The Unlikely Otaku is going to come back to life!

I know what you're thinking: where the heck has Stephanie been? What, no more fanfiction? No more reviews? No more chatting in general about her manga obsession (which is still going strong, my friends; it's one reason I haven't had more time for blogging)?

Well, I heard your silent screams of despair and I have resolved to do better. I still love manga and anime. I still love talking about it. I still love interacting with people on my blogs. I might even come up with a bit more fanfiction if the mood hits me. We'll just have to see. So, though it's been languishing for far longer than I like to think about, expect to see me talking about all thinks otaku here in the near future.

And, yeah, that will still involve new releases, but brief and only for new releases. I won't be posting daily--got three blogs and a girl's gotta sleep--but I'll try to post something at least weekly.

For those who are still deeply interested in the writing itself, but don't like checking back on blogs and stuff, I'm starting a monthly newsletter. You can sign up on the right.

You'll get notifications of new releases and the single monthly newsletter and that's IT, but only to people who signed up, who actually want to know all that.

The newsletter will include some insight into my writing, why I love it, what I think about it and what I like or don't like, a handy reference for all my existing books and news about forthcoming events, and an original short story so my "fans" can get a first look on my stories. I want it to be fun and hope it will be because, though I hate "marketing" I love interacting with people and sharing things I hope they'll like.

If you're one of the people interested, sign up. I will not be using your email for any other purpose.

First Newsletter will go on next Friday, March 10.

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For Aron: Blog Format

Aron asked: When I posted my essays on space from school, they preformed well and I felt I made a significant impact. I'm considering switching my blog to an essay format, but that is time intensive. What are your thoughts?

One of the rules I, personally, live by is to write what I like to read, write what I want in the way I want it.

When it comes to fiction, I have to worry somewhat what others think, but only insofar as it's in keeping with my own vision. If I have to sacrifice my vision, better to be unpublished. With the blog, I don't even bother that much. Instead, I'm focused on what I want to say, how I want to say it and let the chips fall as they will. I have no ads, make no money (nor pay any) for my blogs.

I consider it a forum to write as I will.

To answer your question, you need to ask yourself questions. How you answer them determines what you'd best do.

If your blog is an opportunity to state your case, your views, your dreams and hope they're contagious, do what works best for you, not working any harder than need be to accomplish that goal. If, however, you're most interested in reaching people, influencing them, shaping policy, than a more aggressive or reader-friendly format might work.

The thing is, if you're into reaching people, I'm not sure what the most effective format is. Some say keep it short and sweet, that those posts tend to be the most popular. Humor, of course, is often effective. Unfortunately, I have no data to back up that notion. Easily my most popular post of all time (>10K hits) was a long bit about the metric system.

Of you're looking for advice for increased readership, I'm a poor one to advise you. I would say, however, to stick with a format you're comfortable with, one that isn't so taxing you are discouraged from posting, but also one that you feel reaches people.

Because I can't see how to reach people if you're not feeling it.

Just my opinion. Hope it helps.

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Quadmama asked: Blog pages?

Quadmama asked: How do I add a "page" to my blog... for instance a disclosure policy or other info that I want people to read but don't want the entire thing right on my home page?

I can't answer this readily. Truth is, html isn't my strong suit. However, I'll tell you what I did as an html idiot and hope that one of my many computer savvy readers will pop in with more details if it doesn't answer your question.

I use blogspot and it's pretty uncomplicated. It's got a standard form and, to make a "page" I put in a post with a forced date earlier than my earliest post so it went to the "beginning". Then, I just have to put a link up in the setup. I'd love to tell you how I did that here, but I had someone build my website and she put in a button for me. I don't think it would be hard to do, but I haven't done it so I don't have the specifics.

Bottom line, "page" is just a post. It's the link to it that makes it useful. If that doesn't help, I'll hit up one of my knowledgeable buds and hopefully they can get you more steps.

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For Jeff King: Why Blog?

