Ping Your Blog
by Ryshia Kennie

There was a time when pings and blogs were as foreign to me as a vacation to Tasmania.  Back then I thought you wrote a book, sent it to a publisher and another and then another, and after suffering a reasonable number of rejections you received "the call".  After doing the first publication "happy jig" you went on to write more books until one day your name appeared under that wonderful title every writer dreams of -- the Best Seller List.  That was my fantasy.  Here, so far, is the reality.

My first book was an historical romance published by a smaller commercial publisher.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  First, a small publisher has little marketing budget and very few if any cross-border agreements with bookstores.  What does all that mean?  It means, that as far as marketing, the onus is now solidly on the author.  The good thing is that you learn to market.  As terrifying as this is, it is something every writer should learn backwards and forwards no matter who contracts us.  Knowing how to target market is the difference between you and that next step in your writing career.

Marketing is daunting because it's so vast.  And it's not just about one book.  It's about you, the author.  

What can the reader expect of each successive book?  
Why do they look for your name on the bookshelves?

An easy place to start, whether you're published or not, is with a blog.  It's a small corner of the marketing jigsaw but it's important.  Especially when you're first trying to get your name recognized and even well after.  The beauty of a blog is that it's often free and set up is easy.  The downside--it's a crowded world online.  Seriously, how do you stand out?  

Well, first you build it.  Pick one of the many free sites on the web and choose a template that pleases you.  Then you are going to need posts that stand out, that give readers a reason to come back again and again.  Choose what topics best suit you and personalize them, add some zip, be unique.  Because unless you're an author lucky enough to have an instant readership - then guess what - you have to work hard to gain interest.

So here are my rules for blogging:

1)    Post often - this is a cardinal rule.  It is the first thing that alerts the search engines to your existence.
2)    Offer something unique and valuable to the reader whether it's learning, a bit of controversy, special or general interest, something that inspires you.  Make it different - make it yours.
3)    Be consistent - pick a theme and streamline your posts to fit.  This isn't as narrow as you might think.  If your theme is cats you could theoretically discuss everything from the population of cats in Florence to the musical Cats to the calming affect of a cat in your writing room.
4)    Be concise - Time is limited in all our lives and a long post may often be skimmed or skipped over.  You need an angle and you need to be concise about that angle.     
5)    Be friendly - comment on other blogs - have something to say about their post and be consistent about returning to the same sites.  This drives interest to your blog as your name appears again and again on these sites.
6)    Ping your blog.  This means that you register with not one but with many of the blog pinging services offered on the web so that every time you make a post, pings are sent to search engines.  Many pinging services can be set up automatically and some you notify with each post.  The more pinging services you can link with, the more the e-world is aware of your existence.  

Blogs are an amazing vehicle.  They give a new writer or a pre-published reader an audience.  They also give established writers a way to easily and effectively communicate with their existing readers and create interest for future readers.  They add depth to the writing community by providing a myriad of helpful advice from promotion to writing to publication and beyond.  Blogs are a whole world by themselves.  

Now that your blog exists, and you've posted and pinged, your only limit is time and imagination.  

It takes months to build a readership.  And it's a daunting process until one morning you wake up and realize that this isn't an all or nothing proposition but just one step at a time.  

So first you learn to ping your blog and then you begin a journey into the incredible world of blogging just like I did when I created Travel Away With Me.  Ping Your Blog frequently and as needed.  And the next time you're asked what you did this weekend, just say "I Pinged My Blog."