Marketing? Who me? YES...you.

Marketing…the word raises a shudder with most of us. Damn it we are writers. Writers write. Marketers market…simple.



NEWS FLASH…not any more my friends.


The joy of writing shouldn’t be diminished by the need to market yourself and your work. Sadly we all get caught up in it and find to our dismay that our writing is suffering as a result.

 DON'T allow that to happen.


Our creativity is being stifled, I hear many people say.

Utilize that marvelous creativity to assist those juices to flow, your web/blogsite can be a source of inspiration to yourself and others. It doesn't have to be like force feeding yourself broken glass, it just seems that way at first.


Okay. So what can we do? What can we expect?  Where do we go?


Hands up those who have already created their own blog site/web. Well done. More yays than nays. I hope so.


That is STEP ONE.

Experiment with different free sites until you find one that offers you what you’ll think you need. Look at the sites that may you say "Ahh". You will be delighted to find that a great many of them are free sites. This one is.

Make certain that you can add features {WIDGETS} to it. You will need them, trust me.

You may need more than one site. I for instance have 4. One is strictly to have some fun on, with like minded people. One is for my biography and related information.

One is to promote my book "Dudes Down Under" a comedy/satire that would clash badly with the biographical content of 'Empty Chairs."


And this one, to hopefully and genuinely help myself and others learn more about this marketing stuff.


STEP 2. Don’t be selfish. If you are not prepared to assist others by offering feedback and links, comments and reviews, then forget it. Marketing is all about interacting with people, give them what they want and they will follow

Don’t make the mistake of attempting to create a blazingly clever site straight up.

Peruse the other writing sites; there are literally thousands of them.

The most visited sites are usually very clean and organized to look at, people don’t want a degree in geography just to navigate the site.

Give them what they need to know on the very first page. Links to other writing sites. The ability to connect with the big social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Buzzer, Digg, Blogger, YouTube, Google…yes all of them.


Make your content stand out…you can’t do that unless you are prepared to take some risks and push the envelope further than you initially believed you had to.

There is absolutely no point putting up a site that doesn’t benefit the people who visit it.


They should be at the very least be informed. Encourage them to interact with you and the other followers of the site.

If you find something useful share it with your friends.


Book Giveaways: Contests: details of signings or media launches. The choice is endless.

What you offer them may not be unique, so make it as enjoyable, and user friendly as you can.


Don’t let yourself get bogged down with this blog stuff. Keep it simple. You need to put a minimum 1 hour a day into it at first. Stay up to date with it.

Blog every day, if you have something to say. People are genuinely interested in what you have to say, "IF" it can somehow help them.

If you want to write about the kiddies, don't for heavens sake put it into a blog tagged, Authors, publishers, editing, etc. Unless Junior is the subject of your Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Be accurate when researching, acknowledge blogs and websites that have assisted you in the post. Watch for copyright.

Many blogs do not permit a repost of their work in full. You may however share it with a link .

Have some fun with it, experiment and before long it will seem easy, it will also help you  pursue the dream and continue with what you really love doing…writing.

Be patient; ask questions…and if something is not working then delete it and try something else. Remember whatever attracted you to a site, is what will attract others to yours.