How Writers and Bloggers Can Use the Rule of 5 To Become Discoverable

How Writers and Bloggers Can Use the Rule of 5 To Become Discoverable

The above post, over at How to Blog a Book, is very inspirational. Do you have a book--- or an author blog--- that seems to be invisible? The Rule of 5 is sound advice to help you make your book and/or blog more visible.

I'm not going to repeat what is found over at How to Blog a Book. I want you to go there and read the original for yourself. Right now.

Yes, right now.




OK, what did you think of the article? How will you use what you learned from it?

The first thing I learned is that I need to 'show up' more often here by writing blog posts. OK, I pretty much already knew that. The chronic writer's block which plagues my fiction writing has also extended into my blogging life--- perhaps because the instant gratification to be had on Facebook makes it all seem to be too much effort. But lately on my 'controversial' Facebook page I've had some lessons on the down-side of that instant gratification--- others can gratify themselves instantly at my expense, as in the left-wing racialist page that not only posted a picture of me and called me ugly, but posted a picture of my sweet little disabled kitten Therese having a bath, and said she was ugly, too. Which was so unfair because she wasn't looking her best scared out of her wits in a plastic tub of water! So I had to work on a blog I have that duplicates the content of my 'controversial' page, where I have more control over the ability of stray commenters to be abusive.

So--- I've got to blog more. The problem is, blog about what?

I once read the blog of a fine Christian gentleman who had written a self-published novel. His blog posted about the various steps on the way to self-publication. And then the book was out, and he had nothing to blog about. I suppose he was too modest a gentleman to put himself forward by blogging about himself.

But as writers, our selves are what we own. Our writing--- good or bad--- is the product of those selves. Sharing about ourselves to some extend is something that builds interest in a writer and his work.

I happen to be a Christian, and so I believe in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. So the second topic to blog about is others. Sharing the blog posts of others, as I am doing now, helps spread the reach of their blog. And if some of those others are checking their stats regularly and see they are getting new readers coming at them from your blog, they might be grateful.

'Trending topics' is another thing to blog about, but that must be personalized. Most 'hot topics' don't thrill me. Either they are about allegedly famous people I've never heard of, or they are about people doing evil things and make me want to look the other way rather than spread the news. Rather than blog about the top trending item, I will want to blog about something that is a hot topic among people who share my interests and ideals. For example, many people I know and respect are concerned about the rise in hate-crime murders of Christians in Africa and the Middle East, which are not being reported. That might be something to blog about.

One last thought, though. It does little good to 'show up' if you are metaphorically showing up in your pajama top, with unbrushed hair, and no pants. Many young self-published writers write blog posts that are misspelled, ungrammatical, and sometimes verge on being incomprehensible. These young writers send a message with every such post: 'I'm no good at writing.' Work on these basic skills first before starting a blog--- or self-publishing a book.