Another great post from Anne R. Allen, filled with details, concrete advice, tips and warnings for #author/#bloggers.

My favorite part (and there are MANY great parts):

“4) DON’T limit yourself with a restrictive niche”

“For product bloggers and reviewers, niche is important. It’s better to be the #1 blogger for jelly doughnut reviews or vegan baby food recipes than the 10 millionth blogger “musing about stuff”.

“But you’re an author. Your product is YOU. Don’t keep yourself hemmed in by a limited niche.

“For a long time, I believed all the stuff about how you have to have a niche. So this is a niche blog. It’s serving us well, but it hems us in.

“Remember people surf the Web looking for two things: information and entertainment. Your blog can spin a good yarn, make people laugh, provide information, or all three, as long as you are putting it all in your own honest, unique voice.

“I used to caution writers against putting fiction on blogs. It is still less likely to be read, because people are mostly skimming blogs for information, but there’s been growth in the “story blog” recently, so if you have flash fiction you don’t intend to send to contests or journals, it’s okay to put it on your blog. But do realize it will be officially “published” so you have given away first rights.

“NOTE: It’s still not smart to post raw bits of a novel in progress. [italics are mine; Sally Ember, here] Agents and publishers won’t consider that book because it’s now published (unless you’re getting 100,000 hits a post.) Also, readers respond much better to self-contained short fiction than unedited bits of novels. And remember your job is to entertain, not seek free editorial advice.

“Another caveat: one of the least interesting topics to readers is your writing process [italics are mine; Sally Ember, here]. Hardly any potential reader wants to know your daily word count or your rejection sorrows. Other writers may stop by to commiserate, and you do want to network with other authors, but don’t make your writer’s block or attempts to get published the main focus of your blog.

“You simply want to offer your unique voice talking about the things you feel passionate about: the research you’re doing on medieval armor; your theories on why raccoons are going to take over the planet; the hilarious adventures of an erotica writer running for PTA president. Anything that will draw in readers will work.”

THANKS! Reblogging! Link is below. PLEASE visit and read the whole post if you are an author/blogger. Well worth your time!

http://annerallen.blogspot.com/2014/06/how-to-blog-essential-dos-and-donts-for.html