Jeff King said: I would love to hear way you decided to make a blog, and what drives you in your every day life. what dreams fill your eyes when you think about the future...

It's kind of complicated.

I've been writing fiction for nearly as long as I can remember. Poetry (narrative), short stories, novels... But not non-fiction except for some technical articles. I've never written a journal. I wrote essays only when required for class (some time back) and requirement documents don't have a lot of personality.

In 2007, my sister told me about a contest on Gather.com for the first chapters of a completed "first" novel. So, I joined and tried it. In theory, Gather was a forum for writers, photographers and the like where they could interact and critique work. However, I found the crowd I started out with (largely other contestants) weren't really my cup of tea. They seemed (to me) to be far more interested in getting published rather than creating quality writing.

I was becoming disheartened and nearly left when I stumbled across a wonderful satirist who I will watch out for going by the moniker of "Peter Whimsy" - who is, coincidentally, the star of the only written mysteries I really like. I hung back because I liked Peter Whimsy and, through him, I got introduced to a whole different group at Gather. The discussion was often politics or philosophy or humor.

Gather, however, kept making changes with the apparent intention of making Gather a social site more like facebook or myspace. The idea did not appeal to me and, truthfully, there seemed less and less effective writing and more and more whining and games and photos and nonsense, which is fine in moderation, but I was falling distinctly out of love with Gather, as was a friend I made there, flit.

Meanwhile, last year, my sister, shakespeare, began a blog. As flit and I were discussing alternatives to Gather, the notion of blogs came up and we both decided to start blogs with Today.com (where my sister was). Actually, she did it with two blogs and browbeat me until I started one. She ended up with like three blogs there, a couple of blogs elsewhere (including my website where gave her a corner) and never entirely gave up Gather because of the friends she made there. I ended up with two blogs on Today.com and found it suited me. I actually liked writing my thoughts and philosophies, interacting with my commenters (who are some of the best people), meeting more incredible people in the blogosphere that I had never wandered through before.

When Today.com screwed a friend over (after a number of other troubling signs), I high-tailed it out of there and here I am, still blogging, pretty much daily, still interacting with my favorite fellow bloggers and commenters.

Most of the folks I knew and liked best on Today.com have done the same (many involuntarily).

What drives me? I like people (though I'm generally uncomfortable in crowds). I love writing.

And, since I'll always love writing, whether I ever am successful at it or not, I'll just keep on with it.

Thanks for asking.

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For Sherri: Making Money from Blogging

Sherri asked: Is it really possible to earn a living from blogging? I've stumbled on some of the sites of the bloggers who claim to earn a six-figure salary. Of course, they're probably the "rock stars" of the blogosphere, and the rest of us are trying to get any gig we can. How likely is it to earn a decent amount, like a couple thousand a month?

I have no idea.

When people talk about ways of making money outside of a regular job, they are not talking about me. In fact, when it comes to making money, managing money, finding useful ways to pick up some money on the side, I stink.

You'll notice I don't really have any advertising here. It's not a moral stance, it's just that it takes some effort to make advertising bring you any significant money and, hey, that takes time and research and capability and I just don't care enough.

I've heard of a handful of people who make a decent living on line (like, for instance, Sluggy Freelance who has been able to live off his daily comic for some time). Of course, other claim to make money hand over fist on-line with "so easy" methods that you can learn and make money, too. Of course, they usually ask you to pay to hear them and my guess is that's how they earn it.

I know some mighty fine bloggers, but few if any use it as their only source of income and those bloggers I've seen who claim they do (a) aren't the ones writing good blogs ( more like advertising) and (b) have multiple blogs and (c) advertising out the wazzoo.

Now, as I mentioned, I'm the last person on earth to tell anyone about making money, but my practical side thinks TANSTAAFL is a likely truth (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). People who think you can make money for doing little or nothing are in the same group as those that think you can melt away tens of pounds with a pill or cream: either dreamers or those willing to manipulate others for their own gain.

