Blogging Panel Discussion - followup
This evening I sat on a panel discussion regarding blogging, held by the Halton Peel Communications Association. I’ve given talks before, but this was my first time on a panel. A lot of great discussion and some excellent questions from the audience. As a panelist newbie, I made the silly mistake of not taking notes. So I’m going to quickly throw out some points and links in no particular order. I just want to get it down before I forget anything. If there’s something I’ve missed, I’m sure it will show up on either the blogs of the other panelists or on the private email list of the HPCA.
On finding blogs
Here are a few search tools for finding discussions in the blogosphere.
http://www.technorati.com
http://www.google.com/blogsearch
http://www.blogpulse.com
http://www.bloglines.com
http://www.feedster.com
On aggregating blogs
Visit my subscription page for a list of the current, popular aggregators. Personally I use my email program ThunderBird to pull my ‘must read feeds’. Everything else I scan through Google reader.
Regarding how a professional speaker could make use of a blog
This, right here, would be a good example. Using your blog as a way to share your notes to the audience after the fact and direct towards ancilliary material. As well, there’s always one question that deserves a more indepth answer than can be provided on the spot. The blog offers you the chance to provide greater clarity to those points.
Blogging as a tool for writing, sharing or publishing fiction
- I had mentioned Cory Doctorow as an example of a blogger who freely distributes his work online.
- Not mentioned, but a good example of social media being used to market and distribute an author’s work is Scott Sigler’s podcast of his novels. His last book had an audience of 16,000 and his first book landed him a deal with a publisher.
- Ken Boynton won the draw for the signed copy of Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, but anyone interested can read the book in it’s earlier stages at the Red Couch Blog.
- Blogging doesn’t need to be about finding a market. A friend of mine has recently begun blogging about his ongoing journey from erstwhile writer to being a writer. As he says, “I’m putting my process out there to seek support and suggestions - and most importantly, to keep myself honest.”
Mentioned examples of businesses that are successfully using blogging to promote/market their wares
And that’s the best I can recall at the moment. I created a handout for the event - a short guide to what blogs are and how they can aide small businesses. I just have a couple things I wish to add to that document and I’ll have it uploaded shortly.
April 20th, 2006 at 7:21 am
Thanks, Rob, for taking part in the HPCA panel discussion on blogging, giving out your comic book intro to blogging (although the font is so small I could have used a magnifying glass!)and for so swiftly posting an entry about the discussion. I hate to admit it, but the fiction publishing aspect of blogging intrigues me. I may be facing another huge learning curve as I investigate this.
April 20th, 2006 at 9:10 am
Hi Gloria, yeah - the font size on the handout could definitely been bumped up a notch. It was an idea I had at the last minute and rushed to execute. I’ll be posting a copy here that is more optimized for the screen, so probably easier on the eyes.
A couple other writing/fiction blogs I’ve run across:
Story Tellers Unplugged is a group of 30 or so writers who each contribute to the blog.
Miss Snark is a literary agent who blogs, sharing her insider knowledge
Another interesting use of blogging is the site PostSecret. A community art project, this site provides a mailing address and asks people to write a secret of there’s on a postcard. Each Sunday they post a new batch of secrets.