Blogs & Websites: The differences, and when to start each

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a very long time. I've heard a lot of questions ranging from "Do I need a website?" "Do I need a blog?" "Do I need both?" to "How are they even different, anyway?" And a ton of others about timing. Now, obviously, there's a lot of different opinions on the matter-- these are mine.

The difference between a website and a blog:

In a nutshell? A blog is aimed toward writers, a website is aimed toward readers. This isn't the case every time, of course, but it's a good rule of thumb. Readers and writers are looking for entirely different content, so it's easier to give them just the content they want if you keep them separate. Readers are looking for extras (think the "special features" you see on a DVD), where writers are looking to get to know you through commiseration, your insight, your sense of humor, your skills, and / or like personalities. Writers know to look for blogs; readers know to look for websites.

What if I don't want to make a website? Can't I just use my blog?

Of course! Some people start off with most of their posts being aimed toward writers, then as they get books coming out, they gradually change their focus to things readers will be interested in. Some people do a combination of both, and have a "For Readers" tab and a "For Writers" tab with content or links to posts that will interest each group. Having a blog is not all that different from having a website that also has a link to your blog, no? The biggest difference is how much flexibility you have for the look and ways to show content.

If I decide to do a website, when should I make it?

My opinion? After you get your book deal (if you're self-publishing, then do it when you decide you're going to go that route). Do you need to make a website before you query? Nope. Agents / editors care how much your manuscript rocks, not about how many publicity things you've already done. This business moves a little slowly--- they know you'll have time to get those kinds of ducks in a row before your book comes out. I've been working on my website, and I can tell you that I have SO much more clear of an idea of what I want as content now than I had back when I was querying. Plus, you won't really know what to include for a lot of your "extras" content before you go through the whole revisions process with your editor. It's a much more efficient use of your time if you wait until you know what you want there.

IMPORTANT: If at all possible, register your domain name now. I'm not kidding. If you ever want to do a website, don't put this off. You can google "Register domain name" to find some places to go, or ask around. I asked around, and got a lot of people highly recommending NameCheap. That's who I went with, and have had a great experience with them. If memory serves, it's less than $10 a year to register your domain name. (And no, you don't have to have a website tied to it anytime soon. I bought mine quite a while ago, and just set it to redirect to my blog until I get my website live.)

Here's why it's important: I don't mean to freak you out-- just to warn you of a possibility that could happen (but definitely doesn't happen all the time or even most of the time). I've heard that there are sketchy people out there who watch Publisher's Marketplace for deals. If they see that Billy Bob Jones got a book deal, they'll go register BillyBobJones.com, then when Billy gets around to buying his domain name, it'll be gone, and sketchy person will help Billy out by offering to sell him the domain name for hundreds of dollars. (A second buyer-beware tip: Don't search to see if your domain name is available until you are ready to buy it. Sometimes hackers can see what you searched for, assume you're going to be back, and then buy it quickly so they can sell it to you when you come back.) No sense whining about it-- just work with it. If you want one, buy it early, and don't search ahead of time.

If you decide to blog (which you totally don't have to do), when should you start?

That's a much harder question to answer, because the answer is different for everyone. And no, you don't HAVE to blog. It's good to have an online social media presence, but choose the one (or two, or three ;)) that you LOVE. Forget doing any that feel like a chore. But instead of talking about the ifs and whens of blogging, let's talk pros and cons.

Pros to blogging:

True fact: Writers need writing friends, and blogging is a fabulous way to get to know other writers. They comment on your blog, you go back and comment on theirs... repeat... and you get to know each other! I waited a long time to start my blog. I couldn't believe how much more I felt a part of the writing world once I started blogging.

It can help you find critique partners. Since blogging uses more words than other social media, so you get to know people better. And once you get to know them, you can get a good sense of whether or not you'd likely be good critique partners. I wrote a post once about finding critique partners (you can find it here), and so many people mentioned in the comments that they found their critique partners through blogging.

It gives you a great creative outlet with less pressure on what you write, with a hugely wide open field of possibilities to write about.

It improves your writing.

Cons to blogging:

It takes a LOT of time. It takes time to think about / write / find images for each and every post. And if you don't spend much time on your posts, people are less likely to keep coming back.

