Author | Joseph L. Selby

Relax! (Go to it)

As previously mentioned, I participated in Sara Megibow’s Writer’s Digest webinar last week. She had a lot of good points and went over various features of her clients that caught her attention during the query process (all her clients except for one came through the slush pile). Not all the things she mentioned had to do with the author’s writing. She mentioned repeatedly how impressed she was with Roni Loren’s platform. Roni had started her blog before querying and had 50 followers with regular participation (replies counted in double digits, etc).

For aspiring authors who have not yet started establishing a platform or those of us *cough* me *cough* who can count responses on one hand, these kind of comments can cause some extreme anxiety. Half my twitter followers are spam bots! All my comments come from Ted Cross! Woe is me! Woe is ME!!!!

RELAX!

Stop. Breathe. Ask yourself a simple question: What matters most? The answer will ALWAYS be the same.

The writing.

Writing matters, folks. Sure we need to have a platform. Here I am blogging right now. And that’s something to build up over time. But as you are working toward querying and then representation and then publishing, remember to keep your writing up front. There are plenty of things to stress about there (holy crap, this is shit! No one is ever going to want to read it!) that you don’t need to pile on with worries that not enough people are commenting on your blog.

And if you want empirical proof, head over to Jane Kindred’s blog/website. Jane just sold her epic fantasy in a three-book deal. Check out her followers. 14. Bam, I got her by one!

The writing always matters first.

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6 responses to “Relax! (Go to it)”

  1. Elizabeth Poole

    Okay that does make me feel better. Because some people make social networking out like it's going to make or break your career prior to getting an agent.

    But you're right. If you have a thousand blog followers but a crappy book, it won't matter.

    Reply
  2. Ted Cross

    Glad to be the cause of so much woe! One thing I have noticed, though, is that quite a number of my followers seem to find me because of comments I left on other blogs. Not throw away comments, but ones where I really added something to a discussion. Some people find it time consuming to visit lots of other blogs and comment, but I find it isn't hard at all if you use a blog roll. I simply keep my blog open throughout the day as I work on other things, and hit refresh every so often. That way I always see each new blog post done by those I follow. It doesn't matter how often or seldom they post, I will always immediately see when they have a new one out.

    BTW, are you ever going to turn off word verification? I think that helps garner more comments, too, and you only really need it when you get so huge that you start attracting spammers.

    Reply
  3. Joseph L. Selby

    Yeah, I picked you to poke because I run into you wherever I comment. 🙂 I absolutely agree that offering intelligent commentary on other blogs is the best way to draw traffic to you. That's how most of you came here. Except for that Nate Wilson guy. I don't know what his deal is.

    As for word verification, after owning my own forums, I had a lot more spam than I had users. Now that Google has fixed the word verification for mobile, it seems like an easy precaution to keep the blog junk free. Most blogs use it, so it's not necessarily creating an extra burden for the users.

    What I AM beginning to consider is allowing anonymous comments. I had a valid reason when I first picked the setting (it being a hold-over from my lj blog which I could have possibly returned to), but given my own use of anonymous posts elsewhere, it seems a bit hypocritical not to allow them here.

    Reply
  4. Roni Loren

    I totally agree. Writing matters the most. (But I am happy Sara liked my platform!) And just FYI, I probably had about 500 not 50 followers by the time I queried Sara.;)

    Reply
  5. Joseph L. Selby

    Ooooohhh. She said 50 in her WD presentation. You should box her about the ears.

    I don't have 50 followers. I have 15. I had more but when I told them they needed to watch the Dark Crystal, they left. Which is a good thing. I don't trust people that don't want to watch the Dark Crystal. Next thing they'll be telling you they don't like Labyrinth and then David Bowie will drop them into the Bog of Eternal Stench and you don't want to stand next to those people when that happens.

    Reply
  6. Britt F. Frey

    While I do read all your posts, and all the comments, I can say that I feel a bit daunted by the length and frequency of your posts. If I am one week behind on your blog, it can take me an hour or more to catch up; for something that is somewhat niche, that seems too much. While I don't consider it wasted time, I can say that I am a long-time friend that is also interested in writing; I can only imagine the effect on people that are not friends or are not interested in the topic. I believe you are well over the optimal frequency and length of updates – at least for the purposes of maximizing readers.

    Reply

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