How to Blog: The Group Blog Edition

Often when writers seek ways to gain that extra edge in the market, they look to the Internet to reach out to their target audience.  One popular option is to create a blog.  ThinkingtoInking is the group blog that fellow writer/bloggers Lauren Monahan, Triona Murphy, Stacy Stokes and I created to share our journey and… Read more »

4 Ways Blogging Will Make You a Better Writer

Today’s guest article comes from Dan Blank, Founder of WeGrowMedia.com. Dan was one of the people instrumental in helping me turn DIY MFA into what it is today. Dan especially helped me find my direction for DIY MFA and organize the online presence, including the blog. Dan works with writers at all stages of their… Read more »

Build Your Online Writing Community

The last two posts have covered building your writing community through in-person events or via classes and workshops. Today we’ll look at options for building your community online. The hardest part of writing an article about online writing communities is that there are so many of them it’s almost impossible to make sense of all… Read more »

Navigating the Guest Post Process

Last week we talked about why writers should write guest posts and five different strategies where guest posts can writers build their audience. Today we’ll go over how to navigate this process of pitching and writing guest posts including the before, during and after. The process might seem a little intimidating but once you’ve done… Read more »

Branding for Writers

It might seem a bit like putting the cart before the horse to focus on branding when many writers at DIY MFA are pre-published. There is a logic here, though, I promise. I attended several talks and panels at ThrillerFest on this very topic and one theme kept coming up again and again. While most… Read more »

Blogs Are Scary

At least, starting one is. The world of bloggery can at times seem like a nighttime jungle riddled with snakes, rotting trees, booby traps, and poison darts. And this time, Indiana Jones won’t be there to save you. Don’t be intimidated. This won’t hurt… much. If you’re a writer or an author or you eventually… Read more »

Make an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

If you have a blog, then you need an editorial calendar.  Sure, it’s good to leave a little room for flexibility and spontaneity and you could even get away with winging it for a while.  Sooner or later, though, if you want your blog to be an effective part of your author platform, you need… Read more »

7 Steps to a Better Blog

This past weekend, I had to do something that pained me at my very core: I decided to remove blogs from my Google Reader.  I realized I had been following so many blogs that I had no chance of actually reading them all (the number was upwards of one thousand, I think).  For some time,… Read more »