Author Dave Zeltserman has started a blog. Why?
Several reasons. One to be quite candid, to try to
create some buzz for my books. One of them has the potential of being
big. The editors looking at it now are calling it a high concept book.
A crime novel centering around outsourcing. Hasn’t been done before –
at least not that I know of. More about Outsourced in future posts.
When I started this blog, I certainly didn’t do it because I thought it would get me buzz…or more readers or viewers, though I certainly mention my books and TV shows a lot. Then again, writing books and TV shows is what I do, and is very much a part of who I am, so it would be hard for me to have a blog without talking about those things
So why did I start a blog? I did it because….hell, I don’t know. Probably for the same reasons I have a website with a discussion board and why, for many years, I ran a BBS for screenwriters from a computer in my garage. I guess I like to yak and gossip and rant and pontificate about things that interest me. I like to publish. I like to broadcast.
It runs in my family, that’s for sure.
My Mom had a weekly newspaper column for years, wrote a non-fiction book, and has a blog now.
My brother Tod, an acclaimed literary novelist, has a weekly newspaper column and a website.
My sisters Karen and Linda have individual websites, a shared website and a shared blog... and in November, their first book is coming out.
My father Alan was TV anchorman, my Uncle Burl was a DJ (and is now a bestselling author of true crime novels)…so the media is in our blood. And what is a blog, if not another form of print & broadcast media?
Do you think blogs actually create buzz for an author? Has it created buzz for me? Will it create buzz for Dave? Let me know.
I don’t have any hard, fast numbers on it, but it seems more people read my blog than any review I’ve ever written. I think I hear more about that than “When’s your book coming out?”
Let’s put it this way. Might not be a magic bullet, but it never hurts. ‘Sides, I have fun with mine, so who cares?
When I wrote up my article for MYSTERY SCENE about authors who blog, I asked those quoted in the article whether blogs had led to an uptick in readership. It was too early to tell then, and I still think it’s hard to know now, but since it’s an extra web presence and a means of direct communication between the writer and his or her fans, it sure can’t hurt.
But you can’t just throw up a blog and not have anything to say. Just like writing a book, it’s about the voice that reaches the reader.
>> But you can’t just throw up a blog and not have
>> anything to say. Just like writing a book, it’s
>> about the voice that reaches the reader.
Or in my case, the impending train wreck up ahead …
In all seriousness, talking with my agent industry people are looking at these blogs.
Also in months ahead I’d like to make my blog a kind of outsourcing central, with links to articles on the subject. Working in the software industry, this is something that has affected many people I know.
-Dave Z.
My wife was able to keep up with Jayne Ann Krentz’s works through her Web site, and learn when her new books are being published. Same for Laurell K. Hamilton. And while Terry Pratchett has a limited Web presence, we’ve been able to buy his hardcovers when they come out. I’ve bought John Scalzi’s book as well, although I first knew him from his movie review byline in the newspapers, then through his Web site.
So, just from our own experience, it can be said that a Web presence can maximize a writer’s potential audience, by letting the reader know on his or her timetable the status of new books.
For example, before the Internet, if I wanted to know when George Macdonald Fraser’s coming out with a new Flashman novel, I could check a library or a bookstore and hope that they have the information. If not, I may remember to check later, or I may not. Tough. But now, if I check with the many Flashman fan groups, I will have a better idea what’s happening with Flashy.
Now, the crime field can be very community oriented, so those who get their faces out will stand to benefit. And if someone I already like recommends a book, I’ll check that out as well. If Laura Lippmann goes to the trouble to devote a page to Karin Slaughter’s novels, why not check her books out as well?
I tend to agree with Sarah, above, and to that I’ll add: I think blogs have the potential to be very powerful. It’s still a little early in the game to give a definitive answer, but I know that my blog has brought me business, and I have faith it will one day sell some books for me.
A blog can help create buzz. When the book To Know a Fallen Angel, a true coming of age story about a boys struggle not to become a sexual predator was released, press releases were sent and some news websites picked up the story. Although, the controversial book was mentioned in a web news letter as far as India, I must say a book must cover a catastrophic issue to gain the media’s attention and I believe blogs can help.