Blog Critique: From the Desk of Laura Stephenson

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

How can you go wrong with a blog that has Laura in the title? Well, that's what Laura Stephenson wants to know and I am delighted as always to tell her. (That makes me sound a little bit mean and evil, and frankly I'm in a snarky mood so I'll embrace it. Don't worry, Laura, I won't be too harsh.) Go check out her blog and meet below, please!

I'm only going to give a few quick cosmetic/functional suggestions today because Laura has specifically asked me for help with another issue. 

Ready, Laura? Here's some suggestions:

• We recommend a more broad color palette. Right now you've basically got two shades of blue. Find at least two other colors and work them in places such as your date stamp and your titles.
• When you work on your palette, pick your correction color (the red you use in your critiques) to fit in with your other colors. Right now the red makes me a little uncomfortable because I don't like how it goes with your blues.
• Move your profile up to the top of your sidebar. Thank you for having your writing schedule! But I still want your profile first.
• Under your profile put your Follow Me box. Make it easy for people to click it. The rest is good as is under those two things.
• Yay! You have depth! I love that you have your critiques and samples on your navigation bar. Since there is so much space on your navigation bar, I think it would look better to increase the font here. Also, go ahead and get us a contact info page and an about page. We'd love to know more about you.
• You could add some nice color and variety by using the LinkWithin widget. Just a personal preference. :)

That's all I'm giving for function and cosmetic since Laura wants to know how to drive more traffic to her blog. Gees, don't we all want to know that? All right, I've given most of this before, but bear with me as I repeat. It's been a while. 

• Participate in blogfests.
• Run contests for followers. To enter they must tweet, facebook, or blog about your blog.
• Search your peeps out. Find the blogs that have the people you want to draw in - people who are interested in the things you post about. On those blogs, leave comments and always make it easy for people to link back to you.
• Respond to your comments. This is a great way to build relationships and get people to return.
• Have guests. Guest bloggers can really build your numbers. Invite people from those blogs you found that your peeps frequent to post. 
• Steal followers. It's not really stealing, but what I mean is go to those blogs that have the people you know would love your blog and get them to follow you. Like if I were going to "steal" your followers, I'd start clicking on pics in your follower box and first, follow their blogs, and second, comment on their blogs with your website address.

Now here's the addendum to all those suggestions - it takes time to build this kind of following. Lots of time. You have to decide you want the following to get it and then devote yourself to it.

When I began blogging, I was mostly a stay-at-home mom and had more time to devote to it. Now, my husband is the stay-at-home parent and I work several jobs with only one day off a week - sometimes no days off. With those time constraints, something was bound to fall apart, and I didn't want it to be my writing, so it's been my blogging. I do not get to visit other blogs like I once did. I don't post often anymore. And I don't respond to comments as often as I like. My readership has gone down, and I have to live with that. In other words, if you want followers, you can get them. But you may have to prioritize your life differently to get there.

Okay, I'm done. Any other suggestions for Laura? I love the things you guys add. You always have at least one brilliant thing I hadn't thought of.

Blog Critique: A to Z Challenge Blog

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

I am super excited to do today's critique for two reasons: 1) I love the A to Z Blogging Challenge and am thrilled to contribute in return for all the team does for everyone else. 2) I have been informed that the A to Z blog is getting revamped! That means (I hope) that they are up for addressing issues that may involve big commitments to change. Without any further introduction, go check out the A to Z Blogging Challenge site and let's discuss below.

Though the A to Z site has never particularly bothered me, when I look at it with a purposefully critical eye and with the help of graphic designers, Tom and Joe, I see a lot of areas for improvement. The good thing is that these tips should be helpful for anyone starting or revamping a blog. Let's get started, shall we?

