World Domination

Such a lofty goal, isn't?

Well, not if you what you really want is to be Queen of the Galaxy, but I think I have a few years to go yet.

What I really want to do though, is expand my blogging audience. I mean, you guys are awesome and everything (and I mean, like Superman Awesome) but I want to connect with readers and random people, not just fellow authors.

So I signed up to be a Famous Author minion. Most people who follow them are readers after all, not just writers. Though some are both as well. If anyone knows how to connect to both groups it'd be then.

My minionship pretty much included me stalking them online XD But what really surprised me was the amount of authors who didn't even have a blog. Stephen King, James Patterson, Stefanie Meyer, JK Rowling. No blog. Just a website. (Though, JK's is down till later this summer)

Originally I wanted to share my findings of 10 authors I blog stalked, but as it was hard to find them (and it took a bit of time), I only did five:

• Holly Lisle
• Neil Gaiman (who doesn't really use his blog, so I used his tumbler instead)
• Gail Carriger
• Brandon Sanderson
• Diane Duane

I then categorized the types of blog posts they wrote for their past 10 posts. Some posts fit in more than one category:

• Writing Classes
  
• WIP/Extras (updates on their current projects and mini 'DVD' extras like characters answering reader questions and book soundtracks)
  
• Book Worlds News
• About Me and My Life
• Author News (related to products and book tours)
• Random Fun stuff.

What I found was...interesting. Not many of these authors seemed to connect with readers. Or at least, now how I view it. I usually think of connecting via shared interests and talking a smidgen about my life so I can get to know you guys and you can get to know me.

23 out of 50 posts involved Random Fun Stuff, but only three authors wrote them all (Gaiman, Carriger, Duane). In fact, all ten of Carriger's posts involved it, 8 of Gaiman's did, and half of Duane's.

21 out of 50 posts were Author News, talking about tour dates, release parties, live Q&As. Every author, aside from Duane, had at least one post on this topic. All ten of Sanderson's were, and the only reason I didn't simply discard his blog for a news feed (like that of other authors whose sites I visited) is that his posts are more than three sentences long.

8 posts involved WIP/Extras, and every author had at least one post on this topic.

5 posts were on Writing Courses, all from Lisle, but she was advertising her own.

5 posts were also on About Me and My Life, giving updates on how things are doing and talking about time with family. 3 out of 5 authors covered this topic.

And least talked about was Book World News, with 2 posts from different authors.

Three authors typically wrote long posts (more than 500 words), and two wrote short ones, and most of them posted frequently - at least once a month, but usually more.


Ultimately, I don't think most of us are not talking about similar things in kinda similar ratios. I'm heavy on the writing process, as I think many are, but aside from that I for sure talk about random things. Especially this month >.< I swear A-Z challenge is sucking ideas from my brain so hard all the good ones are already gone and I have several really random, 'where did this come from?' posts. The problem is simply that I'm not published yet.

That will have to change.