This week a number of authors have written about the pros and cons of writer’s blogs. Should aspiring authors set up a blog? Does it help to get published? Does it hurt? Should published authors blog? The arguments boil down to “Yes, BUT…”, and I thought I’d add my two cents (‘cuz isn’t that what blogging’s all about?).
Holly Jacobs writes in this month’s Romance Writers Report:
Blogging can be very inexpensive in terms of money, but very costly in terms of your time. On the plus side, blogging allows readers to get to know who you are. Creating a connection with your readers, and potential readers, sells books.
Vibeke Courtney posted today on Romancing the Blog that agents and editors will google the names of authors of interesting partials or queries they read. This is good if they like what they find on your blog, and bad if they don’t. Is your blog about what you had for lunch? Not good. Do you trash books they’ve worked on? Not good. Do you write interesting and well-crafted posts on writing? Good.
SB Sarah blogged yesterday that “blogging is writing”, mainly in a response to author Robin Hobb’s humorous post on the evils of blogging for writers (it sucks the life out of you).
Robin Hobb writes (and you should read the whole of her post):
When you sit down to write, try as you might, you will blog instead. Blogging is easier. The gratification is immediate. When you look at the empty screen that demands a disciplined scene between three-dimensional characters, you will say to yourself, “It’s too hard just to start cold. I’ll warm up by blogging. Just a little bit.”
So what do I think of the subject? I agree with Robin: The internet is an evil black hole that sucks time and creativity out of one’s life.
But wait! you say, How can you say that, Ciara, when you have a blog yourself?
Aha! I might have a blog, but I don’t yet have a completed manuscript, do I? At the moment I’m having a pity-party, so I’ve stopped writing on my WIP and have fled to the blog for a good dose of instant gratification.
That said, I also enjoy connecting to other romance lovers on the Internet. I love the romance community. It’s large and it’s supportive and it’s full of warm-fuzzies and smart b*tches. I started the blog about a year after picking up my very first romance novel. (You’ve only been reading romance for two years??? – yes) I started blogging because I didn’t have any romance-reading friends, and I desperately wanted to gush about this fabulous genre. (And my husband is a professional blogger – that’s right, he gets paid to do it.) I didn’t think that anyone, least of all actual authors, would read my blog. I was wrong.
Which brings me to my next point – Be Careful What You Put on the Internet. You should know this. Even if you are not an aspiring author, any job you apply for is going to google you. Don’t ever put drunken sorority photos online. Watch what you write on your myspace or facebook pages. This is just common sense.
I’ve learned since I started blogging that authors actually read what you write about their books, which is awesome and terrifying. I’m terrified I’m going to make a fool of myself (And I’m horribly shy), but I’m thrilled to have had the chance to connect with Real Romance Authors (Goddesses in my book!).
Short story: Establish a web presence, but don’t become a slave to the internet. (Easier said than done.) It will own your soul. And please remember that it is easy to be a Critic, but it is difficult to be an Artist. Don’t knock it till you try it, and don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
Even though the internet feels like an anonymous hole, they’re watching you! (Cue theme from psycho.)
