On Being a Published Writer
A to Z Blogging 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Day 23
Welcome to the 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge. This year I’m focusing on things I’ve learned, observed and experienced in the nine years I’ve been published. If you’re a reader, I hope to offer an inside glimpse into the writer’s world. If you’re new to writing, I hope I can provide an insight or two. If you’re an established writer, maybe you’ll see similarities to your experience. Whatever path you walk, I welcome you to mine and hope you’ll enjoy the 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge.
Your website is the most important promotional tool in your arsenal, and you need to have complete – and I mean complete – control over its content. Even if you pay someone to be your webmaster, you need to know what questions to ask to make sure your web presence is what you want it to be.
Is creating and managing your website yourself difficult? Yes, it is, but it’s not impossible. Software abounds. I call mine Software for Dummies. It came free from the company I buy my domain name and webhosting from as a marketing tool. It works well and that’s the important thing. But how to make the most of? How to get it listed in all the search engines?
Often times the answer is as easy as putting the question into a search engine. Whether it’s a good thing or not, Google handles the biggest chunk of the search engine business, so let’s talk about Google.
Obviously I can’t cover everything in this one little blog, but I have a few tips I want to share that I hope will help. First up, how many pages of your website and blog can Google find? Go to Google.com and type in this: site:kckendricks.com. Now try it for your website and your blog. If Google is missing pages, you might need to verify your sites with Google. It’s easy for the brave, but the faint of heart (like me) might need a glass of wine first.
As strange as this may sound, check out YouTube for tutorials. I once took a workshop in SEO (search engine optimization) but after the week was over, I still had questions. I found those answers on YouTube. Type “tutorial” as your first word in the YouTube search box and prepare to be amazed.
Probably even more important than having your site registered with Google is the use of key words. Google found my website for years before I verified and registered it. How? By the use of key words.
It took me awhile to get on right track with key words. I thought adding them to the meta tags was enough. Turns out, it’s not. Those words should also appear in the text of the webpage they’re in the meta tag for. Really good key words for what KC Kendricks writes are “gay” and “romance.” So every page of that website has “gay romance” somewhere on the page.
More wine? I like Sutter Home White Merlot.
I know a lot of freebies are out there, but if you can afford it, consider going “dot.com.” What’s the first thing we do when we want to check out a company? We type in [company name].com. I want the publishing world to know I’m a serious writer, and I think owning your dot.com projects that.
All this might reads like a lot of work, but doing your own website is fun, too. You control the content so add a page of vacation photos if you like. Have a banner exchange page. Plant a few Easter eggs. Create a wine list. (Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I’ll get to taste the wine!) Share your free reads.
Whether you create it to be all business or throw in some fun, your website is your home on the Internet. Use it to showcase your work, and who you are as a writer. The future is already here and the Internet is not going away. Claim your unique space and make it your own with no apologies. You’ll never regret it.
KC Kendricks
website at: http://www.kckendricks.comblog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.comTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricksmailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeysGoodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1989106.K_C_KendricksFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Kc-Kendricks/1439574042MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kckendricks
Tomorrow… X is for Making Your Mark
August 15, 2010
I parked my butt in my office this weekend, intent on writing. I did write - all the way to about 3,000 words. If only those words had all been on the same story!
The Muse can be a fickle little thing. Even after spending so much time with her, she's often a mystery, but I think I may have figured out something.
I read a lot of blogs, and writers everywhere address writer's block. No one wants to come down with it since it's often resistant to standard cures. A writer can re-read their favorite books, take a little vacation, sit and stare at a blank screen until the ice breaks- whatever it takes. For me, the solutions are as myriad as the causes.
Experiencing either a total lack concentration or complete tunnel vision locked on one unsuspecting target, I have to figure out which pole I've gone over to before I know what to do to break a block. Complete focus is the easier of the two to manage. I simply take a walk, ride my bike - anything but write. It clears my head and allows my thoughts to reorder themselves back into some semblance of coherency. Lack of concentration is a harder row to hoe.
I never know for sure what triggers these little episodes of scatterbrainitis. Stress is such a catchall, but I'm sure it has a lot to do with it. And we all know modern stress is killing us, breath by breath. I'm sure if I could afford to retire, I'd be soooooooooo much calmer. (So buy more KC Kendricks books, please!)
This weekend, I realized part of my lack of productivity stemmed from not knowing what project I wanted to work on next. I'm signed up for two PAXes with deadlines of December 1, 2010, and March 1, 2011. I have another adventure for Fallon and Sundown started, and I'm developing a new series that ties the threads together through one or two central characters, much the way Theron and Austin did in the Southern Cross series. So with all this floating around in my head, it was no wonder I couldn't focus.
I decided to use that energy in as positive a way as possible. I opened each folder, one at a time, and went through all my notes, adding whatever flowed quickly out. As soon as the train of thought broke, I closed the folder and moved on - to the sum of 3K words! Writer's block busted wide open!
Do I want to work this way all the time? NO. I don't think it's good for me personally to reinforce this little problem I have with my attention span. But now I understand that sometimes the block isn't a block - it's a bottleneck. Now I have an easy, productive way to forge ahead.
Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out a simple problem.
KC Kendricks
Visit my website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
Join my mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys
Read my personal blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com
The Back Stairs
A few days ago, I wrote how I didn't like the 'coming soon' promo - and I still don't. But writing about it, seeing the words on the screen, made me stop and think of why I don't like doing it.
The thundering herd has a certain momentum that sucks everything in and drags one along. That's not a bad thing. It's quite useful. There is safety in numbers, after all. But how does one stand out as a part of the thundering herd? It's easier to get trampled under foot. (Led Zeppelin, anyone?)
I actualy admire people like Rick R. Reed who can promo their butts off and still write a really good book. I'm sure he makes decisions, every day, as to whether to write in the morning, promo in the morning, or do something like eat breakfast and exercise in the morning. We are the choices we make.
Usually, I choose writing first above all else. Except for when I'm at the day job, or fixing dinner, or doing the laundry, or handling some family business/crisis. I'm at the day job now, and while I can be online a bit and blog, I don't dare work on actually writing the story. That's difficult on those days, like today, when I'm waiting for the work to filter through others and get to me. I'm a Gemini. I'm easily bored.
Which leads me back to the 'coming soon' promo. I'm spending this morning with an idle brain, and that is never a good thing unless it can be put to work on self-improvement. Thinking only looks lazy, but it's actually hard work.
So, in an effort to get over myself when it comes to doing the 'coming soon' promo, I have resolved to take each new story and do at least a minimum of the CSP.
Just don't hold me to it, because I'm sure I'll still choose writing the next story first.
You can find The Back Stairs at
www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thebackstairs-2004038-145.html
KC Kendricks
Visit my website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
Check out the MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/kckendricks
Join my mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys
