This is where I played all weekend:
The Author Panel: "It's Not All About Your Book"
Kidlit Blogger Conference, DC, 2009
I had a wonderful time at the conference, and if you're thinking about going next year, you should definitely do it. I also know that I should blog every last detail, but between the revisions underway on the WIP and the Operation Yes promotional stuff, it isn't going to happen. Even these pictures I had to beg from the generous
Jama at Alphabet Soup.
Me with Jama's cutie-pie bear, Cornelius
But . . . I do want the conversation that was started around the Author Panel to have a place to continue. You have unanswered questions; you have thoughts that didn't hit you until later; you were inspired; or you were uninspired and still want to be; you now know what to blog about and you want to tell us----whatever it is, please use the comments section here on this post to talk to each other about it.
And since there were two specific questions that were left in an earlier post about blog audience, I did want to answer those directly.
The questions were:
I will be going to the conference so I suppose I could ask this there, but just to get the discussion started I will ask a multi-layered question (because I love frosting): Who do you think of as your audience when you're blogging? Your readers or other writers? I realize they are often one in the same, but one of my worries about kidlit blogs (oh, worries isn't the right word, and I'm waiting to be set straight on this point anyway) is that it seems as if the audience is often other bloggers and writers, as opposed to that illusive child reader or the equally illusive parent of child reader. Some blogs I follow seem to be kid oriented; others seem to be writer oriented. How do you strike a balance? Who do you think about when you're blogging?
My question is very similar to Madelyn's, and I hope that if this issue is discussed at the conference that one of you will blog about it!
I see my blog as a place for my readers (kids and adults) to go and see what I am up to. I write a bit about my work, and a whole lot about things that interest me, mostly books and science and the natural world. I think I do an okay job of staying on task and I think that my blog archive is a great place to go and learn a little bit about who I am and what makes me tick. That said, almost all of my subscribers, readers, and commenters are other writers. I did not anticipate this at all when I started the blog. And while I adore those few readers I have, and appreciate their readership, comments, and encouragement, I don't quite know what to do with the unease I feel over the fact that I don't blog with them in mind!
And my answer would be two-fold:
1) You may target an audience, but you can't control who reads your blog. Your content will bring you the readers who most need that content. Don't try to be all things; instead, showcase what you do or love best, be that scientific research, punctuation lore, or the particular slant with which you view your reading/writing life. In short, be authentic, and be aware that your readers may extend beyond what you planned for.
2) I don't think it's a failing that kids don't read most of our blogs. Kids don't read blogs in general, as
Greg Pincus of GottaBook pointed out in his fabulously detailed social media talk. I personally believe that kids are more likely to find your web site, as part of a class project. So keep that "static" site up-to-date, perhaps archiving some of your more relevant, kid-friendly posts there as articles. (See
Laura Purdie Salas's Poetic Pursuits on her site for a perfect example.) Anyone else want to weigh in on this?
Okay, that's enough talking from me. Your turn!
KidLitCon is this weekend! Along with Caroline Hickey, Laurel Synder, and Wendie Old, I'm part of an author panel called "It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors."
We'll each be talking about why we blog, and why we read other authors' blogs, and how we find a balance between our blogging/promotional lives and our more secluded writing lives. Then we'll take questions. Which is where YOU come in. Even if you can't make the conference, we'd like some input from you, and we'll post our replies back to our blogs so everyone can be part of the conversation.
What would you like to know about blogging as an author? Do you have questions about how we decide what to blog about/how we got started/why we continue/what benefits we see/what the pitfalls are? Or any other question?
Let's have 'em!
Also, don't forget: This Friday is the deadline to enter a jody call in the comments here or here to win a signed copy of Operation Yes. Right now, I have two brave souls who are stomping all over the rest of you who haven't entered yet. Let's MOVE IT, people!!! :)
I confess: I'm going to the outlets today with my daughter instead of working. She needs boots for her semester in Ireland, and I need . . . well, I don't need anything, but I'm happy to give her my opinion on heel heights and synthetic linings and roundness of toes. (Shoe shopping is such a perfect social activity to do while talking with a friend. No dressing rooms to interrupt the flow of chatter. Something for everyone, from the practical to the ridiculous to the sublime.)
But before I go, I have two things to share:
The dynamic duo at A Year of Reading are hosting an online writing gallery for the NCTE's National Day on Writing Celebration. What a fabulous idea! Here's what they're looking for, but read their
whole post for the full scoop.
