I have no idea why Blogger decided that the last post had to be in an almost unreadable font colour.
I tried to change it many times and gave up and posted it...
So if you gave up as well I don’t blame you.
The main points I was making....Networking, building communities, and having your website reflect this, is where marketing and promotion in the online world is going.
For the lonely writer sitting in their garret...but with an internet connection....this is a good way to go. Start with posting comments on blogs you are interested in. Visit web communities that have links in to your writing audience...or are the same people as you...starving in a garret....
As you get more familiar with the web...create your blog and have a go...it is very easy to do and easy to delete if you don’t like it.
The web can be a scary place for authors who are just used to using Google for research and a word processing programme for everything else.
Scott Francis has a marketing blog for authors on the writers digest site. He offers these great tips for a media kit...but they can be useful if you are looking to see what a website should have.
A media kit can be a great tool for promoting your work and can be used to try to get mentions in publications or to try to get speaking engagements or spots on radio or TV.
A few do's and don'ts:
- Do include your complete contact information as well as your website/blog address
- Do include a personal biography and a photograph of yourself
- Do include a business card
- Do include any recent articles or endorsements
- Do include a good cover sheet that summarizes the contents of your media kit
- Do include a copy of your latest book
- Don't over do it--these days everyone is busy and have short attention spans. Keep it relevant and to the point.
- Don't include clippings of every press mention that you've ever gotten--go with either the most recent or the most impressive. Everything else can be summarized on your cover sheet (remember to be concise).
A website is a marketing brochure, a blog is a newsletter that shows off you voice and style.
A blog doesn’t have to be long....but it should be interesting...a picture, a few links, a thought provoking question and you are done....
So...if you are new to blogs stop in and comment...you can use my gmail address if you need to.
If you were coming to the National Conference of Children’s Writers and illustrators would you like to see a workshop on being online? What do you think should be in it?
Maureen
the pic is from a beautiful Artists website...Isn't it lovely! Go to
to see some more stunning pictures...Pati's website is a good example of marketing.
