Roni Loren Guest Post

Roni Loren Visits the Literary Project

Once again I am not really here. I have left the blog in the very very capable hands of Roni Loren, a debut writer who has just this week scored a two book deal for herself. Her first novel will be out in 2012, and I just can't wait to get my hands on a copy so I can proudly declare "I knew her before she was famous."

I've known Roni through Blogger and Twitter for around about a year (I think), and am a huge fan of her blog. As are an awful lot of other people. As an unpublished writer she has a following that a lot of full time novelists would kill for.

So, what with all this talk about aspiring writers needing to build an online presence before they've so much as landed an agent, I decided to ask the lovely Roni if she would mind sharing the secrets of her platform-building success with us. Then steal every last idea and use it myself.

Anyway, enough from me. Roni, the Literary Project is all yours for the week!

How To Build a Blog People Want to Follow

By Roni Loren

First of all, I want to thank Gemma for inviting me. She's gets some seriously awesome people to chat over here, so I feel like to dorky girl who has slipped into the popular kid's party. I'll try no to trip over my feet or spill my drink. :)

Alright, what I thought I'd talk to y'all (I'm from Louisiana and live in Texas, so forgive the y'all) about today is building your blog following. I started blogging a little over a year ago--mostly because I felt like it was something I was "supposed" do since I wanted to be a writer. I never thought I would stick with it. Then I started meeting all these terrific people, and I was hooked!

Now I have built a pretty good following -- 775 as of today (and almost as many on Twitter). Not numbers that rival those with big platforms like literary agents and such, but pretty decent for an unpublished gal just talking about writing. And beyond the friends I've found in bloggyland, I also gained a benefit I never imagined I could get through blogging--my blog and a fellow blogger who got to know me through it helped me to land my agent (Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency)! (If you're interested in how blogging helped me get my agent, you can access that tale here.)

So needless to say I am very pro-blogging. :)

Now, how did I get the following I did in a year with no platform at all? Well, it's not all that complicated really. Just takes a few different things...

1. If you want to be followed, follow.

--If you're just starting blogging, this is the best way to gain followers. Go find blogs you like and follow them. Many will return the favor.

--Once you start gaining momentum and those follower numbers increase, then the scale starts to tip and people begin following you first. So don't be a diva, go check their blog out and if you like it, follow them back.

2. Comment!

--I ♥ comments. The fact that someone took those few seconds to tell me what they thought makes me happy. So I try to provide the same for others. If all you do is lurk on blogs, you probably won't get many comments of your own (unless you're famous, already published, have already developed a base, or have some established platform.) This gets harder as you get more followers (I've become terrible at this now), but it's vital in the beginning.

3. When people comment on your blog, try to respond to the comments.

--Doing this makes it feels more like a conversation. And many people subscribe to comments via email or check back on blogs later--make sure you let them know you heard them. Once again, this gets harder to do once you get past say, 20-30 comments a day, but then, instead of responding to each person, respond to the themes of the comments. Just so people know you are reading what they've said and have thoughts on it.

--Some people also respond to comments individually via email instead of in the comments section. That is also effective, especially if you start getting loads of comments.

--Of course, we wouldn't have to do it in these tedious ways if BLOGGER WOULD GET FREAKING THREADED COMMENTS! Okay, I feel better. Maybe I'll start a petition.

4. Make sure that when people click on your name from a comment you leave that it leads to either your blogger profile or directly to your blog.

--In the beginning, I tried to comment on every blog that left me a comment each day, so if I didn't have that link in the comment email, I'm probably not going to hunt it down. This also applies about attaching your email address to your account so that people can respond to your comment via email.

5. Ensure your google friend/follower button also links to your profile or website.

--Lately, I have been getting new followers, who, when I click on their little picture it just shows me who they follow, but doesn't list their website. I can't check out your site if you don't give me a link in your profile to access.

--To check this, go click on your follower picture on someone else's site. If it's not showing, change your settings.

