Christian Fiction: Sep 14, 2009

Monday, September 14, 2009

Day 9: Blog Links that Matter to Authors and Readers

This is Day 9 of 3o Days to Build a Better Book Blog. This week we are still setting up are blog with an emphasis on features essential to a book blogger.

If you are an author (published or wannabe) you need to begin forming relationship with your peers, bookclubs, distributors, bookstores, gatekeepers, and so on. Blogging is one of the fastest ways to not only start that relationship, but become a part of the community of readers that want what you are writing.

When I began blogging exclusively about Christian Fiction five years ago David Long Acquisitions Editor at Bethany House Publisher , who runs Faith*in*Fiction blog reached out to me and asked me to join in a conversation about contemporary fiction and faith. (Remember in Day 4 I talked about the importance of identifying the type of blogger you are and have a clear vision (Day 1) about the direction and focus of your blog. )

Back then I didn't have all the bells and whistles(social bookmarking, microblogging, podcasting thingees) that I have now to promote myself in the blogosphere. I only had relevant content and relevant links that I knew mattered to readers like me.

What I wished I had known before I began generating five years of steady content was the power of having relevant links in my sidebar. Once I met Dave and began to meet other faith*in*fiction community bloggers linking them here brought some important things to my blog:

It brought readers who I didn't know personally to the blog
It brought industry professionals, whom I never would have met unless I attended a writer's conference for years to the blog
It brought writers I didn't know anything about
It brought more writing opportunities
It gave the blog more credibility
It brought more content to talk about on the blog

From joining that community. My blog and I have befriended more than 200 Christian Fiction Book Bloggers.

So how do you meet other bloggers like you and then participate in some coalition building?

You meet more bloggers by:

Search, visit and comment on blogs similar to yours.
Search for online forums where writers who are specific to your blog hangout
Attend local meetups
Attend local writer's festivals
Start Here. There are book bloggers participated in this event with you.

Coaltion Building. What is that?

One of the main reasons bloggers fizzle out is that they don't think anyone cares about their blog. No one is commenting(or not enough.) They don't think their blog matters. There vision to help people when they began the blog begin to sour, because from where they sit no one is listening.

I've had times here on the blog when I've written something I thought was profound or I had discovered a book I wanted everyone to read, to learn that a handful of readers read the post. But when I found a place to not only connect with, but to feed my blog from it gave me incentive to continue blogging and the friendships that I have developed fostered a sense of accountability.

Moreover, it's fun to to participate in a dialogue between many bloggers about the same subject.

Your Homework:

Yes, we are building a Book Bloggers Collective of our own at BlogCatalog called Book Bloggers United. If you are a member of the 30 Days, then in the Facebook Page Wall make sure you add your blog url to the wall. Then I want you to do five things:

Join Book Bloggers United at BlogCatalog, get the badge for your blog's sidebar.
Use a Links Widget to link all the other bloggers to your blog's sidebar. (Don't forget this blog.) Title the Link: Book Bloggers United. Place this widget underneath the Book Bloggers Badge
Obtain a Technorati Account, then place your account profile url in the Day 9 Discussion Board
If you don't already have a facebook fan page for your blog., then place your Facebook profile url in the Day 9 Discussion Board.
Come back to 30 Days, because I will break down BlogCatalog, Technorati and Facebook Fan Pages for the Book Blogger this week.

Quick reminder: If you are not a member of 30 Days, you will not receive the full gumdrops of the next three posts. I only blog full posts about this series on Mondays and Fridays. Registration is free. Visit here to join.

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