Utility or Futility

What are your thoughts on blogging?  Utility or Futility?  

I have had friends ask if the time I put into blogging is worth it or not.  My answer to them so far has always been an unquestionable - YES!!!  I think anything that has value, is worth giving time to make it worthwhile!!  

My thoughts are if I ever get to the point where I am questioning my worth in blogging, it may be time to hang it up.  It is important to keep it fresh and enjoyable.  I don't want to get to the point where my efforts are like a job.  There has to be a balance - effort but not work!!!

My advice for making a book blog useful:

• Have a purpose & stick to it!
• Read & review what you enjoy
• Don't overwhelm yourself - learn to say NO when you need to!
• Keep it simple, stupid! (K.I.S.S.)
• Post on a regular basis
• Be yourself - use your own voice, not that of others!!!

These are just simple basics to get you started!  By all means, there is much more to blogging, but you've got to start somewhere, and this gives you something to think about!!!

What advice would you give a new blogger?  

Twitter & Blogging

Are there really bloggers out there who do not use Twitter?  Is that possible?  I don't know how anyone can build a successful blog without making a connection with Twitter!!!

It goes without saying that social networking is here to stay.  Twitter is one of the biggies out there!  It is real-time, and very user friendly.  You can be a casual user or you can be a full-fledged "tweet-aholic" - or like me - somewhere in between.  

When it comes to using Twitter for you blog, you need to determine your goal.  

• Are you using merely as a way to steer traffic to your blog?
• Are your tweets teases for your blog posts?
• Are you following experts in your field to add to your blog (e.g. authors, other bloggers, publishers, etc.)?
• Are you working to build your SEO?
• What is your goal?

When starting out - keep is simple. You might just start by tweeting or sharing some of your blog posts.  (You can use various tools to help you do it automatically).  

• TwitThis - add a button to every post that would make it easy for your visitors to share your posts with their followers
• TwitterFeed - auto feed from your blog to twitter (facebook and others as well).
• TweetBeep - keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything, with hourly updates - great for tracking keywords.

As with blogging - you want it to be a two way street.  Don't just tweet to pump yourself up.  Spend some time getting to know your followers.  Find others to follow, read their tweets, and make comments.  Building relationships is what it's all about.  

Follow me:

How do you use Twitter with your blog?  What is your advice?

Quality Matters!

Just having a blog and making any ole post won't cut it!  You have to have some quality about it!  You need to have something that fuels your readers. You have to be creative and offer something that will interest your readers.  You won't necessarily capture all your readers every day, but you should spike their interest often.  You should interests someone in each post.

What can you do to have quality posts? 

• Post about something that interests you.  You need to know something about what you are writing about.  You have to have a point-of-view.  And, your point-of-view is not going to agree with everyone.  That's OK.  You want some conversation.  That leads to good comments.  Hopefully, you will get some good quality comments going as well.  But you can't have that if you don't have quality content first.  
• Don't ramble.  Keep it short.  If you write too much you are likely to lose your readers anyway.  Most blog readers hop from blog to blog and want to grab and go.  It is better to write less and write it well than to ramble.  Don't try to fill the space.  Add quality content to your writing!
• Break it up and ad visuals that add to your content.  Attractive pictures can speak volumes.  
• Add links to further information - whether it is more information on your blog or others.  
• Read & follow other blogs.  Chances are if you are attracted to it, so are others.  Notice that the ones that interest you have a particular style.  Don't copy their style or content, but come up with your own knowing what draws attention.
• Lastly, involve your readers.  You might be able to add content based on comments from your posts.  

What are your thoughts on quality blogs?  What do you look for when you are reading a blog?

Planning for Maximum Impact

I have learned that planning is an important part of blogging.  It is not as simple as posting at random - not if you want to have a successful blog that others want to return to often.  Their is even a variety of aspects to planning your blog.  You have to plan what you will be posting, when you you will be posting, how often you will be posting, what will you include in your posts, will you have any giveaways?, will you involve anyone else?, what material will you need? - in my case of blogging about books, what will I read?, when?, what genres?, will I take review requests?  how often?, etc.  I had no idea when I started just how complex things can get.  It can really bog you down if you let it.  You just have to know what you want, and stick with your plan.

I have searched around and found various blog planners.  I have not found one that exactly meets my needs yet, so I am working on establishing what I want in a planner.  I definitely have to have a calendar so I know what is going on when.  I do take part in book tours and take review requests, so I keep a schedule of when I need to have certain reviews or posts made.  I don't want to have conflicting events or to miss a scheduled post.  I want to stick to what I say I will do.  

It is a good idea to pre-plan and pre-write posts when you know your schedule is going to be busy.  I unfortunately forgot to do that this week.  I have had surgery and attended a funeral.  I had planned and posted for the surgery, but the day of the funeral I did not.  So - this post - for the A to Z Blogging challenge should have been posted at midnight, but is late!  Things do happen.  I'm just glad it was a personal challenge and not something for a tour.  So, I am working on a few things the rest of the week to get many things done in advance.  Fortunately, I had taken part in Bloggiesta earlier, so I had many things cleaned up, scheduled and pre-planned.  I am pretty much caught up, and ahead in many ways.  

How do you plan for your blog?

Opportunity At It's Best

I have only been blogging since the beginning of January of this year.  I must say that in doing so, that I have been given quite an opportunity.  Blogging was something I have thought about for several years, but it took me a while before I finally felt comfortable and found the niche that I wanted to work from.

Blogging about book, and sharing my passion for reading has opened up opportunity after opportunity.  First, I was given the ability to share my thoughts in a public forum.  I find this quite liberating, eye-opening, and a freedom I never knew I had.  I have been given the opportunity to become part of a wonderfully creative and welcoming community.  Book bloggers are the best.  I have learned so very much in the short time I have been actively blogging. I thought I would simply be sharing my thoughts on books and reading, well, I have learned far more than I offer - about books, blogging, publishing, and so much more.

One of the greatest opportunities that I have been able to take advantage of is new-to-me books from new-to-me authors.  I have been able to find books that I may never have found it I had not taken the first step and written my first post.  I was unaware of just how many self-published, independent authors there are out there. It is amazing to find these authors and those that are with smaller publishing companies. This is not to diminish those with the more well-known publishers.  I have fallen in love with authors from across the spectrum.  There are some amazing authors out there that do not get the credit they deserve, and I hope I am able to help get them out there for others to find!


While I am only but one blogger of books, I know as a community, we can open doors, windows, and the world of books and reading to generations to come.