A LIFETIME OF READING
Members of the Kidlitosphere are invited to submit stories from their reading lives. Your submission can be an anecdote from childhood, a recent experience around books or reading, a memory from school (good or bad), a vignette about learning to read, the impact of a particular book--anything about your life as a reader.
We are looking for a variety of short pieces (think blog post length) from anyone in the Kidlitosphere, including bloggers, authors, illustrators, readers of blogs, etc.
Yes, I think that means they want to hear from EVERYONE with something to say about being a reader. Get going!
Off to find the perfect pair!
You know what's on the horizon? My blogversary!
(That's me, on the right, with serious cake face.)
On July 6, 2007, I started this blog (on a double-dog dare from
Jules and
Robin) with a post on a Poetry Friday. I called it
Enter, because as I explained, the word "
begin" has always "terrified and paralyzed me."
Little did I know that the word "
blogversary" would also immobilize me. It's four days away and I haven't bought
myself you a present. I haven't planned a surprise party. I haven't written a witty and tender post about my first year in Blogistan.
Worse, I'm about to go on a blog vacation! Family and a writer's retreat have claimed my attention, not to mention the final tweaks on my revisions. And of course, my blogversary falls on a weekend, when I lazily do not blog.
I feel like I'm standing in front of the rack of gift cards on Christmas Eve. Bath and Body Works? Victoria's Secret? Cheesecake Factory?
A year of blogging doesn't seem long enough for a retrospective celebration. But I'm doing it anyway. Unless you really want a 7-Eleven gift card.
The post with the most comments? Saying Yes with 33.
The shortest? The aptly named
A Very Short Post. My life in six words.
Strangest title? An Anti-Chair Polemic. Post with the most unexpected consequence? Out with the Cappuccino, In with the Mountain Dew. Without any help from me, the comments on that one gave birth to a whole new blog site for older boy readers:
Guy Lit Wire. (I'm embarrassed when bloggers site or credit me for this. I was the ooze! Just the primordial ooze.
Fabulous other bloggers evolved it.)
Post that mentions Elmer Fudd? Fight's on!Post that gets strange search engine hits?
Drop down and give me twenty! I think because I mention pushup bras.
Post that makes practical types gnash their teeth? Credo. Because it's most often found by a search on "how to write a credo." I don't think they want a poem that begins "I don't believe in..."
Post about nothing and everything? Where Ideas Come From. Coffee sludge, anyone? (Or if you prefer,
Potato Chips and Coffee, in which I write a poem before your very eyes.)
Post truly about nothing? Empty as a Pocket with Nothing to Lose...Favorite Big Question post? Am I Living my Life for an Audience? I virtually sit on Oprah's couch and refuse to give the right answer.
My best writing tips? Attention, all those in the waiting area: The importance of delay.
Taking Out the Trash: How a cheap notebook enables me to write.
It's All in the Manuscript: It's all in the title.
Post with the best shoes? At the prom... My interview at 7-Imps. (Side note: number of posts that mention shoes? 23!)
Most rewarding experiences of the year? Tie between
Cybils judging and
writing a crown sonnet with six other fabulous poets and
co-blogging about exercise and writing with Liz.
Post I didn't think I'd write? Today's. A year. I've been blogging almost a year. I've published 287 posts. And made countless friends.
Thanks for making me feel at home in Blogistan. I promise to get you a present next year.
RealSimple, I'm disappointed in you.
You published an attractive and nicely annotated list of "The Best Blogs" in your March 2008 issue. You covered home, organizing and personal productivity, food, beauty, fashion, health and fitness, parenting and family, news and pop culture, and travel.
But not BOOKS.
Nope, not a single literary blog made the list. And this from a magazine that has done bookshelf makeovers.
You did have a cool quote that went with the story:
"Private opinion creates public opinion." --Jan Struther, A Pocketful of Pebbles
Well, my private opinion is that you messed up. And I'm going public with it.
On the other hand---and this almost redeems you in my eyes---your featured quote for the month of May is from Madeleine L'Engle:
"The greatest thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been." (as quoted in the New York Times on April 25, 1985)
So come on, RealSimple, if you want your readers with children or teenagers to get the most out of blogs and the Internet, you should feature:
7-Impossible Things Before Breakfast (
Picture Book Tips for Impossibly Busy Parents or
Slightly Demented Picture Books if you're daring)
or
Jen Robinson's Growing Bookworms Newsletter,
or
PlanetEsme's Yearly Index of Best Books,or the launch of
Guy Lit Wire in June.