It also takes a LOT of time to build followers. When you first start blogging, the world doesn't automatically know that you just started a blog and that it rocks. You have to go out and search for other blogs that you love, follow them and comment on them so that they'll wonder about you and follow you back to your blog. It takes time to pay it forward with comments, and to build those relationships with other bloggers. It may be totally and completely worth it, but it does take huge amounts of time.

All the time you spend on blogging is that much less time you have to spend on writing.

Other things to consider: 

If you do decide to blog, it takes a while to find your blogging voice. It's different from your writing voice, and it's different from your talking voice. It's all it's own, and you'll develop it as you blog.

It also takes a while to come up with a plan / focus for your blog. It takes a while to try out things to see if they work, and to adjust accordingly based on the reactions of your blog readers.

So if you want your blog going strong when you query / when your book comes out, don't wait until the month before to start.

If you're already blogging, or you've already made your website, when did you start, and why? Do you wish you'd started at a different time? If you're not a blogger, do you ever plan to be?

Let's update each other, shall we?

Hi hi hi! Long time no see! How was your New Years? What did you do? We did with our kids the same thing my parents did with us growing up--- we ate homemade pizza, played board games for many, many hours, and toasted the new year with sparkling cider at midnight. I love it every bit as much as I did when I was a kid.

Since it's been so long, how about we update each other? I'll start. (Or you can skip down to the comments, and you start.)

SKY JUMPERS Book 2

Last week I turned book 2 into my editor. There are a lot of factors that make book 2s difficult--- someday I might post about that. Needless to say, there are times that I thought it might kill me, and there's an incredible weight lifted to have it turned in. It makes me want to tackle everything I've been putting off all at once. :)

Goal: To never finish a book so close to deadline again. Especially if that deadline is January 1.

Cover

Just in case you're wondering how everything is going with my cover... it's coming along nicely. :) My editor and my cover team rock beyond the telling of it, and have been working so hard for the past ten months to get it just right. Cover illustrator #3 (yes, number THREE) is working on it now, and I'm telling you, this is going to be the one. I've seen his first color sketch, and it's incredible. I can't wait for it to be finished! And don't worry that you might miss the reveal. Trust me-- I'll be shouting about it from the rooftops.

Goal: Patience. I've had my book deal for 14 months so far... what's a couple more?

Blog

My poor, poor neglected blog. Sometimes I'll go into my stats and see that people click through all the page tabs at the top, and I cringe. Those puppies haven't been updated in a year and a half! It's a little embarrassing.

Goal: To get back to posting regularly, reading blogs, and revamping all those things on my blog that are in good need of a revamping. Or, in some cases, an initial vamping.

Website

Getting an actual website is my current focus, and I'm so excited to jump into it! I have no idea what I'm going to do just yet, but I'm voting for something awesome. Anyone have any tips? Suggestions on what to include or who to use? Author websites you've seen that you love? I'll take it all.

Goal: To make peggyeddleman.com rock. And have it do something other than just lead you back to here. ;)

What's new with you? Did you set any goals / resolutions? (Or are you anti-New Years resolutions? I totally understand that, too.) And are you as in the mood to do all those things on your to-do list that you've been ignoring as I am?




photo credit: Leo Reynolds via photopin cc

I miss you, bloggers!

Alex Cavanaugh, Matthew MacNish, and Andrew Leon have teamed up on a blogfest that I think is brilliant! It gives us a chance to give a little shout-out to the bloggers who haven't been blogging as much lately, to let them know that we miss them.

And also a shout out to those we'd miss if they ever stopped.

There are so many bloggers that I miss! I am thrilled to highlight a few of them.

THE BLOGS I MISS

When I read about this blogfest, the first blog that came to mind that I miss is C'MERE! Whatcha doin?, the blog of K. Marie Criddle.

Marie is one of those people that is amazing at every single things she does. And she does a lot! She's not a bragger, so she doesn't inundate you with the awesome, but even still, you're blown away at first sight. SHE DRAWS ALL OF HER POSTS, people! And not only that, but she is layer upon layer of funny! And thoughtful. Every once in a while, another detail of her incredibleness eeks out, and you'll find your jaw was still dropped in awe from the last time. I think there's probably nothing she can't do. Hop on over and say hi! Marie's blog.

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Another blog I miss is Empty White Pages, the blog of Sarah Pearson.

Sarah is thoughtful and kind and very supportive of the writing community. Plus, she's a music savant! She used to do a lot of posts where she took someone's book blurb, and found songs that she felt represented their book, in a Musical Impressions series. It was so much fun to see a WIP represented like that! I loved it! Go let her know you miss her! Sarah's Blog.

