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.

FAMP: Get a Little Color, You're Looking Pale

Let me tell you a little secret:  readers like pictures. I know, we're all grown ups and our books don't have pictures anymore, but we are still drawn to reading material that has color. That's why advertisers are willing to pay more for a color listing.

That being said, it's a natural conclusion that adding color (pictures, variety in font color) to your blog will also draw people to read your posts. But here's the catch, when I say add color and pictures in your posts, I don't mean to your background.

If your background is too colorful, it will draw the attention away from the post - remember, the color should be where you want your readers to look. A background with a minimal amount of color isn't bad (like the one on this site, though this is even a little more color than ideal) but when you post a detailed picture in the background of your blog, a snapshot, for example, you really risk losing your readers.  Yes, it looks cool.  But did you bring people to your blog to look at pics or read your writing? Just sayin'.

The best tips for adding color that draws your readers:

• Stick to using color in your posts, not your background.
• Add a picture to every post...
• ...but try to only add ONE picture unless absolutely necessary (too distracting!).
• Use one or two primary colors (or dark colors) to liven up longer posts or draw the readers eye to important bullets.
• Don't just add color arbitrarily.  Make it mean something or your readers feel like they were cheated. You told them "Read this, it's important" with the color and if it isn't then you kinda lied.
• Don't add too many colorful badges and ads on the sides of your blog. It gets cluttered and the eye doesn't know what to do.

Of course, this is all From a Marketing Perspective. If you love your background busy and filled with design, keep it.  If you love your posts simple and white, go ahead and keep them that way.  Just know it's against my marketing advice.

How do you use color in your blog? Do you like to use pictures? What draws your eyes to a post?  

Saturday Savvy Sensation: Carol Riggs

Today's fabulous Savvy Sensation Award goes to Carol Riggs.  Carol is repped by Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.  She writes YA novels and lives in Southern Oregon with her husband. She's also an artist with a Studio Arts degree (writing and illustrating your own picture books anytime soon, Carol?).  She is a great example of perseverance - it was her 14th novel, Shapers, that got her an agent. See? Don't Give Up!  And now, Carol...

LB: Who are you (what do you write, what are your personal stats)?

I am a YA writer who writes a variety of contemporary, magical realism (which is contemporary with a magical twist), light science fiction, light fantasy, and dystopian fiction. At the end of April 2011 I gained representation from agent Kelly Sonnack of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency for my light sci-fi novel, SHAPERS. We are in the process of revising it before going on submission to editors.

LB: Where can we find you online (blog, twitter, facebook, etc.)?

BLOG:  http://carolriggs.blogspot.com/

WEBSITE: http://www.carolriggs.com/

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/#!/artzicarol

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002675198947&sk=wall

LINKED IN: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/carol-riggs/17/464/93

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5762308-carol-riggs

When did you begin your online platform building?

In earnest? June 2010. The first year of my blog was written more like an online journal, and it bored even me. Then I got serious and decided to social network rather than talk to myself. I went from 30-some followers up to the 330+ I have now, a year later. I changed the focus of my blog at that time, and realized that finding bloggy buddies was a mutual thing--I had to venture forth and be a follower of other blogs. I couldn't just wait for others to come to me. I joined Twitter in February and Facebook in July.

LB: What is your message, if any (is your blog about anything specific, for example)?

My blog now focuses on writing tips, using random pieces of advice that I've learned during the last 10 years of writing. I also do first-page critiques for anyone who sends me a sample, for a public post. Many people find this useful, to see not only what I have to say, but what other writers have to say in the post's comments. I concentrate on young adult or middle grade critiques, but I've done a few adult posts as well.

LB: How have you built your followers:

What have you done that has been the most successful?

I gained the most blog followers by joining in on two very huge blogfests. The first was a Jolly By Golly blogfest at Christmas time, and the second was Rachael Harrie's second annual Writer's Platform Campaign (formerly called Crusade), which she developed to help writers build their online platforms. Blogfests are great ways to meet other writers and readers in record time, and expand like-minded contacts.

LB: What have you done that has failed?

