Rules to Blog By ... for the SF RWA attendees and beyond!

Yesterday, I joined Fronnie Lewis, Jina Bacarr and HelenKay Dimon (HelenKay and I both won the Bookseller's Best Award at the conference in separate categories, btw ... more to come on that) as we shared insights about Romancing the Internet.

Fronnie moderated the panel and kept the discussion lively. In her beautiful voice, Jina Bacarr spoke about podcasting, HelenKay spoke about her experiences with personal blogging and I spoke about group blogging. It was a packed room of maybe 80 to 100 attendees, showing just how popular blogging is. People want to be informed and learn the how-to's and find out about the benefits from those of us who blog regularly.

As promised to the SF group, here are my blogging rules.

TEN COMBLOGMENTS

1. Thou shall have FUN with your blog. It's a strategic way to market and promote your books. It's fast and easy and inexpensive.

2. Thou shall promote with a bigger picture in mind. The Blog never stands alone. Should be tied to other events, web sites, gimmicks and media relations.

3.Thou shall develop the blog with a goal and audience in mind. No random thoughts here.

4. Thou shall be provocative - in that your blogs should provoke a response from the readers.

5.Thou shall recreate the experience of your books, tie into your brand or your story.

6.Thou shall use NEWS YOU CAN USE. Write about your craft, your style, how you write.

7.Thou shall always have an advance schedule for posting and use a tag line: "Coming up next on the blog:" to increase reader interest and participation.

8.Thou shall find inspiration in: themes in your books, your brand, your book titles, current events, causes you support or are passionate about and your writing expertise.

9.Thou shall realize media and readers want "topics and "expertise" not people. Events, stunts and PR activities are easier to pull off with a group. ALWAYS USE LINKS in your blogs.

10.Thou shall remember to be TOPICAL. Try to tie your blog into what's happening in today's world. Hot Topics.

Think about what blogs intrigue you and ask yourself "Why" and see if the blogs fit into this criteria. I bet they do!

Come visit our group blog Petticoats and Pistols for a good example of fun, informative blogging. Did you all get one of our sexy cowboy handfans? Stop by, make a comment or just lurk, if you're shy.

It was a pleasure meeting you in San Francisco!