My Blogging Reflections
I have been doing this blog for over six years now. My first post on the 12th March 2012 was about my trip to Miami, a city which is everything I am not – sunny, loud, brash, beach-orientated. The post was followed four days later with another, dedicated to my first ever trip to Taco Bell. A Fort Lauderdale, Florida Taco Bell to be precise. Back at home in London, England I continued blogging on a weekly basis, every Friday afternoon. And I have been doing so ever since. Nowadays I live in the quintessential English countryside in West Sussex, but one thing hasn’t changed, I am still blogging every Friday, at 16:03. Somebody said to me the other day – ‘Why? Why do you blog?’
‘I am a creature of habit.’
‘But surely you have better ways to spend your time?’
‘No, I don’t.’
Initially the plan was to blog in order to promote my books (4 to date, a 5th on the way). But you can only promote your own books so much, and at any rate the link between blogging and book sales is I believe tenuous at best for the vast majority of authors, this one included. Most of my posts are dedicated to other authors’ books and book facts, with occasional travel-related posts, including several cemetery tours at home and abroad. I like cemeteries. They feature heavily in two of my books.
Here is a summary of what I have penned since I begun this blog (not including shopping lists etc.)
Four novels:
Charles Middleworth – An insightful story of the unexpected
Symbiosis – Explores our enduring fascination with twins
Necropolis – What is a sociopath to do?
Sepultura – A sociopath can only keep up a façade for so long
When I started out I knew I wanted to write, but was not sure what. Dark humour is now my genre of choice. Necropolis and its recently-released sequel Sepultura fit best into this category. Necropolis now has 69 ratings and reviews on Goodreads. I will be releasing a fifth book later this year. Further information to be released in due course.
In addition to my books and a weekly blog post, I have penned 126 book reviews, all of which can be found in the book review section of this blog. There are many genres to be found there, non Fiction as well as Fiction. There is a particular focus on dark fiction, much of it humorous. The quality of my book reviews range from good to bad to ugly. However, I believe they have improved exponentially with the passage of time. I have after all had a fair bit of practice. If you haven’t already check them out. Maybe you will find a book/s you want to read.
And if you like dark humour/Transgressive Fiction you might consider adding one of mine to your TBR list. Here is a link to my Goodreads author page. If you’ve read and liked Necropolis or Sepultura, it would be much appreciated if you could spare a second to ‘vote’ for them on one of these Goodreads listopia lists:
As for me I will keep blogging every Friday afternoon at 16:03.
And one last thing, I will be announcing the winners of my prize draw on Sunday (15th April).
It only seems five minutes, Guy. I remember the Taco Bell post so I must have been following your blog almost from the start, and there have been many entertaining posts along the way.
I agree with you about the link between blogging and book sales being tenuous. I don’t blog as much as I used to, mainly for that reason. However, I have noticed that my blog comes up in a number of Google searches so I suppose it’s worthwhile carrying on with it for that reason.
Also, I’ve noticed that when my book sales are doing well e.g. after a new release, I have as many new people following my blog as I have new sign-ups to the newsletter, possibly more, so I see it as a chance to keep readers informed of new releases, book sales etc. as well as occasional posts related to my books.
New newsletter sign-ups. I like the sound of those Heather. Thank you for all your comments. I look forward to reading and reviewing your new book.
I for one am glad you post on Friday at 16:03. Keep it up.