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I also miss The Startled Spyglass, the blog of Brenda Sills.

Brenda is fun and amazing and insightful, and has a great blogging voice. Plus, I've met her in real life a few times, and I've got to tell you-- besides being a great writer, she is an incredible human being. Stop by! Brenda's blog.

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WHO I WOULD MISS IF THEY EVER STOPPED BLOGGING

One of my very favorite writing blogs out there is Pub(lishing) Crawl.

If I had to recommend a blog to writers, it would be this. The ladies at Pub Crawl rock. Their posts are thought-provoking, insightful, well written, and helpful. They are written by authors, a publishing sales rep, agents, editorial assistants, and a book wholesaler, so there is such a broad range of information and perspectives on the writing world. Even when they are talking about a subject I know quite well, I still learn tons from every post. If you haven't already been reading Pub Crawl, check it out! They are definitely worth it. Pub Crawl Blog.

Thanks, Alex, Matthew, and Andrew for the great blog hop!

Hi! **waves sheepishly** I'm not dead.

image by dev null
via Flickr Creative Commons

And I haven't been an absent blogger because don't I love you, or because I haven't missed you all like crazy, either. After being gone from blogging for what felt like the entire summer, let's update each other, shall we? If you want me to start, keep reading. If you'd like to start, feel free to scroll right down to the comments first.

I made it through content and line edits! I did round one edits in the spring, but my editorial letters for rounds 2, 3, and 4, each complete with line edits all came during the summer. It was tough, but I'm done! And right now, my manuscript is in the hands of a copy editor.

My kids made it through what has arguably been the MOST BORING SUMMER EVER. (Apparently stressful deadlines for me = no fun for them.) And they went back to school today! I now have kids in three different schools, with six different drop off / pick up times. 7:45, 8:15, 9:05, 2:15, 2:45, 3:30. Crazy much? Maybe just a little. Benefits to having the most boring summer ever? My kids are actually, for the first time ever, mentally ready (and possibly even a little bit excited) for school to start. Huzzah!

I recently okayed my author bio, wrote my dedication, and worked on my acknowledgements. :'o) I haven't finished them, though. Holy hardness-- they're tough! So much more difficult than I anticipated. Oh! And I made a book trailer! Aaaand I can't show you for like ten months. But it's awesome! (You're just going to have to trust me on this one for now.) It was crazy time consuming and had to happen right during crazy deadlines for edits in order to be used at list launch, and possibly made me a little crazy,  but it's done. And my agent is going to use it to pitch my book to foreign editors, which makes me crazy happy. Plus, in ten months from now when I'll probably be crazy busy, I'm going to take a few minutes to sit down, kick my feet up, and be so glad I'm not in the middle of making a book trailer.

I actually worked on book 2 this past weekend! I went to a writing retreat and got SO MUCH DONE. I'm still living off the high from accomplishing so much. Especially because I'm generally a slow drafter, so what I got done in 2 1/2 days amounts to 7 good weeks of writing. For a moment, though, I didn't think it would happen. I was wandering outside the resort, talking and plotting (because I plot best when I wander. And it's even better when I do it chatting on the phone with someone than when I'm just talking with myself...), and I saw this:

I took this with my phone, standing directly in front of our place, looking at the Park City mountain that's so very close to us. That stuff in the background? Those aren't clouds! They're the first billows of smoke from a massive forest fire. I thought for sure we'd be evacuated. The writing gods smiled down on us, and we forged on.

I swear, guys, I am back, and I plan to blog like I love it again. Because I really do. I figured I'd do a few industry posts, too. I think it's so good to know what you're getting into every step of the way, and the best way to do that is to read about the same things from different people. Things are just so vastly different between publishing houses, between genres, age groups, editors, authors-- it's good to hear all of it. So I think I'll post this week on List Launch--- the thing I knew the least about when I got my book deal. Plus, I think I'll post on how to have a successful writing retreat, because it could've just as easily become a chat-a-thon as a write-a-thon.....

So tell me what you've been up to this summer! You don't have to write a post-length comment, of course. It is, after all, my fault I haven't been around to see what you've been doing. But if you do decide to leave a post-length telling of your summer, I am so VERY okay with that.

J is for Juggling Blogs

We all read blogs, right? (Well, duh.)

