Reflections from an Idiosyncratic mind


What is this thing called 'blog'?
By Sarah Weinman

Blog. It's such a funny word - a contraction of the phrase "web log," referring to an online diary of sorts. Six years ago there were hundreds. Three years ago there were roughly a million of them. Now, the numbers are positively astronomical. Think of it this way: if the entire population of my native Canada – roughly thirty-three million people – each had a blog, that's still less than the total number actually out there, every single one of them hoping, begging, for some sort of attention, some sort of dedicated readership that increases with each week, month, year.

Sounds a lot like trying to sell books to readers, doesn't it?

The odd thing is, when the idea of starting a blog wormed its way into my head about three years ago, it never occurred to me that I could use it as a platform of sorts, that so many people within the crime fiction community would be reading on a regular basis, or that it would take me from being an unemployed forensic science graduate to a full-time freelance writer living in New York City for the second time around. I never imagined that blogging would explode in the fashion that it has, that the form would expand beyond the early days of personal journals and political rants into a mini-industry of sorts where people – like me – are actually paid to do this. And best of all, I didn't expect – though I hoped – the blog to launch my writing career and spur me towards multiple paths as a reviewer, short story writer, essayist and, someday, novelist.

But I won't say that starting Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind was pure happenstance, because that wasn't the case. Three years ago, I was living in London, doing the research on a master's thesis that now lies, deservedly, in a drawer somewhere. I spent my free time hanging out with friends, many of whom were writers or related to the UK crime fiction community of sorts. I went to Harrogate, I went to Crime Scene, I went to as many book launches as I could get invites. And I missed what I'd had in New York during my graduate school days: a part-time job at Partners & Crime, one of the city's four mystery bookshops, where I could forge a direct connection between customer and book, champion new and old novels I loved, and connect with readers, authors, and industry folk alike. Not to mention getting to read books in advance of their publication date.

So how to keep those connections alive? Attending conventions such as Bouchercon helped, as did participating in online communities. I'd also become increasingly addicted to a number of blogs catering to a number of my own interests, ranging from literary matters to out-and-out celebrity gossip. But crime fiction was, frankly, an underserved market. No one was covering the community, the industry, the latest news, reviews and tidbits in a way that was comprehensive, informative, and just a little bit off-kilter.

And if no one else was going to do it, then I had to. Thus, Confessions, born on a whim in early October, launched in three minutes thanks to the wonders of Blogger, a free application that enables would-be bloggers to get online quickly and effectively.

In other words, I created a blog that I wanted to read, and found myself fortunate that in rapid fashion, others did, too. A niche that hadn't existed suddenly did, and thanks to a convergence of timing, other smart, informed literary types launched their own blogs, spurring a "litblog" movement, getting print book editors interested in our ability to write informed criticism, and making the word "blog" the most attractive buzzword the Internet's seen in quite some time.

Almost three years later, the landscape for blogging is much wider, much more free-ranging, and almost Darwinian in nature. It isn't terribly surprising that so many writers have jumped aboard the blogging bandwagon, that many publishers – more in the United States, but an increasing number in the UK – are trying to understand the medium, start their own, or encourage their authors to do so, and that readers are turning to blogs for book recommendations, active book discussions, and other topics related to the literary world. In the crime and thriller genre, it seems like a new blog is being launched every day by a given writer, or that several of them are banding together to blog communally, each taking turns on a separate day. With so many blogs to choose from, the danger is that the signal-to-noise ratio becomes dangerously high, and that the message gets lost amidst a sea of ineffective self-promotion tactics.

So why blog in the first place, and if you choose to, how do you make yours stand out from everyone else? The answers are still evolving – much like trying to get the word out on your current book – but a few general tips and several examples should do the trick:

1. Quantity. Blogging is not a medium to be taken lightly. For all those that are successful, have massive audiences that I'll never hope to see (Confessions gets between 2000 and 3000 unique visitors a day; top blogs see many, many thousands more than that) there are blogs that petered out after a few days. Why? Because proprietors didn't realize how much work it is to post content on a regular, if not daily basis. But sporadic posting means the audience doesn't stick around longer than an early post or two.

