Why Should Writers Blog?

As I said in my recent blog 12 Ways to Build Your Platform in 2012, blogging is one of the most effective and efficient ways to build your platform, or brand, as a writer. And when you go out with your shiny new novel or nonfiction book proposal to find an agent, the first question the agent is going to ask is: What is your platform?

So, a word about platform. Essentially, it’s what you’re known for.

Do you have expertise in a particular subject, say, quantum physics, or training pug dogs? You can use that experience to create a platform. Blog; speak in your community, or, if possible, at state and national conventions; offer to lecture at the local public library; write op-ed pieces for your community newspaper. All of these things build your brand, fill out your resume and establish you as an expert in your field. Then if you write a book, you can point to that exposure as evidence of your “saleability.” Publishers today rarely take a chance on an unknown author. The more you can do to build a fan base, the better off you’ll be when you approach an agent or a publisher with a book proposal.

Today, blogging is the most expedient way to build a fan base.

The key, though, is to develop a theme or purpose so that you can offer your readers something valuable. Nonfiction writers – especially those who have a following already – will find it easier to establish a blog. Whatever it is you write about – be it antique clocks or the hip-hop music industry – it will likely lend itself to a blog that can be updated two or three times a week, if not daily.

For fiction writers, developing a theme can be tricky. I suggest writing a blog as one of the characters in your book. It doesn’t necessarily have to follow the storyline in your novel. You know the character; create some new scenarios for him/her to respond to, and let that voice populate your blog. You could even write it from several different characters’ voices, essentially creating a new online story.

To be effective, a blog needs to be written every day, or, if that’s not possible, at least every other day. In cyberspace, people expect something new every time they return to your site, so to be relevant and effective, you have to blog regularly. And you have to have something useful to say every time you blog.

In addition to being timely, the very best blogs have great writing, contain content that can’t be found anywhere else, provide something no one else does (information, a service or a product), are relevant, and provide links to other sources.

“Build your audience on the Internet (or otherwise) before you approach an editor or agent,” literary agent Doris Booth advises. “If you can say 25,000 or 50,000 people visit your blog every month, and they are all talking about and sharing what you’re writing on the subject of, say, Yo-Yos, then you are a much more attractive candidate to become published. Build your audience as a speaker or a journalist with a huge following, in any way you can. Celebrities get published because they have vast, already-established audiences. It is harder to build an audience if you’re a novelist, but not impossible. Visit the sites of successful authors such as Gayle Lynds, Heather Graham, and James Patterson and see how they draw attention to their work.”

(Some information in this blog appeared in my 2010 book Navigating the Rough Waters of Today’s Publishing World, Critical Advice for Writers (Quill Driver Press), available on Amazon.)

Literary Gumbo Redux

Fred Klein's "Literary Gumbo" brings some of Santa Barbara County's most interesting writers to the small screen. I was privileged to be Fred's first guest this season, and his last. Here is my second appearance on "Literary Gumbo," taped and broadcast on public access TV in August 2011:

Literary Gumbo: Marcia Meier 2.0 from Literary Gumbo on Vimeo.

Should You Write for Free? Redux

My post yesterday about writing for free prompted lots of response, but the most extensive came from a woman who has been writing novels, screenplays and plays without (so far) much publishing or producing success. You can read her comments here, but I want to take a few minutes to talk about the differences between the writing she is doing and the journalistic writing I was referring to in my post.

Lorraine is trying to break into the online world of writing, and I wish her well. She seems to be doing all the right things. But most of her work falls into a category I call speculative writing. All of us who write novels or short stories, plays or screenplays, are engaging in a process that we hope will at some point result in publication and – perhaps – remuneration. We do it because we love to write, first and foremost, understanding that success – let alone payment – is not guaranteed.

Unless you have a degree from a film school and have connections in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, the chances of selling a screenplay are slim to none. The same goes for plays: If you live in LA or New York, have come through an acknowledged playwriting program and are tapped into the theater network, you’re better off. But selling a play is still going to be difficult. You might be lucky to get a small regional theater group to stage your play, but you’re not going to make much – if any – money doing it. With novels, again, unless you attended a top creative writing program and made friends with successful novelists who can help you make the right connections in the publishing world, you are swimming upstream.

That is not to say one can’t do all of these things. But, as Lorraine’s post attests, it is a tough slog. And she is a good writer; she also has an honest passion for writing.

Unfortunately in today’s publishing world, it takes more than talent and good writing to get published. It takes persistence (Lorraine seems to have more than enough of that) and connections.

What can one do to increase the odds? Take writing classes and workshops from respected institutions and successful authors. Ask them to help. Attend writers conferences and meet agents and editors. Network, network, network. Keep sending out those queries, and revise your work until it sings. Speculative writing is the hardest kind to do, and also the most rewarding once you do sell that novel, screenplay or play. But a good dose of luck is at play here, as well. Here’s hoping Lorraine hits the jackpot one day soon.

