A query for my readers
A number of us are having an ongoing discussion about the value of blogging as a promotional tool. I promised some of my colleagues I would do this, so I'm going to be very brave and ask this question. If no one answers, I'll tuck my tail between my legs and hide under the furniture.
Is there anyone out there--any reader of this little blog--who has read one of my novels or stories because of the blog?
Keywords:
About Louise
Louise Marley is a former concert and opera singer who now writes fulltime. She is a two-time Endeavour Award winner, has had several ALA Best Books of the Year honors, and two Nebula nominations. Her bibliography includes science fiction, fantasy, and young...
Connections
Hi Louise; we met a few
Hi Louise; we met a few years back at one of the earlier Foolscaps in Seattle and most likely again down at Orycon in Portland. I've been living in Michigan for a few years now, though I do miss the Pacific Northwest.
In answer to your question, I've not read a book of yours because of the blog. I did so (Glass Harmonica--big thumbs up!--and others yet to be read) because I'd met you personally. :)
Steven Schend
http://www.steveneschend.com
PS: I'm on Redroom as well but not as active as on Facebook
Hello again, Steven.
It's good to see you here! Looks like your own work is coming right along, which is great. I'm finding on LJ that there are some who do find authors through blogs--and as it turns out, I don't have to hide under the couch. :-)
I am also curious about the
I am also curious about the effectiveness of blogs also. I realize that I have not been lead to read any book through the exposure of any blog.
This has been a good discussion
because we all spend so much time doing this. I enjoy the repartee, myself, and never expected much else. On LiveJournal, though, where I also post my thoughts, I'm hearing from a number of readers who have found authors because of their blogs--even mine! (Smiles)
From one who had the pleasure of meeting you at Armadillocon...
My own experience is that I read the blogs of authors whose works I already buy. I am not going to buy any additional books by those authors because of the blogs. Blogs do get me to buy books though. I have purchased many books by authors previously unkown to me because they have been recommended in one of the blogs I regularly read. That makes me not a very good target for authors trying to self-promote. But if an author wants to try to sell me something that a friend has written or that he or she really enjoyed, I'll probably pull our my credit card to check it out.
Interesting,
Bethe. I take that as meaning second-party mentions are more influential than self-promotion. I'm sure I respond the same way. I find myself skipping over clearly self-promotional posts, and digging for content. But there's nothing like a recommendation to get me to buy a book.
Thanks for the input! I believe we have some sort of confused consensus here.
one exception
Thinking about it some more, I realize that there is one exception to the ignoring-self-promotion rule. That is anthologies. I often won't realize that an author I like is in a new anthology. (And I don't have time to read every table of contents when out shopping.) Because of that, I will purchase an anthology based on an author's blog about being published in it.
I take that point.
In other words, blogs by authors are informative, and hopefully useful. But we're put off by the most blatant me, me, me sort of promotion.