My Follow Friday - The Write Worship

I came across The Write Worship some time ago by accident. The striking thing that first impressed me about this blog was the charming and peaceful way in which the writer conveys her thoughts. I follow the blog, not only because it beautifully outlines the path to being published, but because of the way the author demonstrates her talent in weaving the most beautiful phrases and sentences.

 

The Write Worship is a place where writers and readers meet and discuss their love and passion for the creative side of writing. The blog writer, Tamika, also has a tremendously positive way of looking at life and the ways of the world.

The write worship is indeed a place to go when you feel blessed or when you're stuck for inspiration of what to write next. This blog is an all encompassing site to fill your spiritual needs as both a write and a reader. You're guaranteed to come away filled and inspired. 

My Follow Friday - Authors Promoting Authors

As writers we're aware of how difficult it is to get your foot on the first rung of the literary ladder. This impossible 'feat' never happens for most potential writers. For the few who've made that first step, it wasn't without the help of colleagues and well-wishers who helped to promote them and their craft.

I follow Authors Promoting Authors because this is a blog set up to specifically support and promote other writers.



In our small slice of the world, most of us have turned to the Internet as a way of building our fan-base and writing platform. Sites like these are exactly what writers need to cast their promotional shadow on new audiences. I suggest clicking the link to the blog to read their FAQs if you have a book you'd like promoted, or a suitable guest blog idea.

Publishing, Blogging and e-Books Blogs

A Blogger’s Books was launched to help writers who were starting out in the business, so I wanted to make sure my readers were able to find other sites which were informative and resourceful in the writing, blogging, e-Books and e-publishing world. The list below consists of all the blogs I linked to in 2009. These were sites I came across which impressed me in the way they delivered free information and help to their subscribers. I look forward to fine-tuning and adding more to this list in 2010, so if you have a blog that fits this description please let me know. I will add it to my follow fridays by reviewing it, then put it on this list. (Drum roll)



how to write and publish a book

internet marketing blog

how publishing really works

lulu blog

publishing talk

the pen is mightier than the spork

author jody hedlund

the man who painted agnieszka's shoes

write and earn a living

a reader's respite

nathan bransford literary agent

danny gillian attempted author

social (at) blogging tracker

writer's bureau blog

andrew lownie literary agency

stephanie barko - literary publicist

My Follow Friday - Lulu Blog

Lulu is an online printing/publishing company that publishes novels, calendars, cook-books, picture albums and a number of other print paraphernalia. If you wanted one copy of a personal calendar professionally printed as a gift for someone else, or you required 200 copies of your carefully edited novel, Lulu will print and supply these for you. The print on demand service means that anything from hard copy novels to picture books can be printed at a relatively affordable price.







Even though Lulu is not a personal blog it’s a fantastic resource for writers and publishers. It concentrates on authors’ advancement. Obviously the more a writer/publisher sells, the better it is for Lulu’s status and financial prosperity.





If you’re a writer interested in writing contests, how to market your work, self-publishing advice, or author tips and tricks, log into this blog and have a look at the tags on the front page. There are literally hundreds of advice pages for writers.





Get stuck in!

How To Blog

This is a series of tutorials geared towards the creative minds of bloggers and writers. The first instalment concerns naming your blog. Subsequent articles in this series will be posted at intervals here on A Blogger’s Books and this page will be used as the anchor from where you can find links to all of them. Subscribe to my posts so that you can be notified when blog posts appear.





Lesson 1 is immediately below. You will find links to the other tutorials at the end of this article. 





Lesson 1: How to Create A Great Name For Your Blog

Naming your blog

When it comes to naming your blog, you may think this is a pretty easy and personal task. You’ve obviously had names that mean something special to you, swishing around in your head for a long time.





Wait. Actually, this is one of the hardest things when it comes to starting a blog. If you don’t mind your blog being another one of the millions of personal online journals no one else is interested in, it would be fine to give it an individually creative name.



However, I suspect you’re hoping to manage a blog that will be publicly read, will be listed by search engines, and that people will search for when browsing the Internet. In that case you’ll have to think carefully about what name you wish to use. To find your blog name you must first consider of the following points.





What is your purpose

Think carefully about the purpose of your blog. What are you giving to your readers? Blogs that are streamlined and targeted (not niche) have a better chance to be listed high in the search engines (in the long run) than more general blogs with pick and mixes. Sure, mix-bags blogs will be popular too. I have friends who have well-liked general blogs, but they’ve had to work longer and harder for their sites to rate high in the system. If you’re looking for staying power, and if you establish yourself as (say) a collector or expert in Spring flowers, after a while Google will be sending traffic your way when someone types in ‘Spring Flowers’ in the search panel. Take heed that it will take at least a year for this to start happening, but the more it happens, the more it’s likely to happen again and again.





Of course you may wish not to only stock pictures and information about Spring Flowers. You may have all types of other regular posts and images, but your main purpose has to be kept firmly in mind when considering your blog’s name.





