Saturday, November 24, 2018

Finding You Niche: Experiments in Blogging

image from openclipart.org by Firkin


In my adult life, I’ve tried niche blogging often.  What’s a niche?  It’s an area of expertise, research or experience a person is passionate about.  Here, it’s a topic someone believes they can write with experience on.  For fun, I thought I’d review all the areas I tried to blog with authority on.  

  I have a now deleted beauty blog.  As I researched monetizing blogging, I realized “lifestyle” was the most profitable category.  For me I thought “Yeah I can post on the hottest lipstick/mascara/eyeliner colors this season.”  I was wrong.  While makeup is fun, it‘ not something I have an ongoing interest in.  The constant change in the industry is expensive and often left me wonder “why” instead of feeling excited.  

I have an old passion project blog called “Southern Pagan Muses”.  Here I explored my faith and how I thought a respectful multi faith society would look.  This blog does NOTHING right in blogging.  The posts are long and meandering, they lack graphics, and I didn’t bother to proofread them so they’re littered with grammar/spelling errors.  The worst sin: there is no market for a pagan blog.  I dreamed of having a large following and of making a splash in the pagan bloggers’ world, but most “successful” pagan bloggers make extreme statements and mine were like “let’s listen to each other and have open conversations about what might lead to unhealthy lifestyles.”  I think about reviving this blog at least once a month, even though I know nothing can come from it, I love my faith and I love hitting the latest topics from a religious experience.  


Next I created “Barista to Boss”, a now abandoned blog where I try to make my creative writing a career (spoiler alert, I failed).  Working on this blog taught me a lot about blogging and gaining metrics.  This blog was only active for three months, it has 18 posts, and I got 4,209 views total.  There were a few problems with the blog that led to its demise.  First, I think my topic was too broad.  I discussed both my current day job and generic writing (blogging, poetry, other forms of creative writing).  It was too much for one blog to handle, and I’m sure I alienated audiences with too broad a topic list.  Second, I posted too often.  Since I was following blogging advice, my goal was to post once each day.  Striving for this goal, created burnout   Third, the pictures, the links, and the socializing required to make the blog appealing where draining.  It was a case of too much too fast.  Last, I realized I wanted to write creatively and freelance blogging/blogging took away from my creative writing.  RIP “Barista to Boss” you taught me so much.

 “Aquagarden: Diary in Small Scale Aquapoinics” followed “Barista to Boss”.  This blog was a TON of fun because it was like recording a science experiment for the 3 months I worked on it.  It was perfect for me because: 1. The content had a limited scope.  I expanded in the series to discuss other gardening projects and transforming grocery scraps into a second harvest but overall the focus was on the fish tank. 2. I created a picture centric blog.  Every day I’d snap some shots, edit, post, and write a few lines caption.  Much faster than planning out content for previous blogs. The results of my Aquapoinic experiment interested others without social media presence.  It has 2,800 lifetime views.  What happened to this blog?  Work picked up and I couldn‘t keep recording the tank, I was too tired.  Napoleon, my betta fish, passed in Dec and I‘ve retired the tank.  While I thought of starting the experiment again, the research I did raised questions whether a 3 gallon tank is a large enough container to ethically keep a betta fish, not to mention to whole betta procurement market seems cruel.  I’d like to run a 5-10 gallon tank with guppies one day, but I can’t finance or house such a large experiment right now.

I created this blog in 2016 when I finished my first draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  I was sooooo excited, and I wanted to share that along with a few blogging insights I had.  It didn‘t last long as I didn’t have the right level of insight or motivation to keep working.  I’ve revived this blog instead of creating a new one.  The focus still surrounds my personal progress and personal insights (as these reflections on niches shows).  

There were three start up and deleted blogs in between this.  One was a book review blog, another was a book group blog, and the last was a blog about me picking back up my French Horn and re-learning how to play.  All three would be fun if I was a more known blogger, but as it stands, I don‘t have the brand to expect conversation out of a blog which was the goals in these three blogs.  If I gain a more interactive audience: I’d love to host a read along blog, comment below if there's interest and tell me what our first book should be.

