Brave New Blogs (and Blog Transformations) of 2013

Every once in a while, an emerging author in my Bring Your Book to Life Program(R) will start a new blog, or change the focus of his or her blog, based on the book they’re working on. It’s a bold step.

With an existing blog, the topic may or may not be of interest to current readers. In the case of a new blog, the step can be especially bold when your book reveals something about yourself that you’ve kept hidden or only spoken about with an intimate few. So, I want to acknowledge those brave souls who have started on a new path–sometimes with a fair amount of trepidation:

Marla O’Brien wrote her first revelatory post on her intimate relationship with wine, followed by a sneak peek from her second chapter from Wine Within Your Comfort Zone.  For any woman wondering, “Am I drinking too much?” but feeling that the label “alcoholic” doesn’t quite fit…you’ll want to visit Marla’s blog.

Lorraine Giordano began blogging about taboo nether female body parts helping women to better understand “what’s gong on down there.” She brings humor and knowledge to the subject, as evidence by a favorite post of mine about the mixology of female hormones.

Dylan Klempner made changes to his blog, becoming more of a curator of news related to Arts in Medicine and, more broadly, Creativity. He’s included more images and videos–let him know what you think!

Dr. Patricia Hoy started her blog Arts Awareness on May 16 when I suggested it would help her in her publishing endeavors. Anyone interested in writing will find great nourishment in this blog that encourages creative thinking, dreaming and valuing all endeavors, activities and even non-activities (stillness) that support your creative process. I find it a powerful counter-voice to that incessant “be productive” mentality I have to get over to prioritize my writing and other soul-serving activities.

Katie Allen is blogging about writing through physical pain. And she’s blogging while writing her memoir. One of her posts was published by the Spondylitis Association.

Micaela Cook Karlsen undertook the Herculean task of creating an online narrative review of peer-reviewed, scientific research papers and educational resources that are relevant to plant-based nutrition.

My colleague Ginger Moran gave a mini memoir-writing class on her blog, giving away some of her best advice on how to write a memoir.

Where can such blogging lead? Two of my clients were recently contacted directly by publishers because of their blogs–one of whom ended up with a six figure book deal and the other has two offers on the table.

Not only does your blog show publishers what you can do as a writer, publishers know that successful blogs create an engaged community who are likely to buy your book and share it with others. As you may have read on the this blog before, a blog can also provide a feedback mechanism with your community–so you know which posts engage their interest (by the depth and number of comments ) and you learn what questions they have about the material. You may even hear interesting stories from your readers that might fit in your book (with their permission).

So, if you’ve been wondering whether you should start a blog–or make some big changes to the one you have–I heartily encourage you to explore.

And, I must admit, the safe thing would be not to publish this post. I’m certain I’ve left people out since I’m not very organized about blog-following. In the interest of practicing what I preach, here’s my post. If your name and blog should be on this page, please give me a shout out and we’ll add you to this post!

Comments? Questions? I’d love to hear form you below.