Alan Draper
At the heart of it all, I’m a writer. I’ve loved to write since I was a little girl and do have the aspiration to publish many books in the near future.
Being an author, I understand how difficult it can be to share your work with the right people.
I mean, bloggers are essentially authors, as they write lengthy prose on a consistent basis. And they, too, struggle to share their works.
So this article is really for anyone who is just looking for some unique ideas to share their writing, whatever type of writing that may be.
Here are 8 unique ways to start getting engaged:
1. Find specialized forums. Find forums that fit your genre. Whether you write poetry, sci-fi, YA, a sports blog or anything else that is very niche oriented, search on Google for the specialized forum that goes with it. Get in there and start talking about the subject. Don’t promote your work right off the bat, in fact, I’d hold off on doing that at all unless there’s a section devoted to self-promotion (such as showing off your writing). Just get as involved in the community as possible and in time, you’ll gain relationships and people will be flocking to your writing in no time. It really works!
2. Find specialized websites. One of the greatest thing about being an author, is the fact that are DOZENS of specialized websites where you can post up your writing to receive feedback and so that you can read and give feedback of other people’s writing.
3. Find specialized Facebook groups. Get onto Facebook and search for writing groups, or blogging groups or poetry groups or whatever type of writing group you’d like to be apart of. Make it as specialized or as general as you’d like. There are dozens to be apart of, though, so get going in connecting with new people!
4. Find other blogs related to your niche. This is really important because when you start connecting with other bloggers within your niche, you start creating a new community of people who are willing to comment on your stuff as much as you comment on theirs. It’s a give and take system and the more you give without expecting anything in return, the more you’ll gain over time. Find 10 blogs within your niche that you can comment on regularly.
5. Create videos. I know, you’re supposed to be spending your time writing or connecting with people to read your writing, but video marketing is so very powerful and a lot of writers use it in a few different ways; they use it to review other people’s writings, they use it to document their own writing experience, they use it to vent about their daily writings or struggles, they use it to give tips to other writers, they use it to create a trailer for their stories and so on. Your video could be anywhere between 1-10 minutes in length and by doing this, you’re reaching out to an audience that you may never have reached before.
6. Get involved in NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is a competition that is held each November where people try to accomplish the task of writing 50,000 words in one month. If you’re a writer, you know that this challenge is extremely difficult. The community surrounding NaNoWriMo is ever growing and the people there are extremely supportive. You make life-long friends through participating in NaNoWriMo. Whether you’re a blogger, poet or flash fiction writer, challenge yourself by joining the competition and getting involved with a community that could expand your horizons!
7. Get involved in Twitter Chats. Twitter chats are an amazing way to get connected with other like-minded individuals. You can find Twitter Chats by searching Google or referring to the massive Twitter Chat list.
8. Use Pinterest. If your writing is accompanied by a picture (which is usually a good idea, as pictures gain spark interest a lot quicker than just a page full of text), then use Pinterest to share your photos, and in turn, share your writing. Be sure to re-pin other people’s photos as well to keep that give and take concept going. Remember the video marketing idea above? You can post your videos to Pinterest! Make sure you’re sharing original photos and videos, as those gain a lot more attention and traction then stock photos & videos.
I know this all sounds like a lot of work, and it is! But in order to accomplish your writing while getting out there and finding an audience to read it, you should create a tight schedule where you designate time to write and you designate time to engage.
I recently downloaded a great app called 30/30 where you can schedule 30 minute tasks at a time so that you can get things done. By scheduling each task in 30 minute intervals, you’re forcing yourself to be productive while the clock is ticking. Stastically, people work a lot better when they know they’re on a deadline, which is essentially what the app does.
In conclusion
No more excuses! Get out there and start engaging! :)
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.
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Hi Morgan,
This is a great list of ideas. I really love that you included NaNoWriMo, as well. One thing that I think is really great about it in terms of its practicality for bloggers, too, is that it gets you accustomed to writing so much every day (what is it — 1337 words a day? Something like that!).
I participated in NaNo for two years prior to beginning to blog regularly and really pushed myself to not just meet 50k, but surpass it. That kind of regular writing and drive to succeed helped to make the blogging-as-career transition a much smoother one!
Hi Renee!
That’s a really great point! NaNo is truly helpful to train those into getting into the habit of writing if they want to pursue blogging as part of their career. Writing 1337 words doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is for those who aren’t used to doing it every single day! :)
Thanks for the comment!