Friday, May 24, 2013
My Own HNS Conference Interview and Panel Discussion
A big thanks to THE WITCH'S TRINITY author Erika Mailman for posting my HNS Conference interview today on her blog, World of Mailman.
At the conference, I will be facilitating a Saturday afternoon panel discussion on blogging. Here is a description of our session:
Virtual Salon: The Historical Fiction Blog
Today's readers (and publishers) expect authors to have an internet presence. A blog is an effective way to join the writer, reader, and reviewer of historical fiction in dynamic interaction about novels and the history that infuses them. This panel will not only examine the benefits an author derives from maintaining a blog at various stages of her career, but will explore how blogging serves the historical fiction community as a whole. Topics include: finding a niche and establishing a voice; effective blogging strategies (regular features, guest posts, contest, blog tours); blogging etiquette; expanding one's audience; and measuring success. Panelists include both authors (Julianne Douglas, Heather Webb, and Deborah Swift) and successful blogger-reviewers (Amy Bruno and Heather Rieseck). Discover how to become part of the vibrant historical fiction community through blogging!
There's still time for suggestions about topics you'd like to see us address. Just leave a note here in the comments.
See you at the conference!
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7 comments:
I'm looking forward to this session. One topic I'd like to see you address is: to what extent should authors blog about their research? I've found some fascinating things in my research for my own (unpublished) novel, and I'm thinking of starting a blog, but I keep wondering whether these things would be of interest only to me, or to readers in general who might not know a lot about the topic.
Thanks for a great question, Vicki! I'll give it some thought and pass it on to the other panel members. I know many authors use their blogs as a place to share research that may or may not have made it into their books. The question of timing strikes me as an important one here: do you share the info now, as you discover it, even though your blog might be new and not yet have much of a following, or do you save the info to share right around the time when your book comes out, to promote interest in it? Sharing early helps prepare the way for your book and piques potential readers' interest. Waiting keeps readers from becoming bored with the topic before the book is published. Pros and cons to both courses of action. Let's see what the other panelists and members of the audience have to say!
I adore reading bits of author's historical research, and I've discovered some great books bu stumbling across an interesting blog post. I can't tell you to do it early or wait, but I will say, please blog about it at some point!
Yes, I would like to blog about my research, but I can't decide whether I should do it soon, while the research is fresh in my mind, or if I should wait until the book is published, which might be a long time from now.
My advice is that it's never too soon to start blogging. It takes time to build up a readership, which you want to have in place before the book is published. There are probably plenty of peripheral topics you could begin blogging about in order to introduce potential readers to the time period and setting. Plus, blogging is a way to become better know in the historical fiction community. Contacts made through blogging are invaluable!
Thanks! This is excellent advice. I'd also like to know what panelists think of posting excerpts from your work in progress, because I've gotten contradictory advice about this. Some people think it's a very good idea. (Julianne, yours are great, by the way!) But others don't think authors should post excerpts from their unpublished novels, especially if they're still revising. So, I'd like to see some discussion of the pros and cons of this.
Good question! We'll do our best to address it.
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