Rita Arens
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a series on how you can go from blogger to author. To see the first article, click here.
4) How did your blog lead to an anthology of other mommy bloggers?
As I was getting ready to go to BlogHer 2005 to meet my favorite bloggers, I thought about printing off some of my favorite posts of theirs and getting them to autograph them when I was there. Then I realized that was the book, that this new idea had commercially viable legs that my own book hadn’t had. These people weren’t big nobodies, and a mommy blogging anthology was something that hadn’t been done yet. I lived in fear for two years that someone else would get to market with the same idea first.
5) What’s your writing process for your blog posts? Is it different from writing for books? Posts are way different than books. I don’t put tons of thought into posts — I just pop them out and proofread them a few times. Books take, um, forever. And a ton of rewrites. And getting feedback on them is really, really hard, unlike blog posts.
6) What’s your advice to aspiring authors who don’t know where to get started with blogging? It takes literally 10 minutes to create a blog, and most platforms are free. I think you just start. Create categories so that you can write whatever you want, and the people who only want to read your rants about Pekinese dogs know where to find that stuff. People think they need their blogs to have a theme, but I totally disagree. It’s all about the voice, at least for personal blogs.
7) How did you build your follower base? I think most people read me because I write pretty consistently and they for the most part know what to expect from me. Some of the readers have grown with me. In 2004, I was blogging anonymously and writing about my days as a new mom. Today, I attach my name to my blog and would never reveal as much about my home life as I used to, but I write a lot more about politics and the publishing industry than I used to write. Readers — they find me from other bloggers’ sites, from things I’ve written on BlogHer, a few from newspaper coverage — but not nearly as many as you’d think — some from seeing me speak somewhere. Some are my real-life friends and family. Some are friends of friends who somehow got my feed on Facebook via Networked Blogs.
Next time: Can You Earn an Income from Blogging? — by Leilani Haywood
I know that a lot of blogs seem to fade out over time because it does take a commitment to it by the author to provide enough information to keep visitors returning. I’m curious. My blog has been running for about 18 months and the readership has risen consistently, to its highest point now. But, it is a very defined blog, dealing with unwanted same-sex struggles among Christians. I’ve turned the blog pieces into two books already and am actually writing a third book chapter by chapter in the blog itself. Maybe that is why the readership is growing? Do you think this is a good idea?
I’m really looking forward to reading the next Part Can You Earn an Income from Blogging?