Tell the Story Behind the Story

Every book has a story about itself.

The story of the writing of a book-length work (or a substantial article) – how the work came to be – is grist for your publicity mill. It’s an effective and easy-to-use tool in your efforts to establish Brand You, your personal brand.

Why? Because it tells two stories: one about the work itself, and one about you as a person writing the work. Hearing why an author picked a given topic, how he/she researched it, designed its telling, and populated it with happenings and ideas and and characters . . . is of great interest to many readers.

Here’s a great example:
Clues in the Shadows (A Molly Mystery): The Story Behind the Story

Here, author Kathleen Ernst uses a wonderful batch of photos from the Library of Congress to illustrate and talk (on a page on her excellent, content-rich website) about the research she did in writing this middle-grade reader, Clues in the Shadows, a mystery in the immensely popular American Girl line of books, doll, and zillions of accessories.

In this piece, Ernst shares how she came upon ideas that she incorporated into the story:

Many of the programs urged children to compete against each other, seeing who could collect the most paper or scrap metal.  Sometimes children struggled to meet expectations.  When I read about that, I decided that was an important idea to introduce in Clues in the Shadows.

Well-researched background like this impresses educators and reviewers. And readers themselves (in this case, kids) always like to see “behind the scenes” . . . to peek behind the curtain, to feel that special sense of privilege when someone takes you backstage and gives you a personal tour.

Of course, this is great stuff for any published (or soon-to-be-published) writer’s blog. Here’s another example (from a project I’m working with), the story of writing a historical novel for young readers, by two sisters, Hilda and Emily Demuth, centered around a historic plank road that ran by their childhood home in southern Wisconsin:

Plank Road Summer blog

Why does this behind-the-scenes storytelling work so well?

Because at the core of storytelling is the desire to be connected with each other. This goes back to the roots of oral storytelling, where the story never existed without the teller.

So take the time to create and share the story behind your major pieces of writing. It will draw in the reader and extend your personal brand, presenting you in a most-favorable light: how you (as a skilled, thoughtful pro writer) take raw ideas and turn them into literature.

Don’t just serve the dish. Let them see and appreciate the making of the dish. As brand-meister Martha Stewart would say . . . “And that’s a good thing.”

Blogs for Writers: Simple Thank-You Posts

(This is part of a mini-series for writers, with marketing value to almost any small business. For related posts, click here: “blogging for writers.”)

In the last post, I talked about the benefits of a low-key, minimalist blog: one that functions as a mini-website, an online business card or directory listing. You post your contact info, bio, and services, and be done with it.

Except . . . hey, now your blog exists . . . and can be used for a couple of easy online marketing applications!

One is to post a public thank-you note, as a simple blog post, at the end of a project completed.

Here’s an example of a company that has a website-like blog that mostly is just that: Juxtaprose.

It doesn’t take long to write a short paragraph or two about a project, thanking the principal players and mentioning what was done.

But note: there are a couple of real benefits to you in that brief post that go far beyond what a traditional thank-you note would do.

1. You create a link to that company’s site.
This creates a little permanent linkage, for political benefit. If you praise the company or someone in it, you are doing that publicly. (And that person can share it by sending the link for that blog post to others in their company, which they probably will . . . if it speaks well of their company . . . and of that person in it . . showing them . . . and you . . . in a good and generous light.)

2. You get get to tell others specifics of services you offer.
By describing a bit of what you did for that company, you create search-engine terms in your thank-you post that highlight your services. It’s good to be both specific and general, so both types of terms appear.

In other words, you created a “press release for online use” (general service) and it was about the “independent bookstore scene in Milwaukee, and the economic challenge of running a small storefront business in the recession, and the growing awareness of the Buy Local / Shop Indie campaign” (which is in your area of expertise . . . or is now if it wasn’t before). Now you’ve created helpful key words to encourage search engines to notice your blog when someone is searching for info about that topic down the line.)

3. You get to reveal a little about how you work.
Are you cheery, experienced, detail-oriented? That can come through in your blog entry. What sort of tools are you in command of? How do you approach problems or concerns within a project (at the start or as things pop up). If you talk about those – briefly, positively, with pizzazz – you begin to build a better image of your business and its brand (what distinguishes it from the next shop down the Internet road.)

