A better way to get your book read by publishers — Trust the Bubblecow!
1. Determine your target audience: It is essential that as a writer/blogger you work out just who your main readers are likely to be. For example, BubbleCow aims at writers, mostly unpublished, who have an interest in getting their work into print and wish to understand more about the murky world of publishing.
Who is your reader?
2. Develop an on-line persona: The idea is to present a consistent and interesting persona. As a writer you must sift through your life, find the good stuff and hide the rest. Readers will not be interested in your dog, or your kid’s latest test result or possibly even your latest book. They may, however, be interested in the way you find time to write, which word-processing software you use or your insights into creative writing classes. Think carefully about your life and which aspects will be of interest to your target audience.
3. Only write posts that fit: Having determined your audience and developed you online persona you will now have an idea about the kind of posts you should be writing. If you are targeting writers, then write about writing. If your audience is likely to be writers of teen fiction, don’t write a book review about the latest romantic novel. You might have loved the book but remember you are writing for your audience not yourself.
4. Experiment: Don’t be frightened to experiment. If you fancy the idea of book reviews, then posts a couple and see what happens. If feedback is less regular or more negative, or visitor numbers drop then forget the idea of book reviews and move on. Don’t be worried about trying new things; just be careful to watch your reader’s responses.
5. Encourage comments: The blog should be a two way conversation. Encourage comments, ask your readers directly for their thoughts. I would even consider asking friends to comment on your blog. Take this post about Web Browsers. I had no experience of using a Mac and asked a couple of Mac using friends to leave comments and enhance the post. One nice trick is to make sure you respond to each comment; this not only encourages conversation but also increases your comment count making it more likely for others to comment.
Have I missed anything?
Imagine how much easier it would be to get published if a writer could think like a publisher or agent. This was Caroline Smailes’ goal when she set up BubbleCow.
After securing a multiple book deal with HarperCollins, editor and writer Caroline realised that most writers stood almost no chance of getting published due to a lack of understanding of how the publishing industry really worked. BubbleCow was set up to give writers the best possible chance of securing a book deal.
Good set of points – very useful. The only one I’ve got mixed feelings about is 3. Yes, write to your audience, but I think it’s a bit limiting to assume the only think writers are interested in is writing. I’m a writer and, to be honest, I get a bit bored with writing sometimes! I like it when a blogger I enjoy goes on occasional off-piste riffs for a change. For instance, I do quite often write about writing/being a writer – but my latest post is about beer. (Which, of course, is very important to writers.)
I think what I’m trying to say is ‘don’t let point 3 overwhelm point 4′.
Brian – You are of course correct. However, the deeper point I was trying to push was that the days have now passed where being a writer/blogger is enough to draw an audience. Today bloggers have to work hard to gain and keep readers and the best way to do this is to blog about a topic the readers enjoy. However, variety can work well if used correctly. The odd amusing tale and insight in the person behind the blog can do wonders. Yet personally, I feel this is the home of Twitter. I will happily discuss topics on Twitter that I would never allow onto the blog.
I’m so glad I found this blog. I just set my Blog up this week because I figured I didn’t have anything to say of interest to others. Once I got started, though, I found myself thinking of all kinds of topics. I appreciate your advice to stick to an audience, though. Same as writing a book.
Rebecca – Your blog is great. It has a strong feel and is certainly targeted at particular type of reader. The key is persistence and developing the discipline to blog regularly. Good Luck!