Blogging About Books or the Characters Who Bring Them To Life

Before we get into the next lesson in learning how to pump up your blogs to sell books, I've had some interesting emails and comments that I'd like to share with you. If you recall, the first lesson was all about how to create a blog centered around your book. While there were many wonderful responses, I can only share a few, but it's interesting how authors were very receptive to this. As most of you know, this is a new blog and already getting lots of hits. I want to thank all my readers!

The first one I'd like to share just come in my email box today. Someone had told someone else that I was running a workshop to help authors learn how to take full advantage of their blogs and this person contacted me, saying that she had a blog that was strictly to talk about her book. I couldn't wait to see it.

It's Harley A. Harvey's blog, a wonderful author who will have her first book, Karma, published the end of this month. What I found interesting was that I noticed that Harley started blogging about her adventures getting published--and I figure we'll hear about the road that follows as it continues--at the beginning of the month. How interesting to read about this because what perfect timing. Instead of waiting until its release, she's creating pre-buzz. Way to go, Harley!

I also want to share a comment left on yesterday's blog post because I think you're going to be delightfully entertained as I was.

Diana Holquist, author of Make Me a Match and the upcoming Sexiest Man Alive, has this to say:

"What a great site. Thank you. Just today, a truly unfortunate thing happened. One of my characters started her own blog to spite me. Seems she didn't like how her story was being told. It's already gotten sort of ugly. I have no idea what will happen next. It's at: http://www.gypsypsychic.blogspot.com. I'd love to know what you think!"
--Diana Holquist
http://dianaholquist.com

Well, of course, I headed right over to the blog and was just thrilled when I got there. In fact, with the right kind of promotion, this blog could really go places. I noticed that Diana is published by my absolutest favoritest to-die-for publisher, Warner, so I hope Warner knows what a great promotor Diana already is.

Another interesting story comes from Isis McGowen who left a comment on yesterday's post saying that she was already doing this on her blog. It struck me funny as I recognized the name, and then I remembered it was the main character from Schuyler Thorpe's online serial, The Starchild Universe. Isis' blog, which can be found here, has already captured my attention in that she's a kick-butt type of woman, Star Trek-style. Not really being a Star Trekkie kind of woman (I know, kick me!), I still was drawn into her as if she really was real and it was all because Schuyler thought ahead and knew that his readers would love to hear more about her.

Sandy Lender, one of the members of my writing group, actually has two character blogs. One for Abigail (http://abigaillovesnigel.blogspot.com/) and another for Nigel (http://sandylender.blogspot.com/index.html), two characters from her soon-to-be-released book, Choices Meant for Gods. Way to go, Sandy!

And, finally, a question from Celise Downs:

"I thought about creating a blog for my current character, too. I'm working on a YA series (hoping to sell to an agent) and the main character keeps an online journal like I do. That would seem like a lot of upkeep and I wouldn't know which angle to use: write something fresh or re-post the entries from the books. Suggestions?"

I suggested to her to not post the entries on the blog simply because publishers, for some ungodly reason, do not allow the published material (except for an excerpt in most cases) to be published anywhere else. However, she could post fresh material in diary style if she wanted to do that. Either way she wants to do it, it's an excellent way to carry on the legacy of her character and how many of us hate to see our characters die when we write, "THE END"? This is an excellent way to keep them alive, not to mention a great promotional vehicle to sell her book.

That's all we have time for now. Stay tuned for the next lesson in how to PUMP UP your blog to sell more books!

If you have any questions you'd like to ask, please leave them in the comment box and I'll answer them in a future blog post.

Happy promoting to you!

Tags: How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Book Promotion, Harley A. Harvey, Diana Holquist, Schuyler Thorpe, Sandy Lender, Celise Downs, blog promotion