Interview With A Blogpire... Starring Aimee L. Salter

G’day, everyone, and welcome to another installment of Interview With A Blogpire. Whether you’re a writer, an aspiring blogger, or that person who found my site by Googling ‘slug wedgie’, this post has loads of successful blogger tips on building an author platform, and with any luck you’ll find them as useful as I did. So read on and enjoy, (or visit my post, Writing, Wedgies and Hollywood Slugs, if that’s your thing).

Who needs Adobe Illustrator when
you've got Powerpoint and Paint?

Now, to business. My guest today is the amazing Aimee L. Salter of Seeking The Write Life. Her blog has almost 90 000 hits so far, nearly 600 followers on Google Friend Connect alone, and she’s recently joined the hugely popular YAtopia team, too. I went looking for her secret to success, and now I’m bringing the interview (in two parts for the price of one), to you…

Hi Aimee, and thanks for agreeing to my interview. First question, what would you say has been the most popular style of post/content for you?

Without a doubt, the most popular posts I write are ones that give practical tips for self-editing or improving writing technique. Anything that benefits writers who are, obviously, my audience on the blog.

There are many other blogs out there doing similar things. Any idea what makes yours stand out?

“I think a lot of bloggers offer over-arching advice or concepts for learning, but not as many give writers tips they can act on specifically and immediately.”

I think, like me, most writers want to make their books better. So anytime they find content that helps them do that, they get excited about it.

What do you do when you haven't got anything like that to post, especially if you’re trying to keep a regular blogging schedule?

I try never to blog for the sake of blogging (i.e. ‘filler’), but it has happened. If I’m really stuck, I try to find something funny or useful that someone else has v-logged or blogged about and promote their stuff instead.

There have been times that, due to Real Life Happenings I just have had the time to blog. At those times I’ve either reposted old, useful posts, or just apologized and told everyone when I’ll be back on board.

And does this combination of useful content on a regular basis mean you've got so many active blog visitors that people are always interacting with your stuff?

I definitely get traffic that I don’t “seek”. I.e. there are always one or two tweets floating around offering links to my blog, or people telling their friends. I do get some traffic from google searches (probably only about 4-5%).

“Comments are sporadic, but often when I’m posting about an “issue” (i.e. sexual content in YA fiction), we’ll get a really good and comprehensive conversation going.” 

Most of the time my comments are just people either agreeing with what was said, or adding to it. A lot of my regular commenters have been around my blog for quite a while, so they just jump in when they find something useful, or think they have something to add. It’s nice. I feel like I am getting to know these people. As writers, at least.

Last of all, (for now), you have a background in branding - so do you have any specific branding strategies to share?

Branding is a word that gets thrown around a lot, usually by people who associate branding with logos or design. However branding isn’t logos or design. Logos and design are merely tools used to help your “brand” be identified quickly. A “brand” is a set of perceptions that people associate with a person, name or business.

“As a writer you have two options. Either you “brand” your stories (i.e. write all of your books in a similar genre, using similar plot structures, etc) or you brand yourself.”

Branding yourself is virtually impossible to do until you’re already known. Branding yourself means making yourself someone people want to be around or emulate. To do it right, you have to achieve something other people admire. Then you have to manage that success with aplomb.

It’s very difficult to do well for any length of time, mainly because when people gain a fanbase (as opposed to a platform) they often start to believe their own hype and become somewhat narcissistic online.

I’ll put my hand up and say I’m working on branding myself. I want people to associate my name with honesty, useful advice, humor and integrity. I want people to see my name on a blog or a link or a book and immediately assume it will be good-quality, interesting content.

I’m just tipping into that arena now. But the big test will come when I’m actually published. If my book doesn’t live up to those impressions, all the work I’ve done building a foundation on my blog will be for naught.

Remember: a “brand” is a set of perceptions that people associate with a person, name or business. If I create the beginnings of a brand now, via my blog, then don’t live up to those perceptions in my writing career, my brand is destroyed.

But no pressure.

To be continued…

(This week!)

(So follow the blog to stay in the loop, and if you can't wait a few days, check out my last interview with a Blogpire, starring the fabulous Brenda Drake!)

(Thanks!)

Strudels, Throat Singing, and Another Blog Award!

What, dear friends, is a Leibster? I don’t know, and I don’t have enough expendable internet to look it up, so I’m going to assume from the spelling that it must be some sort of German strudel. Why is it relevant? Because Tamara from One Magic Bean Buyer just nominated my blog for a German strudel award!

