Blogging is okay
Oct. 19th, 2005 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaLiterary agent Richard Curtis doesn't think I'm shooting myself in the foot by blogging. At the Backspace Writers' Conference in NYC, he said that publishing has changed drastically, and that for the most part, he feels the system is working only for branded authors. The return rate is now 50%, and the competition to succeed is fierce.
One way an author can help to "brand" herself, he suggests, is by blogging. "The bloggers who have succeeded so far have done so on the strength of their voices as writers, their opinions, and the forceful way they express them," Richard says. "[I]f they don't have something fresh and entertaining to say, visitors don't stick with them. [But] I suggest that blogs are a good way for really good writers and writing to regain the advantage."
I feel a little better now. I had been a little grossed out because of the number of people who had told me that I'd better watch what I say or else agents/editors would see my blog, decide I was a troublemaker, and avoid me. For now, I still believe that agents and editors are too short on time to surf around to every weblog or webpage they see when they get your submission. I still believe that it's the work that counts, that has to stand alone.
But anyhow, this means that opinion is divided, as always.
One way an author can help to "brand" herself, he suggests, is by blogging. "The bloggers who have succeeded so far have done so on the strength of their voices as writers, their opinions, and the forceful way they express them," Richard says. "[I]f they don't have something fresh and entertaining to say, visitors don't stick with them. [But] I suggest that blogs are a good way for really good writers and writing to regain the advantage."
I feel a little better now. I had been a little grossed out because of the number of people who had told me that I'd better watch what I say or else agents/editors would see my blog, decide I was a troublemaker, and avoid me. For now, I still believe that agents and editors are too short on time to surf around to every weblog or webpage they see when they get your submission. I still believe that it's the work that counts, that has to stand alone.
But anyhow, this means that opinion is divided, as always.