Who are you targeting

In other words, who will your customers be? Who is your material aimed at? Are you targeting older people, women, younger people, gardeners, other bloggers? You also have to work this out before you name your blog. Your mood and tone and the words you use to name your blog would be slightly different when considering your audience. For example you may want to use words like ‘information,’ ‘facts about,’ ‘all about’ for students and younger people. If your audience are gardeners you may use words like ‘expert,’ ‘seasonal tasks,’ and ‘planting’ in the name. If you’re catering for general web users and bloggers surfing for just the pictures you may just want to say ‘photos of’ or ‘pictures’ in your title.





Popularity in the name

Again, using the scenario of spring flowers, you want to know exactly what terms or phrases are most popular in the searches for your specific topic. Visit the Google Keywords https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal page and type in your topic. Consider all the words that come up in your selected keyword phrase. You have the option to use just keywords, or general descriptive words or phrases in your search. It’s a good idea to make your choice depending on which phrase/word comes up more often when people are looking for information on or pictures of (spring flowers) your chosen topic.





There are few other things, but as a new blogger, these are some of the most important ones when choosing your name. Once you’ve considered all of the above, you’re ready to type in the name of your blog. Make sure the spelling is perfect and to ensure you get first dibs when people type in search words, express it in the way you would, were you typing in an actual request in your favourite search engine. For example, you want to blog about pets for young children. You won’t name your blog, ‘My lovely house pets.’ You’ll go with a name like, ‘Best Start-Up Pets for Young Children’ simply because this is what mothers would type into their search engine, were they looking for information about pets that are suitable for their little kids.





You’re ready to move on, but there is one important thing you should do before your name is set up.





Describing your blog

On your dashboard (Blogger) under setting, you’re required to include a description of your blog. As far as possible (and as naturally as possible) use some the words you found at the Google keywords site, stating clearly what your blog is about. Don’t leave this panel empty because you’ll be doing yourself a disservice. We will talk about this later, but on your Settings page (Blogger) under basic, you can opt to add your blog to Blogger’s listings, or ‘let search engines find your blog.’ A blog description therefore, is very important if you want your blog to be included in these lists. Your blog name should reflect its description.





You’re now ready to name your blog. Part two (link immediately below deals with blog posts. 





Part 2: Blog posts (how to blog, part 2)



Other Blogger Tutorials you will find useful





What does Blogger nav bar do?

How to resize Facebook 'networked blogs' widget

Online-writing tutorials (more below)

How To Add Google Webmaster Tools To Your Blog

How To Customise Feedjit Widjet On Your Blog

Vital Settings For Your Blogger Blog: The Newbie Guide

How To Add a 'Share This' Button On Your Blog

Vital Settings For Your Blogger Blog

Blogger's Top Gadgets (more below)











Use Your Blogger Nav Bar: Share on Google Buzz

5 Fun Gadgets For Your Blog

Does Face Book Send Traffic To Your Blog

Alexa.com And Your Blog

How To Monetize Adsense For Search On Your Blog

Free Gadgets To Increase Page Views

How To Create A Blank Page In Blogger (more below)

Make More From Adsense: Tips For Small Time Bloggers

Free Gadgets To Monetize Your Blog

Blogger's Got New Features

Blogger's Most Useful Gadgets

10 Ways To Make Your Blog Post Popular













How To Create An Adsense Channel For Your Blog

Optimizing Your Pictures Increases Blog Traffic

Do A Paid Review On Your Blog

20+ Must Read Articles For The New Blogger

How To Get Super Ideas For Blog Posts

Optimising Pictures On Your Blog Increases Page Views

5 Ways Com Luv Can Improve Your Blog









More Blogger tutorials to follow.

My Follow Friday - How Publishing Really Works

I Follow 'How Publishing Really Works' because of the wealth of writing tips and publishing advice the blog stockpiles. Not only are there definitive articles like ‘How to find a good literary agent’ or ‘How to test a copy editor.’ There are also vital grammar lessons for those in the writing world and beyond.



This site may not be a very ‘personal’ blog or what is construed as a ‘friendly space,’ but it’s the result of a lot of hard work by talented and professional people (there are posts by a few guest writers as well).



I often dip into ‘How Publishing Really Works’ for links to writers’ resources or just to see what’s going on in the publishing world because I respect the recommendations and opinions of the people involved.



Bookmark this site if you’re a writer, or have published an eBooks on the Internet.

My Follow Friday - Nathan Bransford

Nathan Bransford Literary Agent.  I follow this blog and included it on my 'Best Blogs About Writing And Publishing' section because it showcases vital reading material for writers, agents and publishers alike. If you’re a writer starting out in the business, this is a page you must bookmark.





Many of the ‘how tos’ are clearly specific to one particular literary agency, but the general ideas and tips are superb. 'How to write a synopsis,' 'How to write a non-fiction book proposal,' and 'How to format your query letter' are just some of the basic topics covered.





The general posts are definitely read-worthy and have opened my eyes to a lot of what happens in the industry. Admittedly, some of the information have put me off making enquiries to literary agencies, but knowledge is key to surviving in the publishing world, even if you’re doing it on your own.





Nathan Bransford is definitely my top recommendation to follow. Note there is no follow panel, but you can subscribe to it through the feed.



So, who else are you following and why?



Edited to say, Nathan does have a follow panel. I've subscribed to his blog, but have never seen the panel. It's on the lower right of the page. Thanks Michelle H for pointing this out,