• Unify your header style. Whatever you choose for next year's logo could have the potential to change your entire blog look. And that's fine if you are changing it from year to year - maybe you'll want to do that. If not, then it's important to create a header that will last from year to year and tie into your color scheme (more about that in a moment). Either way, make whatever is in your header uniform in style. Right now, your awesome logo for 2012 goes well with the font, but then you have an equally awesome looking design thing-a-ma-bob that doesn't go with your logo. The logo is more urban in look while the design thingy is more classic. This type of coordination isn't necessarily a skill of everyone - some people will not notice or be bothered by the difference in style - so ask around if you are unsure when mixing styles/logos/pics. Whatever you decide for your header, make sure it doesn't take up too much of your page. Along with the navigation bar (more later) we don't get to any posts without scrolling. Your header and navigation should end well before the fold (above the point where you have to scroll to go lower).
• Clearly define your color scheme. We love the bold orange and green, but that's about all you got and you don't carry it further than your header. Whether you use those colors or pick new ones, choose at least three distinct colors and use them in your header and also in your posts. Change your title links to be a color within your scheme. Make your time stamp another. Put your links in your scheme as well. For help on getting exact colors to coordinate, visit www.colorschemedesigner.com
• Make solid font usage decisions. Using a variety of fonts may seem like it adds personality to your blog, but it actually makes it feel chaotic and messy. It can be tricky to unify when you have several people writing posts, but luckily the clear formatting button in blogger can clear out all the formatting (imagine that!) and you'll be left with your default font. Now, you don't have to only use one font in your blog, but don't use too many (2 or 3 at most) and use them for distinct purposes. One font for your blog titles, perhaps, another for your main posts, and maybe a third for something like introductions such as the recurring one I have for my blog critiques (I use the same font but italicize). 
• Declutter. Get your navigation to one line - two at the very most. You will need to shorten your menu items, but that's fine. People don't expect sentences for links. In a minute, I'll give you suggestions of what you could abbreviate to, but first, you could also consolidate. You could put all your Sign Ups on one page, for example, and just call that menu "Sign-ups". Or not if you're worried people will mix them up. Be very thoughtful and experiment with your menu so that it looks even across the line. The blanks at the end of the lines right now are not clean.
• Home
• What are we?
• Participants
• Video Rules
• Video Sign Up
• Videos
• FAQ
• Contact
• Badges & Banners
• Reflections Sign up
• A bit of my usual comments:
• Differentiate your sidebar from your posts with a different color or at least a line.
• Order your sidebar items so the important stuff is at top. I suggest your top items be:
• Followers list
• Subscribe Buttons
• Blog Archive
• A to Z Navigation Buttons
• Eliminate duplicate content. You don't need badges in your sidebar when you have a menu item leading readers to badges, for example. Get rid of anything you don't need in your sidebar to give your blog a clean look.
• Advertisements are always a turn off. If you feel you really need/want the money, just realize you may potentially be turning away followers.

Okay, I think we totally tore you apart, but only because I know you are already revamping. Now's your chance to make the look of your site equal the amount of attention you get. Revamping with these items in mind will only increase your following. 

Any other suggestions for the A to Z team?

Blog Critique: Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

I have to give a big sigh before jumping into today's critique. My life has been a whirlwind, as you probably know by now. My other sigh comes from the pressure of critiquing a blog of someone who's a writer friend. You know, you don't want to say anything harsh. I'm glad to be done with it. So go check out Mindy McGinnis's Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire and see if I had any need to panic.

I already admitted that Mindy is a writer friend. But even before she was a friend, I loved her blog. I mean, it's called Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. How can that not be amazing? Her sense of humor is, well, brilliant. And a little crass sometimes. I like that. She has a recurring feature called "Submission Hell, It's True" aka "S.H.I.T." Yes, she's that kinda girl. If you need to see more of the awesomeness that is Mindy, check out this v-log. It's my absolute favorite of hers:

My point of all that prelude is that when you enjoy a blog like I enjoy Mindy's, it's sometimes tricky to sit back and look at it in a critical way. But I did, and overall, Mindy has captured a very concise picture of who she is and what she delivers. You sense her style and flavor immediately.

Though there was very little by way of suggestions, I did find a few things that she could tweak.