Fail: making my blog an online journal, and waiting for others to follow me. And trying to read my blogroll from my Blogger dashboard; it's SO much easier to log into gmail and click on Google Reader! I also thought I couldn't "follow" more than about 40 blogs--mistakenly thinking I had to read every single post. While it's not possible to comment on over 450 blogs that I follow, I set aside a block of time on Wednesdays and Saturdays to read/skim the posts and try to keep up with most of the news. 

LB: What else should we know about you?

I keep writing because I love it, despite having accumulated 300+ rejection slips and written 15 novels. Keep going, everyone! Don't give up.

LB: Any additional advice for our readers?

Be yourself, and don't write blog posts or make comments on other blogs just to gain followers. Enjoy the relationships, because it's about more than numbers. That's what social networking really is.

LB: What makes you unique (can be anything - can you put your leg behind your head? are you a trivia sensation? etc.)?

LOL, I certain can't put my leg behind my head! I'm an artist with a Studio Arts degree, and I had thyroid cancer at 18. No recurrence of the cancer since then, but the experience made me re-evaluate my life at the time. 

Thank you so much, Carol, for sharing with us! Enjoy your Savvy Sensation Award (you deserve it!) and feel free to pass it on to someone else if you like.

Facebook Friday: Friend Lists

Facebook lists are a beautiful thing. They are an easy way to manage your Facebook relationships, particularly if you are using your personal FB page to also act as your author presence.

The benefit: say you want to post something on your FB page that you only want certain people to see. You can choose which people see your posts (I show you how here) but that can be time consuming if you have a large group of people you want to select. Having a list makes it easy to choose the same large group of people over and over.

How to:  

Step 1

          On your FB profile page.
          1. On the left under your profile pic, click on "Friends".
          2. Click on the "Edit Friends" button on the right hand side.
          3. Select "Create a List".
          4. Name your list in the box that says "Enter a List Name."
          5. Select the people you want on your list.
          6. Select Create List.

If you want to create your list based on interest or location or group, etc., do steps 1-3 above, then:

4. Select the "All Friends" tab. (It might say "Recently Interacted").

5. Choose the category you want from there. (SHOWN BELOW)

You can create several lists. Some ideas: 

• Coworkers
• Family
• Writer Friends
• Fans
• Crit Partners

Have fun making different lists and posting selectively.  Really great tool.

Are you using Facebook Lists? How do you use them? Any ideas you can share with us to use them better?

WOC Marketing Posts

First, thank you so much for all the congrats and support for reaching 100 followers. It's truly been so enjoyable. And Sharon was the perfect winner because she had been having a pretty bad day until she got my email.

Next I have to tell you how glad I am that my older kids are back in school. Even though that means other things in my life will get busier, I have so much more time to do things, even with my toddler still at home.  Maybe it's not more time I've gained, but just more structure.

Which is why I finally have had time to give you a little recap of WriteOnCon. It's been a week, but here's a few highlights I'd like to share, mostly from a marketing perspective:

• Author J.S. Lewis posted on Successful Marketing and Promotion with School Visits. I enjoy working with kids as well as writing for kids and his ideas are the kind I am actually planning when I am eventually (hopefully!) published. Very few authors will take up his advice so you are at an advantage if you do.
• Excellent advice was given from Agent Sara Megibow On Platform.  Seriously read this one. She tells you what you should have on your website/blog BEFORE you query here. Yes, I said before. So get working on that.
• Authors Lisa and Laura Roecker talked about Collective Blogging and Book Promotion. Great tips for online and in person. And a good reminder that you don't have to do everything alone.
• Editor Liesa Abrams gave a very insightful post on An Editor's Perspective About What Authors Should and Should Not Talk About Online. Read it and check your own presence.
• Finally, because it's inspirational, Author Beth Revis said Don't Give Up. It's also interesting to see how one writer works on her revisions.  But mostly it's just an awesome reminder about the value of failing.

One other item of business:

Do you see that picture to the right that says I'm a Platform-Building Campaigner? That means I am part of Rachael Harrie's Platform-Building Campaign.  Are you? Get over there and join! Sign-ups end August 31st!

I have ten minutes before my kids get home. I better jump in the shower.

What did you enjoy from WOC? I'd love to hear what really helped/touched you.  Are you part of the Campaign? Do you have kids you're glad are in school? Share it all!