I visit a variety of blogs daily. If interested, look at the sidebar to the left and you’ll see the list of blogs that I visit regularly.
One of the posts that I read yesterday from Rachelle Gardner’s blog has been on my mind. She had a guest blogger, Editor Sue Brower from Zondervan. Here’s the part of the post that’s been on my mind:
My pet peeve is to see an author turn valuable blog space into a book review site. I know, if you promote Jane Doe’s books to your fans, she will promote your book to her fans. The “blog tour” has become a key component on most marketing plans. I just get frustrated when I want to want to learn more about a favorite author and instead find a commercial for someone else’s book. Do you realize you are spending your precious writing time promoting other people’s books? AND, you’ve lost an opportunity to dialog with your reader when they have proactively sought you out? Think about who you want your audience to be and how you want to interact with them, then blog accordingly.
My first thought was, ouch! Although I am an author, I still spend a lot of time promoting others’ books. I promote my own, also, and my books, as well as my author interviews, have been featured on other authors’ blogs.
I guess I’ve pretty much turned my blog into a book review blog because I don’t have anything else to blog about! I spend a lot of time reading novels (except when I’m on deadline). So, after I read a book, I’m going to blog about it. Also, my life is pretty boring. I mean, do people reading this blog really want to hear about the trials and tribulations I had a few months ago when I was potty-training my son? I go to work as an accountant each day, and my days are pretty predictable.
Sue does have a good point about how to figure on how to interact with readers though. I guess that’s what I’m still trying to figure out. I have a section in the sidebar, where I’ve invited visitors to ask questions about writing or how to get published. I’ve received a few questions, which I will answer soon, but I don’t get enough questions from blog readers to justify spending a lot of blog posts on responses.
If anybody has any ideas on topics to cover on this blog, besides more book reviews, then throw them at me! I’m open to suggestions! Meanwhile, I’ll continue blogging about books and whatever else crosses my mind!