Am I also correct in assuming that we all read a ton of blogs? How in the world do you keep up with them? How do you decide which ones to read? Google reader? Blog rolls? Comments? A list? Topics/titles that interest you? People that interest you, no matter what they write? Ritual of people you check each day? Read some every day? On specific days? Times you read, or when you are procrastinating?

I have a system, but it never feels like it's a GOOD system. (It involves opening everyone's blog who commented on mine over a period of time, ALL AT ONCE (no joke), then going through as many as I can. Then I come back to them at my next chunk of time. It's really important to me to get to the blogs of the people who comment on mine, but it leaves little time for me to get to any of the other blogs I follow. Know what I mean?)

I always feel like there really has to be a better way to get around to everyone's blog that I really want to read! So I would really love to hear how you do it.

And speaking of blogging, this is my 200th post! It feels like there should be confetti or something. Ah, well. I'll just wait for my year anniversary, then plan something that will BLOW YOU AWAY.

The Way We Are: Blogfests

There are a lot of blogfests* going around right now.

(*Don't know what a blogfest is? It's basically this: A blogger / group of bloggers decide on a cool topic, make an awesome image depicting the name of the blogfest, then invite others to join and post about that topic on the same day / same week / over a period of several weeks. You can go to the blog of the host(s), and sign up on their linky list. Then you can click on everyone else's link in the list to see what they wrote about that same subject. Make sense?)

I want to know what you guys think about them! Can't say no to any of them? Don't care? Love them with the fierceness of a thousand starving tigers? Haven't ever participated because you're unsure? Haven't participated because you're not a fan? If you've participated, what made you want to?

I've only participated in two. Sometimes, though, I feel like I'm missing out on all the fun! There's a blogfest I'm considering-- the Blogging from A to Z one. Anyone else doing it? If I'm understanding it right, your first post title starts with an A (or the subject is strongly A-centered). The second day is a B and so on. It has potential to be a lot of fun! But then I think, Ugh. I'll have to post on Saturdays. But then I think, But what if I see everyone's awesome posts? It'll totally make me wish I had.

I swear I'm not this indecisive on everything, guys. Really.

(But obviously I could use a little help being swayed one way or the other. Plus, there's the whole bandwagon effect that can be pretty powerful.)

So I guess I have two questions. 1) How do you feel about blogfests and 2) How do you feel about the A to Z one specifically? Feel free to answer one or both. Or neither. I heart lurkers, too. :)

Hanging with the King

Emily R. King, that is! I'm at her blog today, for Blogger Mentor Monday. Come on over and hang with us! Get Busy Writing

Finally! Nesting! Let's have a party!

Did you know? Have you heard? You can now do nesting comments in Blogger! That means they made a reply option after every comment. So a commentor can comment on someone else's comment, or the blog author can comment on your comments right below instead of in a massive comment at the end. This is the stuff dreams are made of, Blogger! When we Blogger bloggers aren't thinking through our next scene, we are spending our time thinking how awesome it would be if Blogger had that capability.

I feel like throwing a party in Blogger's honor! With orange rounded corner cookies with a white frosting funnily-shaped B that really looks like a padlock with the top hook off center. And orange punch. And little smiling GFC pictures covering the walls.

If you use Blogger and you haven't already done this, are you dying to know how? Well, wonder no further. Because look! Here's a handy link to the instructions.

BUT.

Yes, there's a but.

Your comments have to be embedded in your page. That means they show up right below your post. So if you have your comments set to take you to another page that just shows comments, or if you have them in the little pop-up window like mine, you can't access that feature. Makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

I love my popup comment window. I like that, when commenting on a blog post, I can still see the post if I need to refer back to it while I'm commenting. Sometimes I comment about one thing in the post, then think, Wait. What was that other thing I was going to say? Then I glance at the post, think Oh, yeah! And comment on that. I don't want to have to scroll up through all the comments to remind myself about that other thing in the post! Go ahead. Call me lazy.

So now it's a toss-up. Keep my comments pop-up window? Or sacrifice it to get the nesting comments feature? (Life's full of tough decisions.)

So now I'm asking you. When you comment, which is most important to you? Having someone (either the blog author or other commentors) be able to comment on your comment, or being able to see the post in the background?

And if you use Blogger, do you already use nesting comments? And on a scale of 1-10, how freakin awesome do you think they are?



(I'd like to apologize for my excessive use of the word "comment" in all its forms in this post. Yes, I was going for a record. Did I make it?)