Tag Archives: writing

October 14, 2010 · 1:30 pm

A Blabbering Blog

Not a very flattering title for my post but having two blogs attached to my website have opened up a whole new web world for me.

My Diary Blog www.dianamaryjackson.co.uk/blog/ has given me the flexibility I need in my website. I’m free to post events and updates, including an introduction to my theme blog, whenever I wish to do so. There is also a direct link from the website which means that my main site will only need changing for anything major, like another publication. I treat my diary blog as another page to my website, in fact, but I have total control over its contents. Excellent!

My Theme Blog, this blog in fact, allows me to write about whatever I feel like at the time. At first I felt that it was a burden of yet another thing to keep up to date, but once i’d latched on to the idea that I could run themes over a period of a month or two, it took the pressure off. Then I add the occasional extra blog if something crops up.

Ratings Now, at first it wasn’t all that good, until my neice took me in hand and explained about Tags and Categories. Suddenly it all made sense, that people couldn’t find my blog, let alone read it, if it couldn’t be tracked on Google for example. I’m a novice to all this as you can see, but within a month my readers went up from a trickle to over 500 readers! In fact, I would have given up long ago, since I have had few direct comments, if it hadn’t been the encouraging ability to track my ratings. All thanks to WordPress.

So i’m quite happy with the way my blogs work alongside the website. My topics relate to my writing, places important to my writing and my present theme of reaching out to people through different Media sights. This has opened up a new world for me. It gives me a change from novel writing, to be able to write and publish my posts in a spare hour when other concentration is low, and its also fun.

Of course i’d love to have more comments from people too, but I am content that the effort is worthwhile.

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September 30, 2010 · 12:29 pm

Website Alright!

I’ve learnt since launching my website that I broke lots of rules.

Firstly a friend’s son designed it for me. I understand all the arguments against asking someone you know to design your site, and to a certain extent I agree with them, but at the time it seemed an offer too good to refuse. Obviously I wanted to keep costs down, since this was my first novel, but it was also reassuring to work with people I knew, who were so supportive and encouraging. At first, when so much was organised in terms of booksignings etc there could be a bit of a delay in updating the relevant web pages, but that frustration has been overcome by attaching my blogs to the web site. (which I will write about in my next blog entry)  So it’s worked out really well now.

Secondly, the rules of marketing express clearly that the website should be up and running well before publication. In the end the timing of the launch of Riduna coincided with the website perfectly. This just meant that none of the details were on any of the publishing company’s publicity materials.

My steep learning curve of understanding my role in the marketing process often felt like a runner who missed the starting pistol. I was forever trying to catch up.

Thirdly it was all a bit of a rush and and at the last minute I did not have a suitable photo. The one originally chosen certainly gave me a few cringeful moments in the early days but this was soon rectified when one of my website’s designers came to the book signing in Luton and took a few choice shots with his high definition camera. A good photo is a must and I certainly agree with this one too.

Fourthly, I chose a name which was not the same as my ‘pen’ name. The name Diana Jackson had already gone as a .co.uk site and so I chose one with my middle name in too. www.dianamaryjackson.co.uk  With hindsight I had not considered or understood the difficulties of searching on the internet, when no one knew my middle name was Mary. Silly really, because it probably took just that little bit longer to be recognised.

This was all in the timing – if the setting up the web site had coincided with choosing my cover name I could have chosen Diana Mary Jackson as my pen name in the first place. Hindsight is a wonderful thing they say.

Nevertheless, with the updates of tabs, links to Twitter and to my two blogs, the web site works really well now. A nice touch is that the background picture was cleverly chosen by my designer to reflect the cover of ‘Riduna’ with a modern photo of Alderney at night.

Now i’m pleased to say that my web site certainly appears on the first page of a Google search and has even crept to no 1 spot on a few occasions.

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September 13, 2010 · 1:36 pm

Meet and Tweet

When a colleague suggested that I should try Twitter to reach out to people, I could never have imagined the surprising consequences of my dabble with internet networking. I only tweet from my PC and usually only on my writing days and so I’m not a prolific tweeter, but it has been great fun connecting with people all over the world.

My Twecials

It’s odd, but the first few tweeters I connected with have become quite special to me and I call them my tweshials. They feel like a group of friends now and I have added to this group anyone I have also felt an affinity to, those who are local to my house or people who live in the areas described in my writing.

Research

One of my twecials has given me colourful descriptions, detailed memories of occasions with his father and grandfather, invaluable to my research. I would never have found these insights in a book. I cannot divulge more before publication, but he will certainly be in my acknowledgements- all because of twitter. Mind you, it took me ages to copy and paste each of his  20 DM’s on to a Word document in order to read fully, before we decided that it was better to contact each other by email! You can also post a question on twitter and it’s a fun way of getting answers, though not always the ones you expected. It’s certainly an unorthodox method of research although it will never compete with the reality of talking to people face to face or rummaging in books and old records.

Other writers

Much has been written on blogs about the value of twitter as a way of linking with other writers. Writing can be a lonely art and to spend a few moments connected to people, albeit virtually, is an excellent diversion. It mustn’t become a distraction though, and on my writing days I am very strict with myself. I will not turn on the internet until lunchtime, even for research. This ensures I should have an undisturbed period of writing in the morning and then a few moments on twitter is my reward.

Selling books

Have I sold books though Twitter? Yes, I know I have. How many I have no idea, but it is nevertheless a good, if not haphazard, way for a new author to reach out to people from the comfort of their own home. It doesn’t replace book signings and library talks but how else would a writer almost instantaneously reach Australia and America.

What do I tweet about?

I tweet about all sorts of things, not just about writing, and certainly not just about my own writing. Like most people my tweets reflect my mood of the day, my hobbies (gardening often pops up) and interests, my reflections on life in general as well as light hearted conversation. If you’d like to follow me on twitter then my name is ‘Riduna’, the title of my first novel.

Look at Riduna on Twitter

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