So Mindy. Welcome to the spotlight. Let's dive in:

• You have the best author pictures ever. Hands down.
• You have a great color palette. I know it's important to you to have a look and brand, and I see that in your choices. That being said, our graphic designers feel the yellow you use in your query critiques is, well, I'll paraphrase and say "hard on the eyes". They understand the need to differentiate your additions from the original query, but suggest the color you use for your blog titles is a better choice.
• Speaking of your blog titles, they're great. Can you use that color for the titles on your other pages (i.e., Contact, etc.)? That will make it more uniform.
• You have a bit of a dilemma in your footers of your posts. I'm not sure how much Blogger will let you change in your template, but the blue/gray is not readable. Could you lighten the color of the background here to make that color stand out? It's a great color - I just can't see it.
• All right, here's the biggie: your sidebar overwhelms me. It always has. Maybe it's because it's a frequent reminder of how completely busy/involved/insane you are. Also, it's a lot to take in. Here's specifically what strikes me about it:
• You use the two column technique, but your sidebar runs out way before your posts. Either trim how many posts you have on your page (I say have no more than 5 anyway) or make your sidebar one column. 
• Having the two columns makes your label cloud look HUGE. Too huge for me to feel like I would use it often. I'd go through your labels every so often and remove all the ones that you only have 1 of unless they're uber important. That just cleans it up. It's supposed to be an easy to use tool. Just sayin'.
• Actually, if you lose the number's in parentheses on your label cloud, it will help clean it up.
• There's a crap load of stuff going on visually. I like that you use pics, but it's tricky to navigate quickly with the eye. Maybe if you went to smaller FB and Twitter pics that would help. Mostly I think I'm saying I'd prefer you to have one column. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
• Another option - you could get rid of your Book Pregnant and Thirteeners icons, etc. because you already have a page for them. It's not quite the same, but it's an option.
• I'd love to see your post background a lighter shade to differentiate it more from your sidebar. This might not be possible in this template. And it might really screw up your colors. You do have the bar between the sidebar and the posts, but again, it just gives us a lot to look at and a new reader has a hard time figuring out where to go first.
• You'll have a picture of your cover on the sidebar when it's revealed, right? And a link to purchase as soon as you can pre-order?
• I love that you have depth (pages) on your blog. I wouldn't mind seeing an About page though. I'd love to read your bio. It would be awesome, I just know it.
• One last thing, we want to know the black cat story. Can you tell us? Maybe on your About page. :)

I'm done. And I survived. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I liked looking at Mindy's blog with a different eye.

But I might still be too close to it. Did I miss anything? It's the readers' turn to weigh in.

Yep, This is THAT Story

I've got news! And you may have seen it elsewhere because I've posted on Facebook and QT, but I've been in a whirlwind and haven't gotten to my blog.

But here it is: My "I Got an Agent Story".

Yep, it happened. And when it finally happened, it happened fast.

Let's go back. I started querying my first MG book in April of 2011. I received many requests and lots of great feedback, but ultimately, it wasn't the right time for that book.

I began my second MG book in June 2011 and started querying it in January 2012. This book was "the one" - I was sure of it. I had a ton of instant interest including an offer at a small pub and a revisions request from an AMAZING agent. I turned down the small pub and set my sights on the agent. Guess what. The agent rejected me. I was devastated.

But I kept on querying it.

In the meantime, I wrote a contemporary adult romance for fun. It was a breeze. I wrote it in less than three months and enjoyed every minute of it. My goal with this book was to go straight to small publishers. In August, I entered several pitch contests at Savvy Authors and won a bunch of them! So off I sent my book with fingers crossed.

Then it occurred to me: Maybe I should try to query some agents with my romance, just to see. So I picked a handful and sent them out. One of my queries went to Bob Diforio of D4EO Literary Agency. He states that he really only likes queries from referrals, but I've had great responses from Kristin Miller on my two MGs and have DREAMED of working with this agency, so I sent a query anyway.

On the same night of my query, Bob asked for the full. The next morning he offered.

I'm not kidding. It was that fast.

He offered by email. I just happened to read the email before I left to work. Yeah, I was late. I seriously was shocked. I was expecting a phone call and nervousness and the whole feeling each other out, but he OFFERED by email, complete with a contract attached. He said I could call him that afternoon, if I wanted. I did want. I called and got his voicemail so I left a message.

He called me back within fifteen minutes. I had a list of questions and only managed to get through a few of them - I was so nervous. I had one other full out for my romance and a handful for my MG book and I knew the polite thing was to give them notice. But I realized that if any of those agents offered me representation, I would turn them down because D4EO was already the agency I wanted.

Bob sealed it for me when he said he and his team would rep my MG books as well. I said yes and have been on Cloud 9 ever since.

And I'm already on submission! (That means Bob's already submitted my book to several publishing houses - places so amazing I've never even dreamed of having a book with them.)

