Monday, June 01, 2009

Schmoozing and Cruising

I just received word of my royalties for the month of April from one of my publishers and it wasn't good. I worked my butt off promoting in April and the royalties are the worst I've had from this publisher. I joined Twitter and Facebook. I gained more blog followers. I spent valuable writing time schmoozing and cruising on the web. I thought and hoped that might help sales. Maybe I haven't attracted enough people to my blog. Maybe I haven't mentioned my books or blog enough on Twitter and Facebook (because I didn't want to spam). I asked the question on Facebook last night, "How can I attract more people to my blog?" "Content" was the number one answer. "Contests" was another answer. So let me also ask here: "What do you enjoy reading on a reading/writing/book/sometimes family/mom blog?" Serious answers will be much appreciated. Would you like to see more author interviews? More contests? Reader interviews? Other industry professional interviews? Other things? If you're involved in the reading world (avid reader, reviewer, writer, editor, agent, publisher, bookseller) and would like me to interview you, please leave me a comment. I'd love to interview you. Also please leave a comment if you have another suggestion. Thanks in advance. Ashley

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I tend to think that you need to slow down and give yourself a break and that sometimes you even exhaust me with your frantic pace. I would also look at the publisher. It's not necessarily you that is the issue. How well known or patronized is the publisher? What do they do for you? Are they really right for you? Are they a small fish in a large pond and maybe you need to concentrate on bigger, more well-known fish

Stephanie said...

Not sure how many of your readers are writers, and more specifically romance/erotica writers, but I love hearing about the publishing process. I'm in the process of my first publication experience with an ePublisher.

Regina Carlysle said...

Promotion is hard. Tough to know how much to do of various things. Lately I just relax and let it happen. I do the forms of promo that I enjoy. I blog (quite a bit) and play on myspace and facebook. Haven't quite got the hang of twitter.

As to blog content, I personally enjoy industry and writing related stuff mixed in with the personal stuff. It's nice to come over here and feel I'm getting to know you better.

Nicole McCaffrey said...

Ashley, I love your blog! Sure contests would probably be a big draw, but I love the combination of writing process, mom stuff, job stuff. It's real life, only without the annoying "who will be eliminated this round?" part, LOL. As a writer, I like hearing how other moms juggle writing and life, and as a writer, I love hearing how other writers juggle life with writing, LOL. So I tend to gravitate toward the blogs that feature a bit of both.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone. I was hoping to hear what all of you said. When I started this blog my intent was to let people get to know me and see that writers are people, too.

I do get on a merry go round. I started playing Farm Town on Facebook which I thought would be relaxing and I enjoy it, but it's getting to be another thing to stress me out (I have to harvest my crops before they go to waste and I even left the bookstore early because of them) so I have to back off on that some.

Website Content and Copy: Ashley Ladd, 2008.|Blog Design by JudithShakes Designs.
Graphics hosted by Flickr.