First things first, I have to answer her questions:

If you could have any talent in the world, which one would you choose? I’m a musician, so I’d like to become a better spoon player, leaf whistler or Mongolian throat-singer.

What's the number one most played song on your iPod? Well since I look 23 but am actually a closet 80-year-old I’ve never actually owned any portable music playing devices. However the song most hummed as I’m doddering about would have to be Gimme Shelter, by the Rolling Stones.

Name three writers you admire and tell us why. Charles Dickens – because A Tale Of Two Cities is the best thing I’ve ever read.  Catherine Ryan Howard – because she’s successfully self-published, her blog is amazing, and she is a constant source of inspiration and entertainment. And Jane Austen – because I’ve read her early works and even as a teenager she was witty, sarcastic, and already challenging the social norm.

Plus, she gave us Mr. Darcy.

  

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would you want to be? My favorite animals are goats but since they’re a tad lower on the food chain than I’d like, I’d go for my second favorite – a tiger.

What is one of your favorite quotes?

 And on the bank a lonely flower he spied,

A meek and forlorn flower, with naught of pride,

Drooping its beauty o’er the watery clearness,

To woo its own sad image into nearness.

– John Keats, ‘I Stood Tip-Toe Upon A Little Hill’.

What chore do you hate doing? Do I have to pick just one? It’d have to be getting a doona (that’s Australian for quilt) into a doona cover.

What is your favorite month of the year? September – because not only is it the first sign of summer, but it's also the first time all year I can wash my smelly dog without her staying wet for a week.

If you could throw any kind of party (money is no object) what would it be? And for who? I’d throw a Hogwarts-style Christmas party for families on the streets or who are too poor to have a proper Christmas.

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would you stay? Twenty one. (Would that make my inner self only 78?)

If you had to change your first name, what name would you want? I've always liked Amabel, my middle name, so I'd probably pinch that.

Which superpower would you pick if they were up for grabs? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I’d have telekinesis, so I could easily get the dirt out of my carpet.

And there you have it! Now on to the rules for my award nominees:

Answer the blogger's eleven questions.

Think of eleven questions of your own.

Choose eleven worthy bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers) to pay it forward.

And my questions:

Can you tongue roll, cross eye, ear wiggle or perform any other feats of physics? (And you can’t say getting motion sick at the slightest provocation, because I call dibs on that).

Would you rather watch that video from The Ring, or start up a nice, family-friendly game of Jumanji?

If you could be any book character, who would you be and why?

What fantasy invention do you most wish was real? e.g. Light sabres… invisibility cloaks… or those completely innocent and in no way drug riddled potions from Alice In Wonderland…

Name one habit you’re trying to break.

What’s the scariest book you’ve ever read? (Because I feel like sleeping with the light on for a month).

What was the first job you ever wanted?

What was the first job you ever had? (Sorry!)

If you had to live in any time period, past or present, other than now, what would you choose?

What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever been?

Finally, if you could apparate, where in the world would be your favourite spot to take your lunch breaks?

And last but not least, my nominees. Go check them out:

Room Thirty3

The One With Rachel's Book

To Begin With 

The Nook

The Enthusiastic Cynicist

A Novel Journey

Alice's Literary Salon

Page Girl's Page

Ink And Alchemy

Oh, The Things I've Learned

And since blogging is meant to be fun, my final nomination can go to the first to call dibs in the comments. Ready. Set. Go!

Kat

P.S. Hi to any new visitors to the blog! I've got a super massive $30 ebook voucher giveaway coming up next week, so feel free to stick around!

An End And An Opportunity: Wrapping Up The Follow-Swap Blog Hop

Well the Follow-Swap Blog Hop is officially over, and I am officially stoked at how it went.

See, it's on Facebook. Therefore it's official.

In the end there were forty-four blogs on the list (which is about forty-three more than I expected), hundreds of views on my three FSBH posts, and enough lovely comments to earn me a permanent, stupid grin. And for that I can’t thank you enough. :D

I wanted the FSBH to be a chance for everyone (myself included) to get a better idea of what catches blog readers and turns them into followers, so now I’m dying to know what you learnt from all your hopping about. What made you immediately look for a blog’s follow button? What sent you running for the hills? (Hopefully nothing short of a yeti bursting out of your computer screen but you never know). What was more important to you: content, voice or design? Or was it the person behind the blog which appealed more?