Can you make a few bucks blogging? Yeah, and my understanding is it isn't too hard. Can you make thousands every month? If you can, I haven't the faintest idea how, but I'm pretty skeptical that it's likely. For most, I just don't see that as a likely result.

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Generating Blog Traffic

Another question from Shakespeare - this one was about ways of generating blog traffic. I know, you asked Steph, not me... but I offered to tackle it for her and she took me up on it.

I am assuming, Shakespeare, from what I know about you as a blogger, that you are interested more in real traffic, rather than just numbers/making money - so that is the sort of traffic I am going to focus on.... and I do know that you already do some of the things that I suggest - in that case, just keep doing 'em :)

So - ways to generate sticky blog traffic:

Content

Most people already know - or have read, at least - that "content is king". And this is absolutely true... if you don't have content people want to read, they won't read, won't stay and won't bother bookmarking. So keeping your focus on content should always be the first priority.

Unfortunately, even with the best of content, if few people find you, few will ever know how wonderful your content is. Which is why the following things are also valuable:

Comment

Real comments - not empty/self-promoting ones, of course - but real, thoughtful comments, are an important way to generate traffic. Comments potentially bring traffic from the person whose blog you comment on, and also from other commenters. Plus there is something to be said for name recognition - the more you comment the more often people will see your name/link ... so even if they don't follow you the first time, it's well worth doing.

Of course, you'll want to make sure that your address is in your comments!

If, like me, you have more than one blog, it's good to change links to the most relevant link as you go.

Links

Blogging is all about connections - that means links. To build page rank, links to your blogs are especially helpful. You can't, of course, run around demanding that other bloggers link to you (and use the keywords you want to them to use while they do it) ... but you can, whenever possible, be generous with the links you use in your blog.

If people see traffic coming from your blog, they might just follow them to see what you've written, and be more likely to return the favour. And even if not, if people see that you ARE generous with links, they may be more inclined to comment.

Links that include searchable keywords are always preferable. So if we wanted to link to your site for example:

• Visit Creative Arts Anonymous here (pretty near useless; no-one searches for "here")
• Visit Creative Arts Anonymous (better - but still limited as not many are likely to search for "Creative Arts Anonymous")
• See what Creative Arts Anoymous has to say about talent and God (even better)
• Shakespeare blogs about writing, piano-playing, drama, talent & family life (best)
  

Participate

Most online forums allow you to put a links/links to your sites in your signature (look for User CP/signature) - once you've done that, participating in forums related to your blog topic(s) can generate a fair bit of traffic - and best of all, its traffic that is more likely to be interested enough to stay/comment/bookmark.

Twitter is another possibility - you don't have to spend hours on it, but if you build up a following, and then tweet each new blog post, you're likely to generate some traffic that way. You will want to add a link to your Twitter account to your blog, as well, to make it easy for other twitterers to follow you (she says as she realizes she hasn't done it since she moved)

Submit to directories

At the very least, you should, if you haven't already, submit your blog to Blog Catalog. There are others out there as well, but Blog Catalog is the one that I see the most hits from.

Make it easy for users to pass it on

Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and a whole bunch of other social networking sites offer widgets that you can attach to your posts to make it easier for bloggers to recommend your posts to those sites. This is something I really haven't explored with blogspot - will try to do that tomorrow - seems to me there should be a widget that can do that for us.

Consider Entrecard and/or BlogExplosion

While both Entrecard and BlogExplosion require some time investment - its not enough to just sign up for them - you also have to spend some time dropping (on Entrecard) or blog-surfing (on BlogExplosion) - both sites are very good at kick-starting some traffic on your blogs.

And of course, you're not committed to remaining with either .... when you stop using them, your numbers will drop, at least initially.... but the GOOD traffic, the connections and quality blog visitors will stick (because of your excellent content, of course!)

There are all kinds of great resources out there about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and about all aspects of blogging .... and if you want to get that far into it, I'd be happy to pull together some resources... but hopefully for now, this, and any additional input from Steph's many brilliant readers - come on, what did I miss? .... will help.

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