SHOULD YOU MIX YOUR AUDIENCES?
I’m an acquired taste.
This blog has 967 followers as of today – and I’ve been at it since 2012.
I’m two posts away from 700 – and no, that’s not why I’m blogging today.
Many blogs I follow have posts every day. I don’t necessarily want to do that, even if I could.
The blog I really care about is the one for the Pride’s Children books, prideschildren.com (I did have the sense to buy the domain way back in the early years, along with this one and a couple of others I keep just in case, such as the one with my full name).
But PridesChildren.com has 40 followers, and this blog has 732, and I’m wondering if I’m somehow neglecting to get readers who come HERE to continue on to the PC blog – assuming some of them read mainstream fiction, or, Oh, Joy!, have read some of my short fiction and want something more.
With limited energy, a staple of my life, I have to choose every day that isn’t too severely brainfogged, where to do some writing:
Where does the (writing) time go?
When one of the volumes of Pride’s Children is being written, that’s where the efforts mostly go, unless I physically can’t accomplish much because the time is short.
When I have something specific to say or to record for posterity (which often includes my own odd brand of writing advice), I blog at Liebjabberings (here). I’m actually considering writing a book of advice for writers – if there is any interest in my coping mechanisms.
And when I want to look polished and professional (even though I usually write in PJs) and am reminding myself that I have one chance to make a good impression with the fiction I care the most about, I blog at Pride’s Children. Or when I have something to say about a launch, or a sale, or an award.
And there’s always something on both sites that needs updating or polishing – feel free to weigh in.
Do I already have some crossovers?
Yes, but not as many as I expected.
So I’m making an open invitation: try out my short fiction here, go follow me there (or on Amazon at my author page), and you’ll know when I have a publishing event you might be interested in.
Other things to do
Contact me (See the About page) – ask me anything, or suggest a topic for a post. I love questions, and would be happy to write about something (assuming I have anything to contribute).
Comment on a post – I look at them as conversation starters, not articles of truth. Love chatting.
Recommend me to a friend, as a blogger or fictioneer.
Read something – try out the short fiction. Or a favorite post of mine. Or dig into the old ones with the strange titles.
Why now? Because NETHERWORLD is so close, and I’d love to give it a good party sendoff. And because sales are short-term events, and I’m figuring out timing that would be most beneficial – for more people to acquire ‘the taste.’
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liebjabberings 
I launched my first blog in 2010, then added three more as time went by. It never occurred to me to publish my blogs under a different name. But I have read that authors that build a reader base for one genre of books should publish books in different genres under different names, and I’m planning to do that for the SF/Fantasy I’m working on, but I’ll continue to publish the thrillers under my real name since that’s already established.
I don’t think it would be a problem if you introduced your new novels on your blogs as long as you let the readers that have subscribed to both blogs know the genre of the books as they come out. Since Amazon allows readers to read, I think, the first 20% of a book free, I’d trust the readers to know what they are reading if they decide to order the book.
My conundrum is (I’m still debating in my mind) revealing the pen name I plan to use for the SF/Fantasy when it comes out on one or more of my four blogs but nowhere else. I’ve looked for advice on doing that, and couldn’t find any.
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Keep the mystery! Have someone reveal it (or do it yourself) when you’re good and ready to. I should think it would be when the pen name’s books are contributing to your personal feelings – or when you decide the additional readers would be worth it.
Meanwhile, you have a secret!
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Hmm, I didn’t think of that. Good suggestion. Thank you. I’ll keep it a secret that I might reveal later depending …
Amazon KDP and the Deal Sites will know, because I’ll be advertising through my established accounts. I wonder if will influence their marketing algorithms.
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I wouldn’t know, but if the algorithms know you’re a selling author, you might get a boost because Amazon LIKES selling authors.
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I’ve read that, too.
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I thought about branching out with another blog, perhaps for the Wunder-Lusters specific stuff, but I figured all these different passions of mine are all part of me, and the early advice we all receive when we start out on this blogging adventure often falls by the wayside once we get into our stride. So I lob it all together on Widds Worlds and let the chips fall where they may. 🙂
Having said that though, I do want to build the Wunder-Lusters YouTube channel, which I can do now, now that we’ve … don’t tell anyone, because I’m going to do a post about it, but we’ve found a house, at least for the winter and probably for a year or two. We’ve been in here 4 days, and even though the only ‘stuff’ we have is what we had in the trailer, and it’s chaos everywhere, it’s starting to feel like home.
