What makes a good author blog?

[rj_anderson]

I've been thinking about authors I love and author blogs I love, and how surprisingly little overlap there seems to be between the two

Comments

[kristin_briana]

I will read almost anything as long as its funny - excluding political stuff. But that's just me. I love reading about writers' journeys. I find it fascinating to see how very different people and their stories are.

[rj_anderson]

Yeah, I was obsessed with writer journey blogs when I was trying to get published, in much the same way as I was obsessed with other people's labor and birth stories when I was pregnant. :)

[jbknowles]

Great post!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

:)

[rj_anderson]

Thanks, Jo! I enjoy your blog. :)

[jbknowles]

Oh, phew!

Because as I read this I kept thinking. Do I do that? Oh shoot. Do I do that? I think I do that!

lol

[erinbow]

Ha! My exact reaction!

[yahtzee63]

On my pro blog, I am the worst at mostly reporting promo/news. Though I'm a lot better at linking to interesting things, noting other books at MySpace, Facebook, etc. To some extent I wonder whether those outlets actually take away from things I might put in my blog, rather than supplement it as I would once have expected.

I think to some extent I am too self-conscious to talk about my writing in a context where it comes across as teaching or preaching or whatever -- though I know that is foolish -- and of course I can yap about writing fanfic until the cows come home from wherever they are.

[rj_anderson]

Your pro blog may be mostly own-book reportage, but you do have a way of doing it in a friendly, conversational tone that invites response. You don't come across as looking down on your audience or being indifferent to them, which I think is a big help.

But I hear you about the teaching and preaching about writing. I just don't feel qualified to do that at this point, either. I can blather about the mistakes I've made and the problems I'm having and the few gems of wisdom I've managed to figure out, but I'm definitely not at the Handing Down Advice from On High stage... and you know, maybe that's not such a bad thing.

[ravelda]

I used to reply to comments more, but once I hit college, I really lost the time to reply to each, and definitely couldn't keep up little conversations in the comments thread.

[kissmybook]

the two author blogs I LOVE are John Green and Amanda Ashby. they balance all the good stuff with minimal talk of kids and pets.

great post!

[patesden]

I like a wide variety of posts. But I usually skip posts about normal daily stuff like the kids with runny noses, breakfast and washing the car--with one notable exception. Mary Robinette reports her daily life with such wit and style that I rarely skip her posts.

[rj_anderson]

I know what you mean about reporting daily life with wit and style -- Sundry does that, too.