I recorded a “let’s play” of both “Stardew Valley” and “No Man’s Sky”.  I never posted the videos online and long since purged from my computer. My “Stardew Valley” let’s play was a “no farming” challenge with in the game, and later I did a “pure luck challenge” where I could only plant whatever seeds I found or could buy from the traveling merchant.  I love “No Man’s Sky” but I have a ton of self-imposed rules I play by to keep things interesting.  I can say the same for my Pokemon runs.  While not traditional “blogging” the daily updates that come with “let’s play” series along with the conversational tone most take on, speak in the same way.  Plus the metrics/promotion technique the same.  


I somehow encouraged my Writers’ group to create a blog with me. The NAWG blog is active. It’s “niche” is in creative writing with a focus on novels and short stories in the scifi, fantasy, and horror sub genres.  My group and I offer our experiences, what we enjoy about the writing process, and our experiences as a writers’ group.  We‘re a team blog because I thought we’d have a better time keeping a consistent schedule as a group than as individuals.  This experiment drives home how hard it is to “lead” writers or to pin anyone down for a solid commitment. 

In June I considered launching a Ketogenic/Paleo/Vegetarian nutrition based blog.  I‘ve read and follow a lot of healthy lifestyle information, love discussing diet and nutrition, and feel like this is a topic that can help others.  I didn‘t end up creating the blog because I think health and nutrition are personalized and I only want to give one-on-one advice to people once I get to know their lifestyle and current eating habits.  

And those are my preferred niches: religions, nutrition/healthy/green living, gaming, reading, and writing.  What niches would you like to write in/ have you written in?  Were you ever surprised by the level of interest in your writing?  Were you disappointed by the response?  How many blogs have you abandoned?  How many do you currently run?  Do these blogs provide income and if so how?  Do these blogs link back to your creative writing?  Talk to me!

Monday, November 19, 2018

Metric Monday



If you are new, today is all about the numbers, not about my plans.   See the action plans I’m using to earn these numbers in previous posts.  Last Week’s 6 week Review!  and 8 Steps I’m Taking on Twitter.   

Twitter Analytics
I’ve been active on Twitter for 93 days. In the last 28 days I’ve had 237 posts, 428 profile visits, 104 mentions, and 94 new follows.  


Conversion based on profile views is 22%. It’s interesting because I’m posting less 237 posts is down 31.7% from my summary the last 28 days and the tweet impression as 54.7k is down 10.1%.  A reduction of tweets naturally equals a reduction of views and new followers.  Here, the numbers are not proportionate.  My views remain higher than expected and my conversation is better.  Maybe I’m finding my niche?

  
My engagement is 2.4%. I’m trying to turn more towards active engagement, but it’s hard to come up with a reply and it is always 50-50 whether someone will respond with something else you can reply to.

I
 post about 8 times a day.  Clear success for me in spending less time on Twitter.



I broke 5,000 views randomly last Monday.  As I’ve continued counting daily views and tweet views, I wonder what the value of these metrics are.  Here, I gained a lot of followers, and it will be weeks before I know if I retain these folks.  My normal view count is about 2,000 views.

Blog Stats

I got 52 views last week spread across 11 posts.  I updated my list of links to my posts across both blogs organized by topic. I’ve also spent a lot of time working on my recommended writing bloggers.  I wrote five posts and scheduled them for across the blog world.  Excited for December content.

The North Alabama Writers’ Group blog has 20 views this past week.  Important for fellow writers: November Call for Submissions is out on the NAWG blog.  If you ever wonder where I get all those calls for submissions check out my page here Bloggers and Groups I Follow for Submissions.  For book reviewers I‘ve added “7 Steps I Take Before Writing a Bad Review



So talk to me!  What are your numbers?  What’s your social media strategy?  Are you counting anything else in your life and what does success look like?


Still need a number fix?  Compare this week to last week Nov 12th or go further back to reports on: Nov 5thOct 22nd, Oct 9thOct 1st Sept 24th, Sept17th, or Sept 10th.  

