Remember to include a picture with your blog posts, preferably an entertaining or otherwise memorable one. For one thing, posts can't be pinned on Pinterest unless there is an image.Those of us living a solitary writing life can sometimes get a little too addicted to Google Analytics. It’s a validation to us if people are reading our blog — and comments are like gold. I freely admit I poke at mine from time to time, trying to figure out what drives numbers up. So here’s five things I’ve noticed that do:
Repeat yourself a little. It’s okay to tweet about the same blog post more than once, but space it out so you know you’re reaching a different group. Not only do I repeat announcements of blog posts, I sometimes go back and remind people about old posts that were particularly noteworthy, like my Pink Hair Manifesto or Three Strategies for Snaring the Senses. Similarly on Sundays, lately I’ve been posting a recap of that week’s activity.
Post or tweet outside your time zone. Apps like Buffer or Hootsuite allow you to queue up posts in advance. I have mine set up to tweet several times during the night because I know that’s a different group accessing my Twitter stream than the ones showing up when I first get online in the morning.
Be responsive. Remember that social media’s a conversation, not a soapbox. “But Cat,” you’re saying, “what about the point just above, where you told me to use some canned tweets?” You don’t always have to respond immediately. But do at some point.
Think hard about titles. Some titles are attention grabbers. Intrigue your reader or tell them why they need to read your piece. For example, one of my most popular posts, which still gets a lot of hits, is Popping Pimples on Paragraphs.
Be consistent. I’ve started using the scheduling function on WordPress to make sure something goes up every day, and if I feel the urge to blog, well then, cool beans, it’s a two (maybe even three) post day, and that’s fine too. A consistent post schedule gives people a reason to visit your blog on a consistent basis.
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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One of the problems with submissions is the guesswork involved - there is no way to predict what market will love a particular story.Part of today is going to be spent sorting through my spreadsheet of what stories are out where and getting stuff out. That’s one of the really tedious things about being a writer – all the paperwork.
So how do I track submissions and figure out where to send them?
I have an Excel spreadsheet. One page has short stories that are circulating, a second does the same with flash pieces, a third tracks sold stories, a fourth audio reprints, and a fifth foreign reprints. When a rejection comes in, I mark the story on the sheet as freed up and put it in bold red. Once it’s been submitted, I switch the color to blue. That lets me look over the sheet and get an idea of what needs to go out. Right now it’s looking pretty red, so I’ve compiled a list of five flash pieces and ten short stories that need to go out, making a note of the word count.
After that I usually go to a market list, usually Duotrope.com or Ralan.com and look. I have some markets that stories always go through, but once they’ve been through those, it becomes a matter of finding the right place. I’ll look to see what anthologies are open first and see if I’ve got anything that fits into a particular theme.
Another system that can be used to track submissions is the excellent Story
Before I submit anywhere, I read their guidelines and do my best to read an issue or two (if they’re free online fiction, I don’t think there’s any excuse for not doing a little research there.)
Things that up a market’s attractiveness:
Good pay – I make my money through writing and editing, so this is a big factor to me.
Fast response time – When sending via snail mail, for instance, that adds at least a couple of weeks to the response time. A good resource for checking how fast they’re responding is the Black Hole.
Circulation – Do people read the magazine? Is it getting discussed/reviewed? Are many year’s bests coming from its pages?
Good editor – A good editor is a joy to work with.
Audio reprints and foreign markets are usually separate passes, since I’m working with different lists there – the best of the stuff that’s been published. I absolutely would be lost in looking at the latter if I didn’t have Douglas Smith’s Foreign Market list. I’ve been bad about audio reprints and need to get more of those circulating, so that will probably come after this pass.
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Amazon.com: Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight eBook: Cat Rambo, Lawrence Schoen, Michael Livingston: Kindle Store
