Tag: blog

Should You Publish Your Fiction to Your Website?

February 6, 2017 / Kyle A. Massa

A few days ago, I published a piece of flash fiction to my website. It was the first—but not the last—time I’ll do it. The piece I went with is called “Large Coffee, Black.” It’s a quick little tongue-in-cheek horror story for coffee drinkers.

Many folks on the internet think publishing work to your website is a good idea. Just as many think it isn’t. After trying it myself, I’m in the former camp. If you’re debating whether or not to publish your fiction on your website, here are a few things you should consider.

Pick a Piece You Really Like

Put a lot of thought into what you’re going to post. Don’t just share any old story you wrote in high school (unless it’s awesome). Choose a piece that you love and can’t wait to share. Make sure it’s something that represents you as a writer.

I chose “Large Coffee, Black” because it was fun to write. A dude falls in love with coffee, and things go from there. It’s pretty strange, but then, that’s part of the reason I like it so much. Also, I think it was pretty unlikely to be published elsewhere.

That’s not to say the quality is poor (I hope!). It’s just that it’s a very strange piece, not quite mainstream enough for a mainstream audience and not quite speculative enough for a speculative fiction audience. I could shop it around for a while and probably never place it anywhere, or I could share it with people who will (hopefully) enjoy it.

Why couldn’t I publish it on my site and also in other online markets? Glad you asked.

Once It’s Published, It Can’t Be Published Again

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but a lot of pro-paying online fiction markets don’t accept unsolicited reprints. Which means they won’t take anything that’s already been published—including material on your website.

Sure, some online markets accept reprints. They always take them at a reduced rate, however, and they’d much rather have original work. Therefore, the requirements for acceptance will be much more stringent for you than they will be for someone whose piece hasn’t yet been published.

Of note: if you’re an independent author, none of this matters. Even if you’ve already published your work on your website, you can republish again on Amazon without penalty. A lot of indie authors do this with serial fiction, or with short story collections.

Be Okay with Giving Your Work Away for Free

The purpose of publishing on your website is not to make money—at least, not directly. Once you hit submit, anyone anywhere can read your piece for no cost. Some people use this as a reason not to publish on a personal site, but I think they’re missing the point.

If you’re selling a product, any product, consumers will be less likely to convert if they haven’t seen said product in action. Writing is the same; most people buy books from authors they’ve already read and liked. It takes good reviews and positive word-of-mouth referrals for readers to try new authors. Or, a good sample.

That’s the beauty of giving away a good piece of writing. Readers can read your work at their leisure, and, if they like your sample, they’re far more likely to check out the next thing you write.

So Should You Post Your Fiction to Your Website?

Publishing on my website was the right thing for me. I came to that decision after a lot of thinking and a lot of reading. If you’re considering posting your fiction on your website, I’d recommend doing some research of your own.

Every writer wants his or her work to be read. So why not publish something and get it out there?

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You’ve already heard so much about “Large Coffee, Black,” so why not read it here?

What’s the Purpose of a Blog, Anyway?

May 16, 2016 / Kyle A. Massa

As part of the responsibilities of my job, I work on our company blog. I look for new bloggers, I edit the blogs we receive, and I map out our schedule. Since we post three times a week, we get a lot of blogs from a lot of different writers.

Among those numerous blogs, it’s amazing to see how many read more like sales pitches. The writers understand their products well, they know how to write, and they’re clearly intelligent people. The issue is, they seem to think that the purpose of a blog can be summed up in three words: “Buy my product!”

A good blog shouldn’t just be a sales pitch. A good blog should stand on its own as an interesting and readable piece of content. A good blog informs first, sells second.

So let’s say you’re an indie author who’s trying to sell your book. It’s tempting to pretty much only blog about the book—reviews, preliminary sales, your inspiration for writing it, all that.

But I would argue that that’s not a great way to handle your blog.

In my experience with content management, when bloggers just blab about their product, no one reads it. The bounce rate for this type of content (the percentage of people coming to the webpage and immediately leaving) tends to skyrocket. Or people just don’t read it at all. And it certainly doesn’t increase sales.

So if you’re trying to sell a product, what’s the point of blogging at all?

First of all, you can’t expect your blog to directly convert sales from every visitor. It just doesn’t work that way. The real purpose of a good blog is to build awareness about your brand (which is you, the writer). A good blog can establish you as an expert in the field, or at least as a pretty knowledgable guy or gal. Also, it’s one of the absolute best ways to get people coming back to your website, which in turn increases your chances of making a sale.

Now that’s not to say that you can’t add some hard sells. Just be careful with them, and use them sparingly. The biggest turn off for any prospective blog reader is constant requests to buy a product.

Try adding a call to action for your book in the sidebar, right where someone will see it when they read your blog. Oftentimes this is a much more effective form of marketing because you’re illustrating the value of your product rather than just saying, “Hey. You should buy this.” Kind of like showing instead of telling. If you write good content, your blog shows people that you have talent as a writer rather than just telling them to buy your book.

That said, don’t be disappointed if your blog doesn’t lead to direct sales. It’s not too often that someone will come to a site, read a blog, and then directly convert to a sale right then and there. You’ll usually find that customers discover your website from a search engine or social media (always share your blogs!), read it over, then maybe explore the rest of your site, just to get a feel for who you are.

And then they’ll probably leave. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be back!

Since there are so many products out there to spend money on, most people need something like ten to twelve positive interactions with a brand before they buy. So, on average, you can expect people to return to your site at least that many times before buying your book.

Blogging, like most worthwhile endeavors, requires patience. Your blog brings visitors to your site on a consistent basis, which increases your chances of making a sale in the future. It exposes readers to your writing when they might not otherwise have found it. For writers, blogs are also invaluable for building your mechanics and your credibility with your audience.

And, regardless of whether or not you’re trying to sell anything, blogging is an excuse to write. What could be better than that?