14 Things About Building a Blog Audience That You Think Are True (But Aren’t)

October 9, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

A guy wakes up in an unfamiliar hotel room, laying in a bathtub partially filled with ice, and a terrible pain in his lower back.

He’s rushed to the emergency room, only to find that one of his kidneys has been surgically removed–apparently without his knowledge and presumably for illicit sale on the black market.

I’m sure many of us have heard some variation of this chilling tale via a ‘friend of a friend’ which has been propagated by thousands of people, but with dubious conformity to any facts.

An urban legend, or more accurately, a contemporary legend, is a kind of folklore that gets passed around in third, fourth or fifth hand accounts, modifying as it circulates and accruing credibility (at least by some listeners) as it spreads.

Some well-known ‘truths’ about building a blog audience are like urban legends.

If they go unchallenged, the truth becomes ambiguous, or worse, these inaccurate concepts become the conventional wisdom of the day, passed as fact from one rookie blogger to the next.

Let’s dispel some of these non-truths, so that you can begin to build a blog audience without folklore getting in the way.

Myths of Building a Blog Audience (and Some Truths You Should Follow Instead)

1. If You Build it They Will Come

There are well over 164 million blogs online, and that number is growing daily. Can you even fathom the statistical odds of your sparkly new blog being found online? The odds of someone reading one of your posts? To the end? And actually taking the time to leave a comment?!

It’s staggering. Yet many writers pound out a few blog posts and then wonder–impatiently–why their posts aren’t being shared wildly and their comment section has only one comment:

“Great job, Honey! Love, Mom xoxo”

Even great content needs distribution. And sharing your posts with the few followers you’ve managed to scrape together on your social media accounts doesn’t really count. [Read more…]

5 Steps to Blogging Mastery for Fiction Writers

September 24, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

To blog or not to blog: that is the question–at least if you’re a fiction writer in today’s market. With some conflicting advice floating around the web, guest author Jason Kong shares his advice on how fiction writers can maximize their blogging efforts.

Storytellers who blog have it tougher than most. There’s just not a lot of help out there.

I don’t mean good advice doesn’t exist. If you’re an author, plenty of blogging resources are available online — including here on Your Writer Platform.

The challenge is that many strategies are specific to non-fiction writers. While there is definite overlap, not all approaches work for their fiction counterparts. Ignorance of these differences may cause your blog to flounder.

To prevent that from happening, let’s take a closer look at what works for a fiction writer. Here are five fundamental ways to become a better blogger:

1) Blog around your stories

The reason why non-fiction writers benefit so much by blogging is that they can demonstrate their authority. By sharing their valuable ideas in a blog, they’re attracting the people who care about those insights and can have a waiting audience when a book is published.

For a fiction writer, the process is different.

Any blogging you do before you have a published story will have a different focus: entertainment and engagement. The impact may be more difficult to measure, but you are still laying the foundation for your most important marketing element–your stories. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #14)

August 25, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

This post is part of a weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

The featured articles cover topics on book marketing and promotion, blogging, social media and self-publishing. (I may even throw in a few inspirational and fun posts, just so that it’s not all work and no play!)

Bad Things Can Happen To Good People

Imagine this scenario: you wake up one morning to find that your entire site is gone. Every post, comment, tweak and photo has disappeared into the ether.

Nightmares and cold sweats, right? Can you even wrap your mind around the possibility of starting all over from scratch?

I can’t. In fact, I feel a little nauseous just thinking about it.

So before we dive into the featured articles, here’s a quick ‘how-to’ on website backup, so that we can all sleep easier tonight:

Backup For WordPress (Self-hosted):

There are many options for backing up your self-hosted WordPress site, so I recommend you do a bit of research to ensure you’re getting what works best for you. Here is one free option and one premium option for you to consider:

1. WordPress BackWPup plugin (free) – this plugin allows you to schedule full, automatic backups, as well as decide where you want your backups stored. Go here for a quick tutorial on setup.

2. Backup Buddy is a premium (paid) plugin which is similar to BackWPup, but also provides support and malware scanning. [Read more…]

The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #8)

June 30, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

This post is part of a weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

Unity and Independence

July 1st is Canada Day and I, along with my fellow ‘Canucks’, will be celebrating with BBQ picnics, parades, family and fireworks.

As many of my readers from the U.S. will also be frolicking in similar festivities–albeit a few days later-I thought I could squeeze in these helpful links before our productivity slides too far downhill! 🙂

Featured Articles

The Democratization of Publishing–Independence is Scary by Kristen Lamb at Kristen Lamb’s Blog

In her post, Kristen compares the changes in the publishing industry to leaving home for the first time. Is safety and comfort worth the limits placed on freedom and choice?

8 Important Questions to Ask Before You Publish Your Book by Carol Tice at Make a Living Writing

Carol outlines some basic questions every author should ask themselves before they publish, to help pinpoint when to publish and where to focus your marketing efforts. [Read more…]

Set Up Your WordPress Blog in Under 15 Minutes

February 23, 2013 by Kimberley Grabas

**UPDATED JUNE 2018**

Does the thought of having to set up your own blog or author website make you weak in the knees?

Butterflies in your stomach?

And not in the steamy romance novel good way?

It may seem like a daunting, technology ridden task for a newbie, but just like you figured out how to send and receive an email (you have figured that out, right?) setting up your own WordPress blog is just as simple.

But before rushing in to the set up of your author site, it is important to first get a clear understanding of some of the options available to you. By investing a little time up front you can save yourself loads of hassle down the road.
[Read more…]