Jen's Writing Journey

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.

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My post on building fellowship was included in the Just Write blog carnival.

And my post on outlining was included in the Fiction Writers blog carnival.

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Can you believe it’s already May? I can’t either. Here are some good resources to help you start your writing month off right.

The Business of Writing

Perception Is Truth
Writing Career Coach Tiffany Colter takes a fresh look on book marketing. She reminds us that readers don’t make decisions based on fact but on their gut instincts, their perception of a book. How can you use that knowledge to shape your own book marketing?

Money: The Balance Between Spending It and Making It
In a post targeted to freelancers, Jennifer Mattern gives tips to help you decide when you should spend your own money, your hard-earned writing money, or look for free alternatives.

The Agent Who Knew Too Much
Do you want a grizzled veteran or a wet-behind-the-ears newbie representing you? Agent Jenny Bent gives a description of each, with their strengths and weaknesses to help you decide ho might be a better fit for you.

(Accidental) Networking for Writers
What comes to mind when you think of networking? For me, it is an exhausting evening of gladhanding slightly tipsy businessmen. Bella Andre had similar visions of networking until she realized that it isn’t sleazy; in fact, networking with a like-minded group of people can be downright fun.

Fiction

Jeri Smith-Ready on World Building
Where will your fiction take place? In our world? In the seedier undercurrents of our society, be they crime, supernatural, sexual, etc.? In a completely different world with completely different rules? No matter what your setting is, you must make sure it rings true to your readers. Jeri Smith-Ready talks about the different ways she builds the worlds of her urban fantasy books.

Casting the Bones: The Truth about Telling Lie
Not technically a new resource, but Janet Reid included a link to it this week on her blog. She called it a must-read for all fiction authors.

Freelancing

Three Ways to Find Those Elusive Unadvertised Freelance Jobs
Have you driven yourself mad responding to freelance writer jobs, only to find out they pay less than a penny a word or to not even get an email in response? Jennifer Mattern has some tips to recast your freelance gig search that may hold the answer for you.

Writing a Solid Contract
A contract isn’t a foolproof scam repellent, but it can protect you and help you recover if you are scammed. Here are tips to ensure that you write a contract that offers your protection.

General Writing Tips

Writer’s Block…A Thing of the Past
Nadia Ballas-Ruta shares tips to help you banish writer’s block.

Writing Every Day
Do you write every day? I had always heard that advice, but usually people suggested “even if it’s in a journal.” I have a long and sordid history with paper journals. I buy them because I love how they look, and I write in them once or twice. Then six months later, I buy a new one. Same story. I started my Pop Culture Curmudgeon blog as a means of forcing myself to write every day outside of work. Here, Carrie Vaughn shares her approach to a daily writing schedule.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14