Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Grogging Your Way to Readers and Sanity



Hello, Sharon Hamilton-Land!!!

I’m Bestselling Romantic Comedy and Cozy Mystery Author D. D. Scott, plus the #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL, and without a doubt, me and my muses too are huge fans of all-things-grogging!

What’s Grogging?

Grogging = Group Blogging

Doesn’t the name itself just sound sooo cool rolling off your tongue?!

Anyhoo...

Why Grogging?

Well...because of two reasons:

1. We’re Writers...and thus our ultimate goal is to “find” readers

2. We’re Writers...and thus hanging onto our sanity can be a bit of a rough ride, right?

To that end, first, let’s get the writer’s sanity issues out in the open...


Yesterday, on one of my grogs The WG2E http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com to celebrate the release of my 5th Indie Epubbed book –THUG GUARD - I kicked-off my D. D. Scott “Put Your Big Girl Panties On & Deal With It” Blog Tour.

Because yeah, to make it to your own Publishing Oz in our writing-for-publication, full of wicked witches publishing world, many days it simply boils down to putting on your big girl or boy panties and just dealing with all the crap piling up on your road to success.

Today, I’m sharing one of my “sassy observations about life...”...the writer’s life that is...on this fantabulous blog:

A Little Bit of Monika

http://monikamichalak.blogspot.com

So hop on over there now and catch my My Evil Editor Turd Anecdote straight outta my MUSE THERAPY book.


http://www.amazon.com/Muse-Therapy-Unleashing-Inner-ebook/dp/B004774LN4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306947576&sr=8-1

It doesn’t get much sassier than this...and, keep in mind...

This is...

no joke...

what actually happened to me at RWA (Romance Writers of America) Nationals in 2009.

Once you’ve read my anecdote, you’ll know why it’s sooo damn important to find any means you can to maintain your sanity along our writing-for-publication journeys.

One way I’ve found to do both that as well as continue to find new readers and fans for my books is to Grog with other authors who sooo “get” our sanity issues and challenges as writers and who also sooo hope to build their reader and fan bases too.

I became a Goddess at The Naked Hero in October 2010, then fellow Goddess Tonya Kappes and I brainstormed and created our next grog The WG2E – The Writer’s Guide to Epublishing – in December 2010, with the tech-savvy-super-smarts of Author Misa Ramirez and the indie epub newbie angle that soon-to-be-pubbed L.A. Lopez could also share!

Tonya had taken one of my Muse Therapy Online Classes, and she and her muse Lucky Lucy (formerly known as Lazy Lucy) immediately bonded with me and my muses The Carrie Squad (named after my beloved Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and The City fame).

Tonya asked me to become a Naked Hero Goddess, and I was thrilled to join her, Misa, Lee/L.A., and Heather Webber on Mount Olympus as the Hump Day Goddess.

I luuuvvv that with The Naked Hero, we’re really focused on Readers and Fans. We luuuvvv getting to know reader peeps and sharing all-things-books-movies-TV-pop culture-and-life in general.

Now, with our WG2E grog, we’ve created a destination site for all-things-Epublishing. We’re writers helping writers by Paying It Forward with real numbers and real experiences. On this grog, our goal is to share everything in our writing-for-publication worlds to hopefully make it a wee bit more pleasant for other writers traveling the Epublishing Road to Oz.

So yeah...we’re grogging for both readers and writers! And many of our grog fans participate on both sites...which of course we luuuuvvv!!!

With Tonya, Misa, Lee/L.A., Heather and I, we bring a wide range of experiences and career levels to our grog readerships...and I think that’s what makes us sooo successful.

We’re all coming at our writing-for-publication careers from different points and preferences.

And ohhh yeahhh, we sooo do NOT agree on all elements of our journey...but again, it’s that kind of innate differences, experiences, viewpoints, and opinions that really rock our readers and give ‘em that extra zest and spice to make our grogs must-visit-daily sites!

In today’s publishing world, perhaps even more so than that messed-up world of yesteryear, it’s even more important to be visible on every possible social networking venue – every day – and grogging gives you that kind of visibility EVERY DAY!!!

Thanks bunches for hosting me today, Sharon!

Please...feel free to comment and ask me any questions you’d like. I’ll be checking-in through-out the day!

In addition, you can always catch me at all my cyber homes:

http://www.DDScott.com

http://ddscottauthor.blogspot.com

http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com

http://thenakedhero.com

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100001238957002

http://twitter.com/#!/ddscottromcom

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/949843.D_D_Scott

I look forward to welcoming y’all to my Bootscootin’ and Cozy Cash Mystery Worlds!!!

11 comments:

  1. I'm thrilled to be your guest today, Sharon!

    Ooooooo...and how's this to up the ante a bit...I'll treat five random commenters to a Free Kindle Gift Copy of the book that started it all for me...BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS!!!

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  2. Huge thanks for that, DD. Wow!
    Glad to see you here. As always, a pleasure to be associated with you creative gals...

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  3. And do y'all recognize the hunk that welcomes you to Sharon's site?!

    That's my fave cover model Jimmy Thomas...who happens to be the "cover hero" on both BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS and STOMPIN' ON STETSONS!

    Here's the scoop on my working with Jimmy:

    http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/under-the-covers-as-in-ebook-covers

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  4. Isn't that the coolest term, Julia?!

    I just luuuvv how it rolls off the tongue...LOL!!!

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  5. I love your reasons for the grog, D.D. I always get asked why I blog when the turnout is so low. I blog for my sanity. If a week is not a good writing week, at least I blogged. LOL

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  6. Great points, Jill!

    I've also learned that you can't gauge a blog's turn-out and overall impact by the number of commenters...especially on days when Blogger and/or Wordpress are ill...LOL!

    Anyhoo...make sure you have a stat feature or program in place so you can get the real numbers on your site's hits, visits, pages viewed, etc.

    Then...make sure you track what kinds of topics and which guests bring-in the people!!!

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  7. I agree with Jill, blogging makes me feel like I accomplished something even if I didn't work on my WIP that day, lol.

    I've learned that any project done in a group really sines and attracts more attention when all the group members are on the same page and working toward a common goal.

    Thanks for the tips.

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  8. U betchya, J.D., and thanks for the superfab comment!

    I actually use my blogging and grogging as a warm-up for my WIP writing each day!

    I kinda use these posts to exercise my muses, if you will.

    And you nailed it when you said having a blog group - aka grog - attracts more attention! It sure does...'cause you're pullin'-in each individual blogger's reader and fan base, family and friends!

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  9. Wonderful points, DD, and everyone. I've been out on appts. today and can second that about hits and comments. We've had our highest hit since I've had a blog, by almost double.

    Lots of interest here, even if people haven't spoken up. I gotta thank all you ladies for bringing your great ideas this week. I think people could learn a lot from the groggy grogger!!

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  10. WooHoo, Sharon!!!

    Congrats!!!

    Your Highest Hits ever today on your blog!!!

    Another huge 'ole WooHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

    Thanks bunches for hosting me today...what superfab fun!!!

    Now then...if you'll please email me the email adresses of all our commenters, I'll treat each of y'all to a Free Kindle Gift Copy of the bestselling book that started it all for me...BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS!

    And, P.S....you get one too, Sharon!

    Cheers y'all and see you at The WG2E and all my cyber homes!!!

    I'm looking forward to continuing our conversations!!!

    ReplyDelete