I have a new column up at Romancing the Blog. This time I'm talking about pro writers blogging, and whether it might be a good idea to have multiple blogs (or journals or mailing lists or forums or whatever) for different types of posts, so people who just want to know when your new books are out or how your dog is doing can subscribe to your more "mellow" blog without having to scroll past your political analyses or your dissections of someone else's book.
I'm responding to a couple of other posts that went up within the last few days, but you don't have to read those if you don't want to; I'm pretty sure mine makes sense on its own. The earlier topics were about whether a writer should express strong opinions on their blogs, or even controversial opinions. My thought was compartmentalizing, so readers can choose for themselves what they want to subscribe to.
What do you think?
Angie
7 comments:
Nice article over there at RTB. As for me, I'm kinda doing both at my personal blog; compartmentalizing (topics according to day of the week), which also makes for a quasi-organized hodge-podge. I may change that in the future to focus more on writing, but as I'm new to the blogging game, it's working for me. The YOG blog will be done at the end of the year, and I'll still be team blogging for The Rose & Thorn Literary e-zine's blog.
ps. You've got a great name. Similar to my maiden name (ooh, I hate that term) -- Angela DiBenedetto.
I actually think it's kind of dangerous to express too strong opinions. FOr well known writers that is. I know some writers who have gotten themselves blasted for this, especially about political issues. Not such a problem for us unknowns.
As for multiple blogs, personally, I make it a habit to check only one blog per person, no matter their fame level. I just can't do more.
Angie -- I'm still trying to figure out what to do myself. [nod] I'm not organized enough to do the days-of-the-week thing (or maybe it's disciplined enough? something like that [wry smile]) but I know it works well for a lot of people.
And cool on the name thing! The last name on my pseud is my mom's maiden name; I wonder whether our families are from the same area of Italy?
Charles -- right, it can cause some backlash, definitely. But then, even those blow-ups are free publicity, as people talk about them. And there are folks like John Scalzi whose blog is incredibly popular despite his having strong opinions on pretty much everything. Or Harlan Ellison, who doesn't blog (that I know of) but who manages to make a good living and have a shelving unit full of award statues despite the face that half the people who have any clue who he is seem to hate his guts for his attack-dog personality (while the other half thinks he's awesome).
As for multiple blogs, personally, I make it a habit to check only one blog per person, no matter their fame level. I just can't do more.
That's why my publication announcements and such go in all my active blogs and journals; most people do only read one, so far as I can tell. :)
On the whole, I don't know. I think there are gains and losses no matter what you do, and it comes down to which strategy you want to go with. [ponder]
Angie
options are always good, angie....
I kinda think multiple blogs can 'muddy the waters' in brand-building. But then, I have two blogs with little in common, so what do I know?
Steve -- branding is a whole 'nother issue. [nod] It's kind of faddy, and I'm not completely convinced it's necessary. Helpful? Sure. But will we fail without it? Huh. I don't know. I have a number of genres I'd like to be published in eventually, and the whole "branding" thing sort of tells me I can't or shouldn't do that. I prefer a Renaissance approach, and nothing I've seen yet has persuaded me that it absolutely won't work. We'll see.
Angie
Laughingwolf -- (sorry, missed you! [duck]) But yeah, that was the idea when I differentiated my two blogs. Unfortunately I have no clue whether anyone's actually reading the other one. I need to figure out how to get a stat counter onto it; the one I use for this blog isn't working over there. :/
Angie
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