Shortly after Bob offered, I received an offer from one of the pubs I'd pitched to. I can't explain how great it felt to be able to send the offer on to MY AGENT.

Do you want to hear the funniest/most embarrassing part of my agent story?  When Bob sent me the email saying he was offering, I immediately forwarded it to one of my Critique Partners saying, "Do you know Bob Diforio? Of D4EO Literary Agency? He offered!"

Problem is, I didn't actually hit forward. I hit reply.

Yep. Bob got that email. He responded with, "Yes, I know Bob Diforio. I am him." He told me it was the funniest thing he'd seen in a very long time. I was a dork and he still wanted to sign me. How could he not be the perfect agent?

Anyway, that's the scoop. Hopefully I can get my head back into the blogging world now that I'm not consumed with querying. I've been lackadaisical and I've missed you!

Blog Critique: The Six-Fingered Monkey

In this series I give constructive feedback about the look and function of an author blog from a marketing perspective. As always, I rely on help from graphic designers Tom Barnes (my hubby) and Joe LaRue. To review the blog elements we look at or to submit your own blog for critique, go here.

There's no time to chat. You must go check out today's blog NOW. Because we're going to need a long time to talk about The Six-Fingered Monkey. (Yes, it's a shouty caps type of day. By the way, I recommend using bold instead of shouty caps. It's cleaner and more professional, but I don't always do as I say because I'm LAZY.)

Here's the major thing that Tom, Joe, and I have to say about Six's website: NOTHING.

Here's actual quotes from my g-chat with Joe about Six's site: "He's awesome, I have almost no comments."

It really doesn't get better than that. 

That doesn't mean I'm speechless. I'm still going to tell you some minor things we suggest and also what we love about The Six-Fingered Monkey, for those of you who are wondering.

First, the suggestions:

• Graphically, the kid's arms show the edge of the header. It's not ideal because other than those cut-off arms, we can't see where that header ends. To fix this, Joe has three possible solutions -
• Make a shadow around your header to match the shadow around the boxes on your blog so that it seems purposeful.
• Move the arms to descend from the top or the bottom of the header instead of the side because we already know those are the borders.
• (the coolest fix, but hardest) Figure out how to edit the code so that the arms will always protrude from the edge of the reader's monitor, no matter what the width. The downside of this option is that it may look off because it won't be lined up with the lower section, but we'd love to see it.
• Get a link to buy your damn book on your actual page. You want people to buy your book. MAKE IT EASY. This goes for everyone of you published authors out there. NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.
• I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of other colors in your palette. Keep the orange and find a complimentary color for your date stamp and/or your link colors. 
• I generally hate ads on blogs. But yours don't bother me. Why? Because you are humorous and upfront about being a money-grubbing slut and the ads just sort of fit in. Plus, they are very tastefully placed and don't bother anyone. Here's the one issue I have though: the front page ad boxes aren't showing the ads (for me, anyway) so they just look empty and that's annoying.
• Your name is hidden. Seriously. Are you trying to be anonymous? Because you have your name in your email and contact info. Either get a completely anonymous persona or tell us who you are. 
• I wish you had a search box so I could look for a post that maybe explains why your name.

Now what we love and why:

• Let me talk to the readers here for a sec. Here is a lesson for you all: Nothing beats personality. Truthfully, Damon's blog is pretty clean and professional looking without reading a single post. But once you read his posts, you know that even if he made huge mistakes, you'd forgive him. Because he's got personality. He's consistently funny - raunchy, even - but also extremely sensitive and beautiful. (Read I Really Missed You Today). 
• Back to talking to you, Damon. There's distinction between your post section and sidebars.
• It's easy to look at.
• There aren't a bunch of pictures, but there is color in your posts because of your share links.
• Your social media links are very clean and coordinated. Nice.
• You have your Accolades on a separate page. And anyone who ever says "YourMom" is my hero. It's a standard out of my mouth, though it tends to confuse my kids when they ask me something like, "Who's making dinner?" and I answer "YourMom."
• It's easy to follow you.
• Your labels crack me up.
• Hell, everything you say cracks me up.

That's my Six-Fingered Monkey critique. Please, go over there, follow him and LOVE him. Every day. I mean it. That is all.

Thoughts?