Should You Write for Free?

Debates rage in chat groups, on Facebook and LinkedIn, and on writing sites like She Writes and Redroom. Should writers write for free? In a word, no. 

If you want to make writing your profession, or if you are already a professional writer, you should not – ever – write for free. Not for supposed exposure. Not for promised attention at some future point. Not for the possibility you will be hired later. Don’t do it.

As a professional writer for the past 30-plus years, I can’t afford to write for free. It’s my living. In the past two years I have been approached a number of times with invitations to write for free. The supposed advantage is something along the lines of, “You’ll get exposure!” or, well, I can’t think of anything other than that, and it turns out that could be a very empty promise. Exposure adds up to exactly what?

When the Huffington Post first started, I was invited to blog. It seemed like a great opportunity at the time, but after several months and a half-dozen blogs, it became clear I was spending a lot of my time writing for very little tangible benefit. About a year ago I was asked by Redroom.com, an author promotion site with which I have an author page, to write a column for AOLnews.com. Redroom offered to donate $100 to a charity of my choice for doing it. So I did. But when they asked me again, I said no. The time I would have to take to write a thoughtful, well-researched piece for AOLNews’ opinion or travel section (which they had proposed) would have cost me far more than I would realize in either book sales or potential clients.

Yesterday I received another “offer” to write a monthly column for a website. They promised me exposure to their members (the number of members and the number of unique visitors to the site weren’t specified), plus promotion on their home page and links to the sites where my book is for sale. Earlier, at the urging of my publisher, I had written answers to questions about publishing they posted as an interview on their site, and they seemed pleased by that. Thus the invitation to write monthly for them.

Honestly, it’s tempting. But the time it would take to write a monthly column would be time taken from the hours I would otherwise be making money by teaching, coaching or writing for other publications. If I knew that each column would result in the sale of at least, oh, I don’t know, say 100 books, it might make financial sense. But that is a very big if.

Professional writers are under siege these days. Many of us are former journalists whose newspapers have folded or downsized. We are experienced. We know our ways around a government agency. We know how to track down a scandal or root out corruption. We are expert at researching and interviewing, and we know how to nail a source to the wall if need be. We also know how to write a balanced multi-sourced story and make it interesting and informative.

Changes in the publishing industry, not least the rise of internet publications, has created a new world for those of us with longtime journalism and writing experience. Unfortunately, our skills and talents are devalued, and we are competing against people – young and older – who are willing to write for free to get the experience they need to (perhaps) get better writing jobs.

The Huffington Post has come under severe criticism for essentially profiting on the backs of thousands of bloggers who helped make the Post a major player in the world of internet media. I think much of it is justified. But we as writers have to do our part and refuse to be exploited.

First, Write a Good Book

Paula Davis, the book editor at commitmentnow.com, recently asked me to answer some questions on publishing for the site. My responses will be posted there soon, but I thought I'd also share what I wrote on my own blog, since there are so many writers hoping to find publication success in this increasingly difficult book market.

1. What special challenges face fiction writers?

Fiction is hard to sell because publishers are looking for work that will do well commercially – meaning they will make money by publishing it. For that reason, they are more apt to stick with authors who are already successfully selling books or celebrities who are already known. New or emerging writers are untested, so publishers are less likely to take a chance. Occasionally there is that rare, outstanding novel written by a new author, but they are few and far between, sadly. I recommend that new novelists try to get their work accepted by a smaller regional or genre-specific press rather than go for the big publishers in New York. Also, publishers expect a novel to be agented – they won’t look at anything that isn’t represented by an agent these days.

2. If someone is writing a fiction book for the first time, what should they do that will motivate agents and publishers to take a look at their book?

First, make sure it’s a good story - well-written with finely developed characters, great description, conflict, and rising tension that is well-paced. If you have a cracking good manuscript that has been vetted by other writers and an editor or two, then you’re ready to look for an agent. Not before. If you haven’t written before, learn the craft: take classes, attend workshops and conferences, and absorb as much as you can about the business of book publishing. You have to do the work first.

3. What, in your opinion, are the biggest mistakes fiction writers make?

Not doing the work first. Too many people try to write a novel without any understanding of how to do it and what goes into it.

4. If someone is writing a children's book, what challenges do they face in getting it published, and what can they do to overcome these challenges?

First, read children’s books so that you are intimately familiar with the genre. Then join an organization like the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). There are chapters all over the country and they offer ongoing workshops on how to write for publication.

5. Does writing a blog help an author get their book published? If so, what tips can you offer so they can maximize the benefits of their blog?

Yes, with a caveat. I had a young woman ask me this recently at a writers conference. If you are writing fiction, first, you have to write the book. Once it’s published, writing a blog can be very helpful, along with having a website and using other social media to promote it. If you are a nonfiction author, you can use a blog (and website, etc.) to build a platform so that a publisher might be more likely to consider publishing your book. For example, say you’re writing a book on how to survive a cancer diagnosis, a first-person account. You might use a blog to talk about the things you learned, using information from the book. You might offer to speak to groups, and establish yourself as an expert on the topic. If you can show that, say, 10,000 people follow your blog or your tweets on Twitter, that’s evidence that you can sell your work and that people want to hear what you have to say.

