Jen's Writing Journey

Welcome to the new home of Jen's Writing Journey, the blog that chronicles Jennifer Roland's writing life and provides useful information for new and seasoned writers.

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Blog carnivals can be a great way to introduce yourself to a new group of readers.

You can submit your articles to various blog carnivals hosted around the web. Find carnivals at blogcarnival.com. Browse all carnivals, then select a category that matches your blog. Visit the carnivals you find, noting their submission deadlines, posting dates, key headings, and requirements. Find a great recent post of yours and submit it. When the carnival is posted, post a short note on your blog that you were included in the carnival and link to it. Not everyone does this, but it is a nice way to drive your own traffic back to the blog carnival host.

You’ll see a quick influx of new traffic from blog carnivals. Your job is to make those new visitors stick by providing great content, not just in the submitted article, but also in the recent posts included on your front page.

Another way to participate in blog carnivals is to host your own. Search through the carnivals offered and think of what your blog can do that these other carnivals aren’t doing. Then create your carnival on the Blog Carnival site, picking a schedule that will work for you and laying out all of the other details the site asks for.

The site will send you reminders and it will publicize your carnival to those who come looking for carnivals to submit to, but you are responsible for drumming up readers. And you will likely need to hunt for some articles to include as your carnival gets off the ground. Think of your readers. Who are they, and where do they hang out? Visit those blogs, commenting about the new carnival you are starting. Ask them to submit articles and to visit when the carnival has posted. Once your issue has posted, visit those sites again, thanking them for their articles and including a link to the full carnival. Post a link on Twitter or Facebook, if you are so inclined.

I have played around in blog carnivals from both sides, submitting to writing, book review, and pop culture carnivals (from my Pop Culture Curmudgeon blog) as well as hosting a Supernatural blog carnival on Pop Culture Curmudgeon.

• Writing Roundup, April 24 Better late than never, here are the items and tidbits that I hope will spur you to a great weekend of writing. The Business of Writing Writing Conference Success Mary Andonian gives tips for Writer Mamas (and Writer Non-mamas) to be successful at a writing conference. As someone who is......
• Planning a Blog Tour I've been working for the last few months to plan a virtual tour to promote my book The Best of Learning & Leading with Technology. It is a lot more work pulling it all together than I would ever have dreamed. I've learned a few lessons about this monumental organizing......
• Song Lyrics in Books A while back, I posted a comment on a fellow writers' blog about my thoughts on the use of song lyrics in a work of fiction.Turns out I was wrong, although my advice to ask a lawyer familiar with intellectual property issues would have led this writer to the correct......
• Writing Roundup, July 31 Ah, another month draws to a close. We are nearing the end of a stretch of record warm weather in the Portland area, and the heat really sapped my energy. I did not do as well this month as I had hoped. What keeps you from meeting your goals? I've......
• Writing Roundup, April 6 Here is this week's batch of writing resources. Happy writing!FictionTalking about TalkingThe editors at The Blood Red Pencil give some good tips for ensuring dialogue that sounds authentic but not as boring as the average conversation. Don't believe me when I sat the average conversation is boring? Record one or......

• 6 + 1 Steps for How to Increase Blog Traffic Having access to the right tips and hints for how to increase blog traffic can really come in handy. The more tips and tools that...
• Spreading Viral Genealogy via Entrecard I don't mean to give the wrong impression by that title. As you have seen in your internet travels, the trend is towards viral: marketing,...
• 8 Things I Think I Think (and Personal Finance Links) As I do every now and again, I steal ideas pay homage to Football Writer Peter King and the 10 Things I Think I Think...
• Increasing Blog Site Traffic Is attracting blog site traffic really a difficult proposition? Are there any really, incredibly simple ways that a new person to blogging can increase their...
• Early April Carnivals And More I participated in a few carnivals this week. To start with, StockTradingToGo hosted the 146th Carnival of Personal Finance - Online Broker Tips Edition. My...