Tips - Blog Content Worth Reading

Outlining our message is a good way to prep a post; creating a strong structure and focus for what we want to say. It enables us to cut the excess and to stay on point more readily—just what we need to keep readers on our page rather than moving on to another website.

Second, write an introduction that grabs the readers’ interest.  Are you addressing a question or problem a reader brought to your attention?  Is there a story or antidote to tell? Offer a strong lead-in to simplify, empower and support.

The what, why, where, when, who, and how formula is a guide that never grows old. Keep content relevant and meaningful. Consider making your posts 300-450 words for a quick read.

By using these tips, we craft a well thought-out post, podcast, or video. Add links to your social media pages driving folks to your blog for the rest of the article and more.

Can this message be the first blog post of a series? How can we test an idea for a series of articles? I have listed a few points—please add to the list via comments.

·        Is it evergreen or is it trendy?
·        Is it relevant to what the reader needs/wants?
·        Do you have enough to say on a subject to write several articles?

If not, consider one piece and a sequel, or a mini-series of three articles.

·        Which graphics help support what you are presenting?

Let’s break out our writing journal and explore the series, dream, and discover what works and what doesn’t work.

Deborah Lyn Stanley is a writer, artist, and editor.  She is a retired project manager who now devotes her time to writing, art and caregiving mentally impaired seniors.  Deborah writes articles, essays and stories. She has published a collection of 24 artists’ interviews entitled the Artists Interview Series.  Careful editing preserves the artist’s voice as they share their journey. The series published as monthly articles for an online news network, can also be found on her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley - WritersBlog.  Her “How-To” articles have appeared in magazines.  

“Write your best, in your voice, your way!”

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To Serialize or Not To Serialize?

About a month ago, my friend, Lana Voynich, shared a link with me from the KBoards where an author shared his KDP sales graph, showing that he had spiked to over 1000 sales in one day. He'd been averaging 400-600 sales a day, across multiple genres and serials as he calls them.

I went to his blog but really wasn't find much information on actually creating a series, but a helpful article on writing serials was posted on the same forum, which I believe was more helpful than the answers I was getting from the author of said 1000+ sales in one day.

There are many benefits to serializing your stories and just as many downfalls. If you would like an overview of serializing (this is geared specifically to romance, but there are other genres that you can serialize), check out the posting here.

The debate is whether or not serializing is right for you.  If you are a writer and love writing the shorter stories, then serializing your stories may be the better way for you to go. If you really enjoy the longer novels and you do well with what is published, then maybe serializing isn't for you.

If you are serializing your books, the best way to think of them is as 30-minute to 1-hour TV shows. Each episode follows a complete storyline; your characters recur from episode to episode and sometimes you introduce new characters and sometimes you don't use all the characters; you leave your reader hanging, wanting more and they can't wait for the next episode to come out.

The genres that seem to work best as serials are romance, sci-fi, horror, to name a few.  There are probably more genres that would work as a serial but I'm at a loss right now to come up with them.

The one thing I did notice from several postings is the difference between a "series" and a "serial".  A serial is like the 30-minute TV show; a series is novel length books (over 50 or 60,000 words) where you carry your characters forward.  Most series won't leave you hanging, in the case of mysteries, and most serials will rely on reading in order of being written/published.  Serials are short; series are longer and probably involve fewer stories.  You can have a 3-book series; and however long you want to make the serial stories.  Serials have a minimum of three stories and usually expand out a lot longer than a series does. 

If you are considering writing a serial or several serials, be prepared to put a new story out at least once a month.  This seems to be the average timeframe from all sources with information on writing serials.  Research and follow other authors' examples. 

Good luck, if this is the route you are deciding to take. See you all in the postings.

Elysabeth Eldering, Author
FINALLY HOME, a Kelly Watson, YA, paranormal mystery
Elysabeth's Blog