Sunday, May 02, 2010

The Morning After

Whew! This was a busy blogging weekend. I feel as if it's the "morning after". I'm finally able to take a deep breath and evaluate everything.

Unlike some morning afters, I have no regrets. :)

Blogmania was terrific! I gained 74 followers this weekend. I had more than 100 comments and 588 visitors on one day alone. I found many new blogs I want to visit again. I met new people.

The blogfests have also been awesome. It's a great way to meet different kinds of writers, to build community, and stretch writing muscles.

Author interviews are a good way to give back to the community. Helping one another is what this world is all about.

If you're looking for good ways to promote, I recommend all of the above.

Blogmania is a semi-annual event. The next will be held September 15th. This time, I will offer more prizes and start promoting far in advance. Some of the blogs reported receiving 1,100 comments and two hundred new followers on that one day. To join in the fun in September, check out: Book Blogs ning/Blogmania

To find a list of writing Blogfests, visit Bloginfestation. There may be others and to find those, go to Google and search. Bloginfestation has a list of several such as "College Days" and "Flirt Fest".

I'm also hosting guest bloggers and interviewing bloggers. Sometimes they interview me, but that is not a requirement for me to host them. If interested, leave a comment or email me to set up a spot.

Most of this cost zero dollars. Blogmania can cost a lot or a little. It's up to you. Several bloggers awarded ebooks. One gave away a custom blog design. Others gave away jewelry, bath oils, bound books, toys, gift certificates...

I gave away copies of my ebooks and a $20.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com. That's not a high price to pay for advertising but seemed well received.

Perhaps a group blog of writers might want to give away a Nook or a Kindle or a larger gift certificate.

Another promotion tool I use is writing free short stories such as Monday Minute Fiction. MMF posts tomorrow, so I'm off to write tomorrow's short story. Please check it out. If you'd like to participate in MMF, please contact Brynn Paulin at Writing At The Speed Of Life. She'll hook you up.

Please share here if you know of other good promotion opportunities for writers and bloggers. I love to find new ways to promote.

Recent posts you might like to read:

Author Interview: Wendi Zwaduk 


Author Interview: Frances Pauli


Author Interview: Marcia James

Author Interview: Elaine Hopper

Weathering A Bad Review


What Do You Want in a Romance Hero & What Do You Want in a Real Life Husband?

Rejection: Where Do You Go Next?

Procrastination

Cliche or Coincidence?

Incognito: free short story

Dedicating Books

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Wendi Zwaduk are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Ashley, I'm glad that you're enjoying the Blogfests, and thanks for giving my BLOGinFESTation page a shout out.

I received your questions about hosting a 'fest, and if you check my blog tomorrow, I think I will put up a whole post about hosting a blogfest. :)

Mari Barnes said...

Good ideas, Ashley. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Lilah ~ Thanks. I'll check out your blog tomorrow to find out how to host a blogfest.

Unknown said...

Mari ~ I'm glad you like the ideas. I'm always looking for new ways to promote.

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