The ability to describe what you did in a positive, appealing way will help attract new potential clients who check out your blog. (They see it because you mention it to them; more about very simple ways to get the right people to read your blog in a later post in this series.)

Thank-you posts are similar in structure, which makes them easy to write. Just personalize them, add a couple of interesting details, and link to the client.

You may also want to send a hand-written note to the client . . . but the online blog post is a nice touch and doesn’t take long.

Let see now, did I put the right key words in this post? I’m saying this out loud for your benefit, to encourage you to realize that it’s a useful part of blogging. Business blogs, blogging, writers, small business, online marketing, branding, Litwave (my affordable coaching service to help writers, authors, and consultants set up effective, low-key, market-savvy blogs) . . . yes, I think I’ve hit the right notes.

(Next post: using blog posts as FAQ material.)

Blogs for Writers: The Benefits of a Low-Key Approach

You’re a writer (or run a small business).
Do you have a blog?
No?

Really? Why not?

I recently gave a talk (on story structure and practice) for the Independent Writers of Chicago (IWOC, excellent networking for freelance writers . . . thanks Dave Epstein for arranging my program!). As part of it, I asked how many had blogs (as a good place to develop their own business stories).

I was amazed at the small percentage, given the high level of experience and skills of that group. But I find this is true when I ask the question elsewhere.

My question stands: No blog? Why not? What’s the down side?

The answer, of course, is an impression that having a blog means (a) a requirement to post frequently,  (b) resulting in a blog that is useless unless hyper-active . . . and is doomed to soon be abandoned, due to a lack of time.

Plus, it’s not clear to many professional writers where to draw the line between the online journal of blog blather (what I had for breakfast . . .) and the glib, personable, über-blogger whose business success is related to the gift of gab. You know who I mean, those who were born to blog.

Let’s tackle those concerns.

1. Does it take a lot of time?
No. You can easily limit the time. In fact, you can put up a totally static, minimal blog (like a mini-website) in a few minutes, post a description of your services and contact info, and then walk away.

2. Cost?
Free, if you do it on a public-platform site like Blogger or (the one I use) WordPress. (I like WordPress for its multiple page options, making it look like a mini-site.)

3. Does it take long to put up a basic blog?
Maybe 15–30 minutes. Create an account, pick a blog name, register it, then take your contact info, bio, and services description . . . and dump that into an “About Me” page or post (or two).

4. But don’t you have to blog a lot to get attention?
You’ll hear about the search-engine attention you’ll get if you do a lot of short posts: 3 per week, or something like that. Yes, that’s true. But who’s got that kind of time? (Unless this is a major focus of your service.)

But you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to do anything. Think of it as a mini-website. You can put it up and walk away. It’s there, online . . .  and just might help someone find you if they search for your name, business name, city, specific products, publications, etc.

The hyper-active blogging is important only if you’re trying to move high in an topic that’s very popular. But if you want to start a blog about your services in your particular city . . . there’s a lot less competition.

Then, the nice thing about a blog is if you want to add something, it’s there and easy to access. You can do it remotely, at home or in the office or on the road. So if something good does happen (an article is published or you get an award) . . . or something newsworthy happens for you or a good client . . . or you stumble on an interesting professional thought or resource that you’d like to record and share . . . you can post a note in a minute. Without any need to go through a web master, without cash expense!

5. What the minimum I should post?
Hey, there’s no minimum! For a very low-key approach, just commit to one good, helpful, or interesting post a month. Seems like so little. But at the end of a year, you’ve got 12 posts. Twelve points of online contact. And they stay up and accumulate.

6. So what’s the cost/benefit?
Cost in dollars: nil. Time: not much for a minimalist business blog. Benefits: a bit of extra online exposure. It’s a versatile, extra directory listing, leading to you, without a drain on your checkbook.

Of course, I do have a short list of good things to do on a blog that don’t take much time (and can use existing material you probably have. . . .)

In the next post, I’ll address some specifics ideas for a few good things that might be good to blog about, once you have that business blog set up.

Of course, I do help individuals and small business set up market-savvy blogs. Check my website LitWave for more. It costs very little to get me to help you.

Or just check back here in a few days and I’ll post a few more thoughts about good things to blog about . . . for a literary professional like you.