Links from the Blogging 101 Class - Stumbleupon and Other Bookmarking Sites

I’m finishing up a story for the Glitter and Mayhem anthology, involving the Midwestern town I grew up in and lesbian were-seals. Here’s what may be the opener.

Here’s Anna and I all through high school: a geeky Hispanic theater boy and a bushy-haired white girl whose geekery took the form of endless D&D games and scores of tattered lurid paperbacks.

Here’s us a few years later, both in the same community college. Still best friends, still sharing trials and tribulations, always with an unspoken question between us, all on Anna’s part, because I knew the answer.

And here’s when I finally answered it, and broke Anna’s heart.

One interesting way to spread your social media presence is to use video clips via YouTube. YouTube allows you to post and share videos, which most blogging platforms allow you to embed in your posts. Like any social media effort, this takes time. You should consider whether or not the benefits outweigh the amount of your valuable time (which should be used for writing primarily!) creating videos and using them for blogging via YouTube requires.

Benefits of blogging on YouTube for writers:

• adds visual interest to your website
• creates a channel to pull in potential readers
• allows you to rehearse readings
• maximizes those read-aloud revision passes

Adds visual interest to your website: Images are a plus for a website, breaking up blocks of text and making the page more enjoyable to your reader’s eyes. Embedded clips that she or he can click on are even more enjoyable, providing the benefits of an image while also allowing them to interact with the page by clicking on the player.

Creates a channel to pull in potential readers: When you create an account on YouTube, you are creating a channel for your videos. Other YouTube users can subscribe to your channel. When they mention your videos on their social networks (and surely the clever content you create will make them want to pass it along!), viewers drawn to your channel learn enough about you that (hopefully) they’ll want more, clicking through to your website or seeking out your work to buy.

Allows you to rehearse readings: Most of us don’t do much public performing, and we all know practice makes perfect. Recording yourself reading a piece, which is one of the simplest ways to create content (you could put the audio over still images if you’re shy of showing your face) and listening to the playback is a great way to learn your strengths and weaknesses and find things you should work on for public readings.

Maximizes those read-aloud revision passes: Reading pieces aloud is a vital part of my revision process, and one I urge on those capable of following suit. And if you’re going to be reading aloud anyway, why not get the most for your effort and record it as well?

Here’s a sample video that I did that promoted both Armageddon MUD and a story of mine:

That video is an early (and somewhat mortifying) effort, but it was also pretty easy to do. It was recorded using my computer’s webcam. Nowadays I’d add better editing and titling, at a minimum, but at the time it was cool, particularly since we were the only MUD I know of doing anything like that. Next week, I’ll talk about the basic mechanics of recording for video podcasts via YouTube and the tools you’ll need.