2. Quality. Just because you post on a regular basis, doesn't mean your posts should be the equivalent of bad potato chips or other forms of empty calories. Make the content meaningful, informative, funny, heartbreaking – memorable in some way or another so that those who read the blog will have continued reasons to come back. In other words, just as in writing a book, blogging is all about voice, all about having something distinctly yours to say that no one else does as well, or as uniquely, as you do.

3. A set schedule. You don't have to post something every day; at Confessions I post between 1-3 items a day on Monday through to Thursday, with Sundays devoted to what I term the Weekend Update of the Sunday newspapers. Taking time off means I can focus on other activities, and my readers know well enough that those days are enforced (with some exceptions). The point is to mix quality and quantity together in the best possible fashion.

4. Don't necessarily talk about writing. There are some blogs that talk about the industry and do it smashingly well. Think of the anonymous blog by literary agent Miss Snark (misssnark.blogspot.com), blogs by Tor science fiction/fantasy editors Teresa Neilsen Hayden (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/) and Anna Genoese (http://alg.livejournal.com), J.A. Konrath's "Newbie's Guide to Publishing" (jakonrath.blogspot.com) and those who wear multiple hats, like Lee Goldberg's take on writing books and for Hollywood (leegoldberg.typepad.com) and Jason Pinter's "Man in Black" (jasonpinter.blogspot.com) reflecting on life as a debut author and acquiring editor for a major publishing house.

But just as many strong author blogs, if not more, have to do with a completely different topic or the writer's idiosyncratic voice. Laura Lippman's occasional blog The Memory Project (www.journalscape.com/lauralippman) invites readers to share their own memories; Penguin author Barry Eisler's The Heart of the Matter (www.barryeisler.com/blog.html) has a strong political bent with an active comment. And fellow Penguin author John Rickards (johnrickards.blogspot.com) keeps his blog going because of his distinctly unique personality, evident in a mix of writing details, bizarre links and a no-holds-barred approach.

5. If you can't work alone, work together. Perhaps the best development in writing blogs is the proliferation of strong group blogging. Instead of struggling to come up with enough content to fill a blog on your own, band together to create a group voice that's memorable and informative. There's The Lipstick Chronicles (thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com) a group of chick lit mystery authors; Murderati (murderati.typepad.com) Naked Authors (www.nakedauthors.com) and The Little Blog of Murder (http://www.thelittleblogofmurder.com), all of which bring disparate authors together in a single group format. And one of the most exciting developments is the formation of Killer Year (www.killeryear.com) a group effort by the "Class of 2007", crime and thriller writers whose debuts will be published next year. Not only is it a potentially fantastic promotional opportunities but its members – including Pinter, J.T. Ellison, Brett Battles & Sandra Ruttan – already have lively voices that promise to mesh well in their group blog.

6. Think before you post. This is the Internet, after all, where a throwaway line can come back to haunt you forever. Though I'm a child of the Internet who has navigated this world for half my life, I still make blunders and too-snarky comments that come back to haunt me. Most of them have been rectified, thank goodness, and it's not necessary to be liked by everyone, but there's no need to make enemies unnecessarily if you don't have to.

7. Be professional. It's not just about having proper spelling, grammar and syntax, because blogging allows for some relaxation of the by-the-book format. But being on good behavior – or carefully modulated behavior – serves everyone well because your blog is you, and you are your blog, and whatever's out there to bring new readers or a larger audience should benefit you completely.

8. Have long-term goals but don't get bound by them. Truthfully I'm amazed I'm still blogging almost three years after I began, because I didn't have long-ranging goals. Setting short term ones, changing formats, adding informal reviews, occasionally interviewing authors and featuring guest bloggers all kept my interest going when it began to wane a bit. But ultimately I keep at it because there's always something new to report on, something new to link to. As long as that element of freshness remains, so too will the blog.

So yes, blogging is hard, but then, so is writing, and that hasn't stopped many people from trying to become, and succeed at being, published. And for those who wish to enter this fray, I wish you all the best!

When she's not running Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind (www.sarahweinman.com), hailed by USA Today as "a respected resource for commentary on crime and mystery fiction, Sarah Weinman co-edits the publishing industry news blog Galleycat (www.mediabistro.com/galleycat) and reviews crime fiction monthly for the Baltimore Sun.

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