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Plug Your Book!
69
You can drill down into niche territory by browsing
www.Technorati.com/blogs, where you’ll find a menu of subjects on
the left. You can also search blogs by keyword at these sites:
Once you’ve found a few blogs of interest, it’s easy to find more.
Bloggers tend to link to one another, both within their blog posts, and
often within a side menu of links known as a blogroll.
A handy tool for keeping track of all your blogs is a newsreader or
aggregator, which saves you the trouble of poking around the Web,
looking for new blog posts. Instead, your newsreader gathers and
displays updates for you. One free, easy-to-use reader is:
You’ll quickly learn which blogs you’ve subscribed to are must-reads,
and which can be ignored or deleted.
Connecting with readers
It’s natural to be apprehensive about starting a blog. When you first
begin, it may feel like being on stage without a script or a view of the
audience. Don’t worry, feedback will come soon enough. Remember,
there’s no right or wrong way to blog. The only rule is your target
audience must find something worthwhile.
One way to ease into blogging is to start with a temporary blog at
www.Blogger.com, where you can set up a free practice blog in five
minutes. Take a dry run for a week or two, then make your blog public
when you’re ready.
Good blogs are addictive, which is one reason they’re so effective for
authors. Many book buyers must be exposed to a title six or seven times
before deciding to buy. With a good blog, getting repeated exposure
won’t be a problem.
A lively blog is like a focus group and writing laboratory rolled into
one: It provides you with constant feedback, criticism, and new ideas.
Your blog readers will pepper you with comments and e-mails. When
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