Being a master of thinking ‘til I’m cross-eyed I’ve already got a list of ideas, but I want to leave it open to you guys first. I’ve had loads of people who couldn’t make this blog hop ask me when it’ll happen again, so this is your chance to get in on what will hopefully be an even bigger and better event next time. I’m going to compile a post with all your feedback and links to you/your blogs, so leave a comment with your blog’s URL and we’ll see what we can whip up.

And while you’re at it (or if you just need to kick-start you thinking caps), check out these limited edition, FSBH posts: The Follow-Swap Blog Hop: Effective Content and Defective Stamp Collections and The Follow-Swap Blog Hop: Twitter Profiles That Don't Make Me Facepalm

Thanks again, everyone.

Katherine Amabel

Effective Content and Defective Stamp Collections

Greetings, bloggers and penguin enthusiasts, the Follow-Swap Blog Hop is live & gaining entries! It's your chance to showcase your blog, so today's accompanying post is all about effective content. I won’t rant (yeah right, my last post turned out to be about sea-birds and I’m not even sure how it happened), but I’ll try and at least be helpful.
 

1. First you have to decide what you want to write. I know that sounds obvious, but remember your followers don’t necessarily want to read a series on the week you spent at the community center learning how to arrange stamp collections. Don’t feel that just because it’s your usual blogging day you have to churn out any old thing to keep up the schedule. Wait another day or two and post something amazing, because even if you’re not ensuring that you only ever post your best stuff, someone else will be taking that precaution with their blog.

2. Next, think about your blog’s target audience, and what they want and have come to expect from you. That doesn’t have to dictate what you’re going to write but at least let it set the tone, and don’t forget to keep up your writer’s voice, too. Whether it be funny, whimsical, thought-provoking or heartfelt, building loyal followers is all about consistency.

3. Got it worked out? Then write the thing! Try and include links to other relevant posts too, either by working links into your article or having a list of similar links at the end. It’s all about having a captive audience, and that means never letting them view one thing without tantalizing them with another. Grab an image or two to break up the text, being wary of having so many that your page takes ten minutes to load and gives everybody a migraine, and you’re done.

4. Finally, when you go to publish your blog post, take a long, hard think about the title. I know, I know, that seems rich from someone with such ridiculous and frequently irrelevant titles as On Cover Design, DIY Marketing and The Personification of Butt Cheeks…or Better than Bingo at a Knitting Club Tea-party: A Review, but hear me out. Your title will only be accompanied by your actual article for as long as it takes to fill your blog’s home page with posts. After that it’ll be nothing more than a link in an archive, so you had better make it stand out, and given that there won’t always be room in your sidebar to display the full title, you’ve got to hook us on the first words. (P.S. How’s that for walking the walk from step 3?) Plus, the more interesting your titles are, the more interesting your tweets about them should be, and the more traffic you’ll get.

So try it out now. You could even blog about your adventures in the Follow-Swap Blog Hop, because when your followers see what you’re up to and join in, and their followers see what they’re up to and join in too, then that’s just more potential followers for everyone.

It’s like a pyramid scheme, only legal.

And there's my accompanying picture. See, no pyramids here.

Penguins & Blog Followers: Come Showcase Your Work!

Blog followers are like penguins… aka, totally awesome. On the other hand, follow-for-a-follow-back systems can be a different story. See the trouble is if a potential follower happens to land on a page where the most recent post is “Why I love plain toast: an essay”, there’s no reason for them to keep reading. They’ll complete the obligatory follow and then move on to other blogs without properly exploring the one they’ve landed on. They may even form a mental note – subconsciously or otherwise – that the blog itself isn’t worth reading, and so when they do start receiving the emailed posts they’re highly likely to delete without even looking. And if the next post was, for example, “The Life and Habitat of Penguins”, then everybody misses out.

  

To make things worse, let’s say they stumble upon an interesting post from that blog in the future, maybe via twitter and so on. They might read it, even enjoy it, but it could still be perceived as an unusually interesting post from ‘that boring blog’. In other words, it won’t necessarily be enough to change that delete-without-reading habit.

So how do we, as bloggers, fix such a thing? Content! It seems obvious, but I’m sure we’ve all seen some ridiculously boring posts out there. What we need to ensure is that no one lands on our blogs without being entertained – informed – mystified – whatever, about our content. And in light of that, I’ve got an idea.

Everyone, get your best posts ready for... The Follow-Swap Blog Hop!

Grab the badge! (Link below).