6. What gets an agent's attention? What scares an agent away? Why is it so hard to get an agent to begin with?

Agents have to be convinced that the book you’ve written can be sold to a publisher. They look at what’s hot in the various genres, and they consider the commercial appeal of the story, not to mention your writing skill. Agents are individuals with varying tastes and interests. What one agent won’t look at may be another’s cup of tea. The key is to not get discouraged. If you’ve done all the things I mentioned above, just keep sending out your work. And if an agent is kind enough to offer feedback on your work, strongly consider it.

7. Can an author who self-publishes make any money on their book? What tips do you have for those who want to self-publish, but hope their book makes a bit of money?

Self-published authors can, and many do, make money with their books. But self-publishing is not for everyone, and one has to be savvy about not only the publishing process but marketing and promotion as well. The longest chapter in my new book is on self-publishing.

8. What opportunities are available for nonfiction writers?

Many! I think the publishing shifts of the past few years – most notably the move to the Internet by most of our information sources – offer opportunities for publication that didn’t exist before. If you’re a good writer and know how to pitch your work, there are many opportunities for freelancing. If you write nonfiction books, the sky’s the limit.

9. How can a writer use Facebook and Twitter to promote their work and perhaps get their book published?

Facebook and Twitter have to be a part of a comprehensive marketing plan for any books you publish, and can be critical to building that ever-elusive thing called a “platform” – essentially what you are known for – which can help you sell yourself and your work to a publisher. But you have to learn about them and use them judiciously. Several chapters in my book cover social media.

11. What are your best tips for those who dream of publishing a book, but keep hitting brick walls?

Keep writing, every day if you can.

Improve your work – learn and revise.

Get feedback from other writers and editors.

Listen to the advice of those who know more than you.

Accept that your work will be rejected – over and over.

Don’t get discouraged.

Be persistent.

If you find success, be grateful and “pay it forward” (with a nod to my friend - and fellow RedRoomer! - Catherine Ryan Hyde, who wrote the best-selling Pay It Forward)



Some Tips for Daily Writing

It’s a beautiful morning! Sun is streaming through the front windows and door. The dogs have finally settled at my feet after breakfast and their morning romp through the house. I’m thinking about writing and an age-old problem: When do you find the time?

Nearly all of my clients struggle with this. Like many writers, they have day jobs and families. One of my clients is a high-powered businessman who is married with a 4-year-old son. He’s plagued with trying to find the time even for daily journaling, which I recommend for all writers.

So I put together some tips for him. Some are mine but most of them are the advice of other writers, notably Natalie Goldberg, who wrote one of my favorite books, Writing Down the Bones. I also found a list of 80 prompts by a journal writer named Mari McCarthy, which I’ve attached here (and here’s the link to her website, Create Write Now).

First, I suggested some specific times to get him started. This seems to be a universal problem – carving out the time to actually sit down and write. What I suggested for him is essentially to get out of the office for at least 30 minutes every day. He happens to have an office next to a lovely park and across the street from a quaint town library. So I told him, on Mondays and Wednesdays, take your lunch and go across the street to the park. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I told him to buy a sandwich or salad, close his door at noon and tell his assistant not to disturb him. Write for at least 20 minutes. If you’re on a roll and have the time, keep going. On Fridays, go to the library and pull a book of poetry from the shelf. Read two or three poems, then write a response to one of them. Or begin a new poem of your own. Take the entire lunch hour if you need it. But write.

On the weekends, I told him to set the alarm 30 minutes before the rest of the household is awake and use that time to journal.

I work at home and have few distractions (outside of my dog, who thinks it’s important to nudge my elbow every hour or so). But I still get bored – uninspired – by my surroundings and so often will take my computer or notebook and escape to a local café. I used to actually drive 20 miles to my favorite coffee shop in the Santa Ynez Valley once in awhile. When I drove up last weekend, I was heartbroken to discover it was closed.

The point is to step out of routine, which stimulates your imagination, releases your muse and sparks creativity.

Writing is a commitment. If you want to be successful as a writer, you have to put the pen to paper, (or fingers to keyboard) and write. It’s that simple. And that complicated. The missing ingredient is discipline. You can’t write without discipline. And the best way to establish discipline is to set a routine and follow it scrupulously. Stephen King does it. Natalie Goldberg does it. Ray Bradbury, Michael Collins and David Sedaris do it. Every successful writer I know of has a writing schedule – and is disciplined enough to stick to it.

So, take a few minutes today and set a regular writing schedule. It will be the recipe for your writing success.

If you have some techniques that enable you to write regularly, I'd love to hear them. Just add them to the comments below.