And finally, finally, I’m walking a little bit without relying on my cane, which is a very big deal for me, as I’m sure you can well imagine. 🙂
The trailer was just too unstable, no matter how we tried it would always rock whenever either of us moved. I was always compensating for that fact, and it was crippling me. Now, just today, I felt like I was on solid ground again.
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I never realized that might be a problem with a trailer – I’ve never traveled in one.
I’m glad you’ve found something – can’t wait to hear about it.
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It is a great question to really think through. I debate this with myself quite often
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Everyone who knows ow to search knows who I am; that’s not true of all bloggers, but on my own blogs – and to some degree on FB, the only other social media I’m on (it has my ME/CFS support groups 24/7) – I have control over conversations I participate in, and have met an awful lot of truly nice people.
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I have just over 200 followers (2016 start, I think), and I keep them ‘curated’ to clean out the ‘business’ follows. And I’ve settled on a once a week post about something, anything, or a short story, but it’s the only site (although I do have a Twitter account, a presence on FB and LinkedIn for the posts to ‘drop’). Too much work goes into too many different locations, even virtual settings.
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It does – the work, I mean.
Here I was worried – I probably have 200 or less that aren’t bots or trying to sell me something, but it’s lovely having veto power over the whole place, and I have no need of the features that require a paid subscription beyond the domain name, so it works for me.
I am not a going proposition yet, financially, so don’t need an expensive site, and the updating is all me.
I like the posts of – and follow back – the people who chat. It’s part of my online strategy – not all the eggs in one basket BUT not very many baskets either.
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I’ve tried branching out with LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, Facebook, Goodreads, a couple of forums, but most have fallen by the wayside. I never liked Facebook, so leaving was actually a relief. Ditto LinkedIn. Twitter was useless as a marketing medium and only served to make me angry all the time. Leaving was a relief as well. The forums were too impersonal, and Medium is too restrictive unless you pay for a membership. I still have my Medium account because I really enjoy some of the tech/politics/philosophy articles, but I’m rarely there.
There are things about WordPress I really dislike – read ads – but it’s remained the only platform that feels like ‘home’. It’s also the only platform that seems to draw in both readers and writers. I know Goodreads is supposed to be the place to connect with readers, but I’ve never found it to be a comfortable place to be. Or at least, not a comfortable place for writers of scifi. So despite still having my own domain name – triptychacf.com – I remain with WordPress.
I suspect Lieberjabberings is ‘home’ for you, however you define that term. As such it’s where /you/ are closest to your readers/writing community. Keep the other site for purely marketing/sales related things and just point people to it when you announce something here.
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Don’t even learn all these things unless I ask, and they do recommend you stick to just a few, and I’m probably too old for Tik Tok.
I have several support groups – ME/CFS and writers – on FB, the latter for staying connected, the former for a place where I can ask for information and support.
But yes, Liebjabberings is ‘home’ – but I still do a backup of all posts periodically. Sometimes things vanish overnight. I have ended up mainly with one group on GR – a Kindle UK group of people who now are friends.
Do what works for you – I guess.
I like to keep Pride’s Children just related to what a reader of the books might want to know.
It’s curious what
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Tik Tok! Did I ever tell you that I called my Medium publication Tikh Tokh? The spelling was a nod to the spelling in Vokhtah, and I had no idea it would be mistaken for anything else. No, definitely not Tik Tok. Or instagram.
I did get a Pinterest account, but I didn’t see myself as a graphics person. I was into words not pictures. Now look at me. -rolls eyes-
I think WordPress suits because it’s the only platform [so far] that accommodates all my passions, from writing to tech to food to music. I’m such a Jill-of-all-trades, master of none. lol
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I’ve seen – and was embarrassed for the poor fellow – Tic Toc in a complaining post.
YOU may claim prescience.
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-grin- thank you. 😀
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I beg to differ. 🙂 You’re getting rather good at mastering quite a few. 🙂
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-hugs- I still feel like an amateur. 😉
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