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Betting On Myself

image from openclipart.org by j4p4n



The Problem

Things are crazy in my professional life right now.  My “day job” is in shambles (from my perspective to them everything is the best it’s ever been or at least that’s the party line they are sticking too) and since that’s forty hours of my work week my emotional/mental life is shredded.  I feel like half a person, and that person is always on the attack, hunting for weaknesses in others to pounce on.  There’s no turning the snarky, angry, lashing aspect of myself off.  Something people don’t get: if you are a compassionate intuitive soul, you can take that knowledge and use it to be vicious.

In the middle of what for me is the worst three going on four months I’ve experienced in the last five years, I have to step back and ask myself “What can I do?”  I can’t change the policies happening at my work.  I can’t control how they are implemented.  I can’t force peers, superiors, or team members below me to be the right people to enact this cultural shift within the company.  But if you know me, there is no way in hell, I will sit back and let them wreck me without pushing back.

The Solution 

So first of the all, I’ve rejected the incompetent management and have turned around to challenge every move they make, using their own guide against them.  If I have to follow these rules, everyone will get on page now.  I will not struggle while everyone else tells me that “this is different”, and it’s “just this once”.


How I'm Choosing Me First

It’s time to come back to what I love.  What makes me passionate is writing.  I’m turning inward, back to words, and I’m turning all that frantic energy into creating space for my creative work to stand.

I’m unhappy, but part of me sees this work drama is the best thing that could have happened.  Nothing short of working at a huge corporate place that’s just shitting all over itself would have made me say: “If this is a thing, then I’m rejecting you and going back to my base.”

I’ve done a lot and continue to do a lot since I’ve turned back to reading and writing.  I’m reading more now than I ever have in my adult life, and I love that part of my life (check out my Goodreads reviews and stats here and see my "Best of Kindle Unlimited Series").  I’m writing (though mostly blogs and tweets) about 10,000 words a week.  My blog(s) pre-scheduled posts are insane.

I tried something new with the Writers’ Group where we each share a Halloween based flash fiction this month.  Chris Palmer finished and scheduled his story first.  Can I say, I appreciate how my fellow writers are stepping in and joining me on this new adventure?  I can’t express how grateful

I’ve noticed this conversation game trend on Twitter and I want in on that.  Right now I play with #theMerryWriter and #authorconfession but I’d like to play in some other Hashtag parties/conversations and I would LOVE to host a Hashtag game through NAWG.

I have more ideas and more planning than ever in my creative writing life.  I’m working in a class (the class itself isn’t going great, I’m waiting to give a full review), trying to get beta reading for the second draft of my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  While discussing the book with my friend Ashley Sanders, I had a major break through.  Now I know what I need to do to pull the work together that I am beyond excited to dig in and execute.

Ashley and I are also experimenting with running our own writing class.  We’re talking structure and what value we could add to other writers along with all the inspiration they may bring us.  I can’t wait to work with her.  We have a very similar process and goals for our novels, and I’d love to help other people work through what their goals are.

I have an outline for a co-writing novel gig called “Familiar” with a friend in the North Alabama Writers’ Group and I’m thrilled to bits about working more with the wonderful Zach Standfield to create something cool together.

I have never chased so many avenues at once and it’s occurred to me that my job and my lack joy in my professional life brought me to a place where I had to roll the dice on my projects I'm passion about that I would normally keep as quiet background gigs.  My story telling, my ideas, my ability to network.  Stuff I’m “good” at that I figured would never amount to anything.  It feels powerful to see how things I love could bring me an ounce of professional success.  All my life, people have told me my writing would “never amount to anything” and that I “should focus on something that will make me financially stable.”  Here I am, at the worst point in my professional career, with nothing to draw on.  In desperation, I‘ve opened myself up to this blogging, social media, creative writing thing, and it seems like these “useless“ skill set has breathed new life in me.

