm so eager to share.

First, in case you don't know what I'm talking about, let me show you. If you try to post a status that has more than 420 characters (it's longer than Twitter at least) you get a message that looks like this:

To get past that, all you have to do is load a photo - any photo, though preferably one appropriate to your post.  Once you load the photo, type your status in the box that says "Say something about this photo. You can talk forever. Go ahead, try it. Of course the bottom will have a link that says "See More" but that's ok, right? Here's what I mean:

When this could be useful as a writer: Maybe you want to post an excerpt of your book. Or maybe a book review.  Maybe you don't have a blog or you don't want to post your book review or excerpt on your blog. Or maybe you just have a long status update. Whatever your reason, sometimes you just have more to say. Try this trick and let us know how it works for you.

And what are your thoughts on the Facebook 420 bypass? Did you already know that trick? Have you ever had trouble with the status limit, or is that just me?

In other news: Deanna Barnhart's Week 3 Blogfest was a blast. There were many great queries and I was honored to be a top ten finalist! Thank you to all who helped me tweak my query.  And congratulations to Lisa Ann Chikos who had the winning query. Woot! Woot! If you haven't checked out her blog, I recommend you do; she's got a good one.

Deana Barnhart's Blogfest Continues

Remember how participating in blogfests can really help increase followers?  Well here I am participating in the next part of Deana Barnhart's Blogfest.  This week, we post our queries and ask for feedback, so here goes mine. Feel free to comment even if you aren't in the fest.

Dear Agent, 


Mina Bevins hasn't leaked any magic like the other girls, earning her the status of weirdo in the world of witches.  When her thirteenth birthday passes, and she still lacks any power, the Coven Seer looks into the past for an explanation: Mina’s not really a witch at all; she was switched at birth with another baby in the mortal world hospital.  

Somewhere there’s a young witch leaking magic all over the place, exposing the witch world.  Secrecy is essential to keep the coven from persecution and the only way to ensure it remains safe, the coven decides, is to track this girl down and remove her powers. 

Having just learned that she will never come into the power she so desired to possess, Mina thinks stripping someone of her magic on purpose is horrible. Together with the help of her friend Porter, a male witch, Mina uses the limited power available to them to find the other girl and warn her before the coven takes away her magic life too.

At 45,000 words, sWITCH is middle grade fantasy adventure that brings to life a matriarchal world of witches hidden among humans.

I am a marketing consultant and maintain a blog that gives advice to writers as they build their platform.  I am a member of SCBWI.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.