6. Having multiple blogs can make it confusing.

--When I click on someone's profile and they have four blogs, I'm not sure which one is most related to writing or whatever our common ground is. I'm probably not going to check each one. And this will divide up your followers.

--So, if you have multiple blogs, I would suggest making the title clear enough that people can figure out the subject of the blog.

--Also, you can hide certain blogs from your profile if you want to funnel people to one instead of the other. For instance, I have a blog for my son, but it's for my family, so I don't list it in my profile.

7. Keep a regular blogging schedule.

--This is probably one of the most important points on this list. If you only post once a month, people will probably not remember to come back.

--It's okay not to post every day, just make sure you follow some pattern that people can expect. For instance, for the first year, I blogged every weekday because I had time to do so. Now I do M/W/F because things have gotten a bit busier since I've gotten my agent. But all that matters is that people know when to expect new content from you. My readers know I'll have something new on my blog every M/W/F. (If not, someone send out a search party, I've been kidnapped.)

8. Write blogs that people care about.

--Remember, this is only if you want to gain followers/comments/etc. If the blog is just your outlet and you don't care if people are reading or not, then it's fine to do whatever you want.

--However, if you do want people reading, don't just have nonsense posts all the time. Figure out what commodity you are offering the reader--why would they want to come back?

--I've chosen a teaching/information sharing model. So if you come to my blog (most days) I hope you are able to take away a little nugget of helpful information. For other blogs the takeaway may be humor or shared experiences or an ongoing story or book recommendations or contests.

9. Beware big blocks of text and posting large writing samples.


--I have to watch for this because my posts are long. So I try to break things into bullet points or lists or isolate different sections in a different color.

--Also, this is just my opinion, but huge passages of your fiction writing can also scare people away. Not because of the writing, but when someone follows 100 blogs and they hit a big story excerpt that

a)they have to read without knowing context and

b) have to comment on--which is precarious because it's like critting someone's work, they may just click by.

(However, if this is the purpose of your blog and what people expect, like public query slushpile, than that's okay. Your followers have signed up for that.)

10. Ask a question at the end of each post.

Involve your readers, make it easy for them to comment. A question gives them something to ponder and share.

11. Practice good karma

Link to other bloggers when you find something helpful on their blog. Honor others with those pat on the back awards.

12. Be sincere.

If you're only mission is to get as many comments as you can, so you go and comment "great post" on everyone's blog without reading them, people will realize what you're doing. And be yourself! I'm a dork, I don't hide it. People can tell who is being genuine and who isn't.

13. Technical stuff

Get rid of that little word verification box that people have to fill out to make a comment.

--Man I hate those. I can't tell you how many times I type of my comment, hit publish, then close the window, only to realize that a verification box had popped up and I just lost my comment.

--This is the standard setting on blogger, so if you want to change it, you need to do it in your settings under "comments", choose no for word verification.

I changed mine ages ago and have had no problems with spam.

14. Throw contests and participate (or host) blogfests.

--Contests don't have to cost money or be spectacular. Many times, I'd just give away a critique, which costs me nothing but time. Just make sure that you require people to follow you in order to earn an entry (and give them chances to earn extra entries by following you elsewhere--twitter, facebook, etc.)

--Blogfests (those things where you sign up and on that day a slew of bloggers post themed excerpts on their blogs--the Kissing Blogfest, the Rainy Day blogfest, etc.) Not only do new followers find you that way because you're on the list of participants, but you never know who will see your excerpt. One of the reasons my blogger friend referred me to her agent was because she had read my blogfest excerpts and "knew I could write."

Alright, those are my tips. What are yours? Or what are your pet peeves that turn you away from a blog or commenting? What makes you return to a blog time and time again?

Roni Loren is a romance writer whose goal is to write sexy (okay, sometimes downright naughty) stories that make readers laugh out loud, hold their breath, and fall in love--all before reading "happily ever after." She blogs on writing at Fiction Groupie and tweets like mad woman. She's hoping to see her books on the shelves soon!

Feel free to stalk her:

Website: www.RoniLoren.com

Blog: fictiongroupie.blogspot.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RoniLoren