The path to monetization is opening and new opportunities rise on the horizon.  They are taking time and persistence, but I’m seeing incremental steps towards my long-term goals. It feels like I’m proving all those people who told me my skills and me through association were “nothing special” and “not valuable” wrong.

Have you ever been in a terrible situation at your job or life where you needed to get out?  What did you do?  Are there other angles I’m not exploring?  Did you ever follow your passion regardless of the money or the risk?  What was the outcome?  Do you have advice/regrets/victory stories?  Talk to me.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Monday Metrics

image from openclipart.org by firkin


If you are new, today is all about the numbers, not about my plans.   See the action plans I’m using to earn these numbers in previous posts.  Last Week’s 6 week Review!  and 8 Steps I’m Taking on Twitter.   

Twitter Analytics
I’ve been active on Twitter for 86 days. In the last 28 days I’ve had 245 posts, 405 profile visits, 101 mentions, and 79 new follows.  


Conversion based on profile views is 19%. I’m getting fewer over all views (not a stat I record here b/c I don’t know the value of possible eyes on a post) 54k vs 62k last week.  Still, the people who do see my Tweets seem to want to follow.  I think fewer views for actual follows a reasonable tradeoff.

  
My engagement is 2.5%. Three recorded weeks in a row at 2.5 (four if you count the one week I didn’t post).  My interactions have leveled out and going forward I expect 2.5%. 

I
 post about 9 times a day.  Clear success for me in spending less time on Twitter.


Blog Stats

I got 31 views last week spread across 13 posts.  I changed my “Featured Post” at the top of the page and created a list of links to my posts across both blogs organized by topic.  If I use these as reminders of all the work I linked to I can build traffic.  This blog is a little sleepy right now.  I’m looking at adding a couple of pages/resources, but there isn’t a lot to drive traffic. 

The North Alabama Writers’ Group blog has 18 views this past week.  Important for fellow writers: November Call for Submissions is out on the NAWG blog and if you ever wonder where I get all those calls for submissions check out my page here Bloggers and Groups I Follow for Submissions.  Also, I updated NAWG’s Ongoing Call for Submissions page to eliminate dead links.  If you‘re looking for better organization categories divide the informationand only includes calls that pay $.01 a word on my personal blog‘s page.



So talk to me!  What are your numbers?  What’s your social media strategy?  Are you counting anything else in your life and what does success look like?


Still need a number fix?  Compare this week to last week Nov 5th, or go back further to reports on: Oct 22nd, Oct 9thOct 1st Sept 24th, Sept17th, or Sept 10th.  

Saturday, November 10, 2018

I Have Trouble Naming: My Novel's Title



I’m terrible at naming anything. My dog’s name is Willow, and she’s called that because that’s what the shelter I got her from was calling her.  She was a puppy, and she hadn’t been there long enough she was responding to that name or any of that junk people say to justify keeping a name.  It relieved me that Willow was pretty and ubiquitous enough I didn’t have to come up with something else.  Poor thing would have been stuck with Spot, Shadow, or Puppy if I’d had to name her.

To no one’s surprise, my novel had no title during its first draft.  I called the draft saves “Portraits of Roxi Starr”....which couldn’t be the novel’s title because it’s boring and untrue, but it described the iterations I was working on, so go me?

Then I worked with my first beta reader on this project.  This person had a problem with my main character, Roxi.   She found Roxi’s personality abrasive (which yeah, that’s intended), but it went deeper than that.  The person didn’t like Roxi’s worldview, didn’t like her religion, and didn’t like the way Roxi expressed herself.

I think this person made the classic mistake of thinking Roxi was a version of me.  While I find Roxi is relatable and interesting, she is not me.  I put Roxi in a situation similar to ones I’ve been in, but Roxi handled them in a way I never would.   Where I always approach interactions seeking to avoid confrontation, Roxi escalates.  She likes to fight.  And sometimes that’s the right call, but most of the time, her outcomes are unsuccessful.

