At the Kidlitosphere conference held this weekend right here in Portland, Sara Zarr gave some good tips on balancing the personal and professional on your blog. (She also admitted that at one time or another, she had broken every one of them)(And what follows is my interpretation of what Sara said):
- More people read your blog than you might think. So make sure you are comfortable with the idea of them reading it. Sometimes you need to think twice before you click “Publish.”
- Be real.
- Don’t be Debbie Downer with nothing but a string of posts about how publishing sucks.
- Share your good news. Your blog readers might be more likely than your real-life friends to know how much a starred review means.
- Don’t share your really bad professional news. If you get dropped by your publisher, or your agent loses interest in you, then share that one-on-one with your writer friends.
- Remember that your blog and your web site are the only PR you have full control over.
- Champion other authors.