The aim is simple: you can link to whatever page of your blog you like, but be sure to make it your best content so we can‘t resist following you. This is your chance to show off; to teach your potential new followers that when you email them a post, they sure as anything better open it up. And while you’re here, check out the other blogs, follow the ones you like, and even post them a comment to let them know what they’re doing right.

The blog hop will run all week, so you’ve got plenty of time to continually polish your posts and build a wow-worthy website. And with new blogs signing up as we go along, don’t forget to check back whenever you can to find more potential followers to interact with. 
Sound good?

NO.

It sounds like penguins.

UPDATE: Now check out The Follow Swap Blog Hop: Effective Content and Defective Stamp Collections, and The Follow-Swap Blog Hop: Twitter Profiles That Don't Make Me Facepalm - a special FSBH post just for FSBH-ers!






P.S. To add the badge to your blog, go through your blog's design options to add a gadget, select the HTML/Javascript option, and paste in this code:

<div align="left">

<a href="http://beyondthehourglassbridge.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/penguins-and-blog-followers-study.html" title="Beyond The Hourglass Bridge" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o528/katherineamabel/Follow-SwapBlogHopLogo_zps2e182e09.png" alt="Beyond The Hourglass Bridge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Query Workshop - Win A Seat!

Forgive me, I lied, you don't actually win a real seat. For one thing, literary agents rarely consider seat-ownership as a benchmark for requestable material. For another, my taste in home wares is appalling. However what I can offer you is the chance to win one of three query critiques from the fabulous Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes… under the influence of coffee. And for those who've already perfected their query or are already promoting their work, there's lots of fun and learning too.

That's right, fun and learning. As if a seat has anything on that.

To get involved, check out our chat on building an author platform by creating a successful blog, AKA Interview With A Blog-pire, and leave a comment. Brenda will pick three winners and announce them on her blog on August 22, so don't forget to drop by again in a couple of days. And stay tuned for more interviews too - I'm planning to irritate a whole series of successful bloggers about how they built such effective online presences, so there'll be fun and learning and hopefully more giveaways to come.

Interview With A Blog-pire

First things first, I accept that blog-pire isn't a word. Second things first, I want to start today’s post with an oath: I never sit at my computer hitting refresh on my blog stats tracker, hoping that a thousand new hits will magically appear in the time it takes my page to reload.

I swear.

Anyway, while I was at my computer a few days ago, working away on my synopsis and definitely not even looking at my stats dashboard, I had an idea. Why not interview successful bloggers on how they’ve built up their platform so well? Brilliant? My mum thinks so. And so without further ado, I present an interview with Brenda Drake, creator of Brenda Drake Writes… under the influence of coffee.

Recognise it? You should, because it's a wealth of inspiration for any aspiring blogger. Her latest contest, posted only hours ago, already has nearly 200 entries. She has 986 followers on Google Friend Connect and Networked Blogs. And her page-views are sitting at a tidy one-hundred-and-sixty-four-thousand, four-hundred-and-seven! I can’t even say that number aloud without needing to stop for a breather. So how does she do it? Brenda, you tell us…

—Thanks Kat. I hadn't a clue what to do when I first started blogging. That first year, I think I only posted nine times. But during that time, I read and commented on other blogs -- followed and gained followers. I happened upon blogfests and participated in some and held some of mine own. I hosted a contest to generate more followers, and found I enjoyed them. I loved the excitement and how the community came together to help each other with their work. That's when I decided to dedicate my efforts to holding contests and workshops.

Running contests are a lot of work, but the rewards are amazing. I remember how nervous I was to show anyone my work when I first came out of my writing cave, but I had entered contests and each time I made it into them, I felt that maybe my writing really didn't suck that bad. When you enter a contest, you don't have to tell anyone you joined, especially if you don't make the cut. But when you make the cut, you feel your work is finally good enough.

I do give away books sometimes in between contests and workshops for writers who've asked. I think caring and being genuine helps to get followers coming back. Offering things your followers can use or learn from is the key. Most importantly, posting frequently is important. I've skipped over blogs and never gone back to them because they hadn't posted in months. I follow back. You reap what you sow.

People always ask how I got agents to participate in contests. It's really simple, I ask. I use a catchy (non-spammer type) email to pique their interests, and they really are kind and will usually answer. Also, it helps when the contest has a fun concept and if you generate buzz for the contest. Once they join in, I brag and praise them on Twitter and my blog.

Awesome – I bet my four followers are rushing out to try it now! Anyway in that first year, did you gain many followers from just commenting on other blogs? Or did you have to interact with people and let them know you'd followed them and find that some followed you back?