It's simple; it really is.
Library jobs booked all last week and next.
Demand is outstripping the time available.
M-u-s-t * s-a-y * N-o!
Homestead on the point of collapse due to disorganization and columns, heaps, piles, infills of clutter and debris.
I've been at junior high and high school this past week. I am dismayed by how much I have not read.
As usual, I learn more from the kids than anyone else.
*__________*
Student #1: "Really, Mrs. P, you NEED to read these
Warriors books."
*__________*
Me: I saw this (
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You) was on the
Lone Star list, is it good?
Student #2: You haven't read this yet?
Oh it is SOOO...good. You have GOT to read this.
*__________*
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "Hi, you are back.
Have you read Twilight yet?"
Me: "Uh, no, not yet."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I told you to read it. I'm not talking to you until you read it."
an hour later
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday:"Are you reading Twilight?"
Me: "Uh, no, cataloging these books here.
Oh, thanks, I will read this copy that you just put on the desk in front of me."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I'm not talking to you until you read it."
a half hour later
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "Are you reading Twilight?"
Me: "I'm on page 15."
Junior high teacher who will probably have a kidlit blog someday: "I'm not talking to you until you read it."
*****
I will be back there on Monday. I have my assignment for the weekend.
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(Argh. Just wrote a lengthy response to this and deleted it by mistake. Will try to remember what I wrote.)
First, Sara, it was a great panel, fiery and full of life and DIFFERENCES, which really brought home how much a blog reflects (or should reflect) you.
I think I came to a similar conclusion to Sara's answer after listening to her panel and others during the day. Content will drive your visitors. Many of us are interested in talking about writing and the writing process, which means our readers are going to be other writers. Not a problem!
When I see the sites that really attract kids, they are just that -- sites and not blogs -- so I'm assuming Sara is dead on there as well.
And, riffing off of what Sara and others (Pam? Greg?) said about your presence on the web being your home online, I'm now starting to think about it like this: If your web site is your couch or your avocado refrigerator (Coke Zero, anyone?) than your blog is the conversation you have there. Which brings into question: while you'll build up a loyal audience, is there anything to say that the conversation or visitors can't change from time to time? For instance: Could you write on your web site (or living room wall) that you want to hear from teen-agers about XX on the last Thursday of the month? Would you hear from them? Would you hear crickets?
You want to bring young readers and their parents to your book, but does that necessarily mean that you have to bring them to your blog to do that? I'm thinking not, especially if it's just one limb of the cyber you.
Okay, this isn't nearly as well thought out as I wanted it to be (if my personality is scattered I'm afraid that means my blog and blog-of-the-future will be, too. Is that a death knell?) But I'm pausing. I do want to add, though, that the conference gave me lots to think about and some things are starting to gel. Thanks Sara, Pam and everyone who was part of the collective brain.
First, I wish I'd been there.
Second, regarding Madelyn's question, I think librarians (and probably teachers?) are also reading author blogs, even if they aren't commenting, and we're definitely in the business of talking to kids about books, so I think you reach your books' target audience indirectly that way. When I am recommending books and booktalking, I often throw in bits and pieces I know about an author--things I've read on their blogs or in interviews. Parents are usually more interested than kids in that kind of thing, but often you have to sell the parent on a book. (For instance, when parents are nervous about their kids reading Jon Scieszka's books (I know, I know, but some are), I always tell them that he was an elementary school teacher for many years before he became an author. This always calms them down.)
Madelyn, thanks for the feedback on the panel...and the use of the term "one limb of the cyber you." I'm going to steal that! Good rambling thinking, too. I like hearing your process as you figure it out.
Adrienne, that is hard to believe about the distinguished Mr. Scieska! Hee, hee. I love your point about blog information giving librarians, parents, etc. a connection to the author. I'd never really thought of it in that particular way. Cool.
I think you raise a great point, Sara, that even though kids don't really read blogs, they can stumble into your blog or site any time - either accidentally or as part of a project. It's key to make sure you have something for them when they get to you.
I also agree that being authentic is key... and that your readers may, indeed, extend way beyond what you plan for. Waaaay beyond at times!
Great to see you on the eastern seaboard for a change... and will see you in cyberspace until the next time!
Sara, I think I thanked you on the facebook link for this, but I returned here after Jama's report and got even more on a second reading. So thank you again! So much to think about!
And it sounds like it was a fun time, too.