Blogging: It's Not Just
for Journals Anymore!
By Jon Chaisson
© 2005,
Jon Chaisson
I will admit that there are days when I'm
on my LiveJournal more than I'm on the word processor writing. Let's be
honest -- blogging is addictive. I find myself going online and posting
things that run through my head at odd times of the day, talking about
anything from music to writing to everyday life. I was even a week late
sending this article in because of, among other things, blogging. Sometimes
I feel like I've spent more time online than actually getting any writing
done.
On the other hand, my LiveJournal has
lately become a place for me to do some writing-related work while I'm at my
job. Recently I've been coming back to the trilogy that I'd put aside for
six months, and I felt like talking about it. I'd lost focus on the story
and had been wondering if I would ever pick it up again, especially since it
was so close to the end. And as I wrote the journal entry, I realized where
I'd gone wrong and where I needed to go to finish it. This was all in the
span of ten minutes. And to add to this wondrous revelation, I got feedback
from friends on what they thought of my ideas. My trilogy was saved!
This is only one instance of my blog
helping me with my writing. I've posted germs of ideas, names, and even a
few snippets of things I'm working on, just to get feedback from whoever was
reading. It's become a wonderful writing tool for me.
However, there's so much more that one can
do with a blog.
Ever since I started writing, I knew I'd
eventually have to learn at least the basics of HTML in order to set up my
own "official" website for my future books. I knew a long time ago that I'd
have to create an extensive website of my work for fans and readers to look
up for more information about me and my work. For me it was a daunting
task, because I was worried that I'd spend more time tweaking the site than
writing.
It wasn't until a few years ago that one of
my friends suggested I start a weblog, if just to keep in touch with each
other without the slowness of email. It worked out well -- we still keep in
touch, and probably talk more by journal and reply post than we do in real
life. Soon, though, I began to wonder if I could use the weblog to my
advantage in the writing field.
So how does a weblog help with writing?
First off, it's a cheap and incredibly easy way to promote yourself. Add
the URL to your business card, your website-in-progress --perhaps even the
signature portion of your email, like I do -- and someone's bound to check
it out. Many published writers, including a few here at Forward Motion,
have a blog in addition to their website. Some other writers have posted
snippets of their works in progress on their blog as a way to get quick
feedback from their frequent readers. Still others have posted random ideas
for possible future stories they'll write down the road. In short, blogs
keep writers in touch with their readers in a very personal sense, letting
them in on the writing process.
This, of course, begs the question -- how
personal is too personal? Most weblog sites like blogspot and
LiveJournal offer weblogs that are open to the public, though they do
include settings that limit posts to a certain group of readers. They also
have community blogs, run by a moderator and open to anyone who signs up --
very much like a BBS site, only in blog form. If you're planning on
starting your own weblog, you should decide whether you want something open
to the public or only to a select few. It depends on how much you want to
offer.
A second question that comes to mind, and
rightfully so, is whether or not the writer's copyright or first print
rights are at stake. The rule of thumb, I'm happy to say, is that you can
post a short amount of your writing without worrying too much. However, it
should be under ten percent of the whole work in progress. You don't want
to post too much at once. And besides -- you want to keep your readers
wanting more, right? On a more important note, you might want to think
about whether or not to post on a community site, especially those catering
to a shared world plotline, even when said site says it will not claim your
copyright. As our humble editor pointed out to me (thanks Lazette!),
"Copyright and first print rights are not the same thing. Don't ever put an
entire story up on an open site if you hope to sell it elsewhere."
The only con to all these pros that I've
listed in using a blog for your writing is that it alone won't gain you any
popularity if no one's looking for it. Selling yourself, for lack of a
better term, is something you constantly have to work on, and the same goes
for regular websites. You might be searchable through Google or Yahoo!'s
search engines, but you need to get your name out there first. Print out
some business cards or fliers and find a place where you can distribute
them. Join an online blog or BBS community and network yourself. And above
all, make it fun and creative! |