 Finally, I got fed up and was like “Look, you don’t like her, great.  People read books with unlikable characters all the time.  I need to know if you can follow her.  As a writer I’m saying ‘Here’s Roxi, here’s her life and now we’re going with this.  Follow her. ‘ Can you suspend your judgement on her as a human being and just follow her to see where the story leads?”

Follow me, ended up sticking.  Outside my argument with the beta reader, the book is about a fae stalking my main character.  He’s literally following her.  In the first draft, the reader was on a forced march to follow Roxi through her life.  In the second pass, I’m softening that element (and I think that might have been what my beta reader wanted) and better easing the reader into who Roxi is.  To do that, the reader is creeping along with our antagonist.  Following.

Roxi’s journey is physical through our normal world and into the Faery Realm.  Readers are passengers riding with Roxi.

Last, Roxi is sarcastic and sassy.  I could just hear her mocking some of her peers cheery social media chant of “like and follow me for more content!”  I always hear the title in meta mocking tones and sometimes I slip up and say my title with that element of self aware loathing.  “This is who we are, desperate attention seekers.  It is always a popularity contest, and it’s not even about liking, just F--ing follow me through the content.”   The ironic thing, I can’t tell you if these are Roxi’s words or mine.  We share a fear that to get other people to be interested in our story, we become that which we see is wrong in the world.  Both of us would bubbly announce “Hashtag fail fast!” the difference is that I would immediately turn away and leave the listener to decide if I were really cheery or if I was speaking in a sarcastic and self depreciating manner.  Roxi would stand her ground and stare at her audience until her disgust pierced through their skull.  She’s not funny and ambiguous, she makes a stand and is always ready to fight over it.

Talk to me.  How did you come up with your title?  Do you come up with titles easily?  Have you ever had a reader assume you were your main character?  Have you written a story where you were the main character?  And last but not least, what do you do to champion your book?  Do you market and how?  Do you ever worry you’re “selling out” or “shilling” for your book?

Monday, November 5, 2018

Monday Metrics

image from openclipart.org by gnokii


Sorry, I missed last week.  I was at work until 7pm, but I’m starting this up in the morning to be certain it posts!

If you are new, today is all about the numbers, not about my plans.   See the action plans I’m using to earn these numbers in previous posts.  Last Week’s 6 week Review!  and 8 Steps I’m Taking on Twitter.   

Twitter Analytics
I’ve been active on Twitter for 79 days. In the last 28 days I’ve had 281 posts, 458 profile visits, 96 mentions, and 89 new follows.  


Conversion based on profile views is 19%. My new followers list seems to have jumped, even as I post less and receive fewer retweets.  Does consistency, time on the platform, or something else tie in to this increased growth?

  
My engagement is 2.5%. I am seeing a steady decrease in interaction on Twitter.  I haven’t converted Twitter followers to blog readers, and it has me wondering, what is the end goal on this platform?  It’s only been 79 days, and I’m not giving up, but Twitter presence and friends/interactions with other writers/editors/bloggers/agents doesn’t seem to transform to a blog or book following.  

I
 post about 10 times a day.  I plan five posts and the others of responses or impromptu promotions.  What’s most interesting with this stat is I’m posting less per day and still increasing my views.  September I had 371 tweets and 41.1k views, October I had 358 tweets and 70k views.


Blog Stats

I got 38 views last week spread across 11 posts.  My consistency fell last week, and it‘s affected my posts.  Instead of writing anything new, I added a “Featured Post” at the top of the page, and created a list of links to my posts across both blogs organized by topic.  If I use these as reminders of all the work I linked to I can build traffic. 

The North Alabama Writers’ Group blog has 18 views this past week.  Important for fellow writers: November Call for Submissions is out on the NAWG blog and if you ever wonder where I get all those calls for submissions check out my page here Bloggers and Groups I Follow for Submissions.



So talk to me!  What are your numbers?  What’s your social media strategy?  Are you counting anything else in your life and what does success look like?


Still need a number fix?  Compare this week to last week Oct 22nd, or go back further to reports on: Oct 9thOct 1st Sept 24th, Sept17th, or Sept 10th.