So, once I got a publishing contract, I thought I’d better sort out my social media presence. What that means is blogging and tweeting on a regular schedule so that when my launch date rolls around (about six months give or take) I’d have some people to launch to.
Part of this plan was to publish a parenting blog post every Tuesday lunchtime and a writing post every Thursday lunchtime. Obviously, it’s now Friday morning and I’m still writing yesterday’s post.
Mind you, this is not all bad news. Now that I realise that people actually want to read what I write, my self-confidence has improved. I went back to Scrivener (a bit like MS Word but designed by authors to write books in) and found, to my surprise, that the sequel to the list actually had a structure and a few thousand words. I’d actually started in on it, before I got disheartened by the rejections, then forgot totally that I’d done it!
Anyway, the point I was trying to come around to is that my blog always suffers when I’m writing. And this week is no exception. I’ve whipped the outline for the List sequel into shape and now have a writing plan laid out.
The bad news is, I’m late with this blog. The good news is that the sequel has already grown by over 3,500 words since Monday.
I’m also learning about marketing as I go through the process to publication. One of the (more obvious) conclusions is that my digital output (Facebook, Twitter, here, etc.) should all have the aim of attracting and engaging readers. Now, the thing is that I love the process of writing, of plotting, of telling a story. That’s pretty much what this blog has been about so far.
So, I’m going to experiment. I’ll try steering more towards talking about the content of my books, the settings and characters. If I come across interesting facts in my research, I’ll use those for a blog post. Basically, gently move it in a more reader focused direction.
And, of course, comments are always very welcome, let me know what you’d like to see!