—I did, but it was slow moving. I never told anyone I followed them. I would just follow and comment on their recent post. Most times, they followed back. I'm less likely to follow a blog if I have to do it by email. My email gets clogged. I prefer having a linky to sign up on. That way I can go through my Blogger feed or my Networked Blogs feed, skim the titles, and read the posts that interest me. Making it convenient for your readers is key. 

Did you have many followers when you started running your own blogfests? If not, how did you get people involved?

—I first participated in others' blogfests. I'd follow everyone in the blogfest and comment on their entry. When I felt I had enough followers, I ran my own blogfest. It was during my blogfests that I noticed a spike of participants when I had them enter something from their manuscripts. Writers love to get help with their writing, I do, anyway. I soon offered prizes and my follower list grew.

Did you learn any specific tricks about what makes a good contest? 

—I think the buzz. You have to get the buzz going on Twitter and any social media where you have friends/followers. I tweet about my contests during prime times and thank whoever retweets. Except lately, some of my contests generate so many retweets I can't possibly thank everyone or I'll bug my followers. So I'll do a blanket 'thank you'. I try to be gracious and humble. And, if I have time and know the answer, I'll help writers out.

And finally, you tell me you’ve got your own book coming out in 2014. Care to give us a quick blurb?

—Sure. LIBRARY JUMPERS is about sixteen-year-old, Gia Kearns, who discovers that with a simple flip of a page she can transport into any library of her choosing, thus thrusting her into a Mystik world, hidden behind the bookcases of the greatest libraries in the world, where evil abounds, secrets unfold, and mortals are running out of time.

Wow, wow, wow. Can I just say I already want to live in that book? Best of luck, and thank you for your wise words today. To anyone reading this, feel free to post any questions and I’ll chase up the answers. I'm also planning a series of interviews with other successful bloggers, so stay tuned for more. And if you can help me spread the word, I'll love you all to the end of days!

Kat

A Spot of Bother for the Web-less Blogger

It may seem ridiculous, but I am a blogger with no internet. My house sits in a complete black-spot (see very scientific government diagram), and no amount of standing out on the road with my laptop in the middle of the night is enough to get more than one teeny little bar of service. And that’s why all this happened…

Diagram A: a diagram.

About a month ago, while browsing Google & definitely not procrastinating, I discovered a competition offering publication as the prize. Anyone familiar with that epically tense moment as one quickly checks the submission dates to ensure the competition isn’t long in the past will understand my relief when I saw there was a month to go.

And you’ll understand why that relief kicked me in the guts when I saw I needed a one page synopsis.

Despite my apprehensions, I told the word count gods to bring it and started editing my existing two page synopsis with the precision and delicacy of a stamp-collecting brain surgeon. The day before the contest ended I visited the library to check the entry requirements and, to my horror, found conflicting information regarding the closing time (yeah, I’ll bet you’ll understand that feeling too). If I took the earliest mentioned date as true, it meant I no longer had a whole day of last minutes to play with. I had to be finished that night.

With my lunch break over I emailed myself the entry form, rushed back to work, minimised my web browser so my account manager wouldn’t see and opened the email. I hit print, snuck to the printer, and received only the first few lines, thanks to Google docs being terrible and me not having my browser big enough to see it. When I returned to my desk, my account manager was waiting. I couldn’t escape until home time, so when I did I decided to duck back to the library. That’s when the fiancé called to say dinner at his parents’ place. In other words, come spend ‘the-evening-when-I-should-be-fixing-my-entry’ sitting around watching television instead. My only consolation? Unlimited internet.

That is, until it crashed exactly one minute after I arrived.

I spent the rest of the night acting like I wasn’t going silently crazy. The minute it was socially acceptable to leave, I packed up my laptop and their wireless internet dongle and drove into the city to the nearest sports field car park. Sure it was the middle of the night and I kept expecting drug dealers to come knocking at my windscreen wanting their deliveries, but I was confident I could defend myself, (namely because my laptop had started acting up and I was ready to murder the next person who even looked at me the wrong way). Finally, though, I managed to download the entry form and drove home to print it.

Only to discover that we had no ink.

And then to notice, on the miniscule terms and conditions staring back from my laptop screen, that the proper submission date wasn’t until the next day after all.

So if you know how this feels, please feel free to share my story. Because if you can’t laugh about these things, what else can you do? (And don’t say write a lame blog post about it because I am waaaaay ahead of you).

J