Abegail Morley

Guest blog posts & interviews

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As the ‘Blogging for Writers’ blog tour comes to a (kind of) end, I thought you may be interested in some of the guest blogs and interviews that have come out of it, in case you missed them…

Erynn Newman Just Write - guest blog by Robin Houghton

Over on US author Erynn Newman’s blog Just Write, I wrote a guest post on How to turn your Blog into a Community – it’s interesting how small details can make a big difference.

The Poetry Shed by Abegail Morley interview with Robin Houghton

Then at The Poetry Shed, Abegail Morley grilled me about various things, from how long it took to write the book to whether it’s worth paying for WordPress.com upgrades… you have to click through to find out!

Elizabeth Spann Craig - guest blog post by Robin Houghton

Popular mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig very kindly hosted my blog post ‘How’s your blog doing? 5 top things to measure and why’…

Trin in the Wind guest post by Robin Houghton

If blogging has become a bit of a drag and you need to get your mojo back, read my guest post at Trin in the Wind, the blog of Australian author Trinity Doyle.

Writers Digest blog post from Blogging for Writers Robin Houghton

And at Writers’ Digest, Rachel Scheller wrote a piece entitled Your 2015 Blogging Roadmap, based on sections of the book.

Huge thanks to all the writers who’ve hosted me during the tour, and there’s more to come. I’m delighted to be appearing soon at the mighty Writer Unboxed, and also on the legendary blog of Anne R Allen.

Guest blogging is a wonderful way to extend your blog community and reach. If you have an idea for a blog post which would be of interest to readers of another blog, why not approach the blog owner with your idea? They can only say no, but they might say yes!

PS – only 2 places left on my course this weekend in Brighton, ‘Set up your WordPress blog in a day’ – spread the word!

 

Blog roundup: Live Write Thrive, Buffer & The Poetry Shed

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One of the joys of blogging is reading other people’s blogs, and this week I thought I’d do a short blog roundup and share some things I’ve been reading lately, on blogs which you might like to add to your blog roll.

C S Lakin's blog Live Write Thrive

C S Lakin’s blog Live Write Thrive

First up is a blog post on author C. S. Lakin’s blog Live, Write Thrive. If you don’t subscribe to Susanne’s blog already I recommend it. This is actually a guest post by Dana Sitar: Crowdsourcing your self-publishing project without asking for money. My own view is that crowdsourcing is only going to grow in popularity as public funds for the arts dries up.

And incidentally, crowdsourcing may be a trendy name for it but it’s been around for centuries. Composers such as Handel and Purcell published a lot of their work by public subscription – that is, asking people to pledge they would buy a copy of their work before it had been written. In Victorian times in the UK it was common for public buildings and works to be financed by subscription – of course that was in the days of philanthropy and before all the tax-funded public services we now have. I believe the idea of philanthropy is still alive in the US though.

The Buffer blog

The Buffer blog

Over on the Buffer blog, this is interesting – How and why to write persuasive, research-backed content. A small experiment resulted in 40% more click-throughs to a blog when the headline mentioned a statistic. The piece goes on to give other examples and suggests how to make your blog posts stronger by backing up what you say with stories and statistics – as long they’re genuine stats, of course. Although I’m from the ‘statistics can be used to tell any story you want’ school of thought (it’s the marketer in me!) Again, the Buffer blog is one worth subscribing to for web marketing news and ideas. Plus they’re very nice people, which goes a long way in my book.

Abegail Morley's The Poetry Shed

Abegail Morley’s The Poetry Shed

Poet Abegail Morley blogs at the Poetry Shed (and yes, there really is a shed, I’ve seen it!) and although this post isn’t brand new, it’s a bit of a keeper – Helen Ivory talking about online poetry courses. Abegail’s blog is a mix of news, interviews and observations on the poetry world and is a good example of how to sustain interest and variety for her readers. Worth following.