Year 5 of an Indie Writer: Week 3 AKA Are Blogs Outdated?

Kind of an ironic question to ask in a blog post, huh? Well, I have my answer, but let me tell you why I pose it.

A Conversation

A good friend of mine recently opened a new online business here in Houston. Ever since, we both talk about our respective businesses. This week, I asked how his business is going. A trickle was his report. Ditto for me. He made an interesting observation regarding the magical secret to make his business a real income stream. He said the secret might be don't sell something millions of other people already do. Fellow authors: can I get a show of hands of folks who agree with this?

When he asked how my author business was going, my response turned into a single, long reply. It was culmination of weeks of thought about where my business is, where I want it to go, and what steps I need to take to get there. Now, when I say long, I'm talking just north of 1,300 words.

Bless my friend, he read it all. And responded.

I appreciated all his responses--some of which apply only to my own situation--but part of it I want to share today.

Are Blogs Outdated?

Let me summarize his points.

-All authors should have a personal website, not for being discovered by new readers, but for folks who are fans and want to keep up-to-date with what the author is doing.
-But a personal blog feels outdated.
-The Author Page on Amazon is probably good enough.
-Social Media is a better means for letting folks know what we're up to.
-90% of our potential audience is on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
**But everyone's on social media, and what is social media anyway but microblogs.**
-He follows creatives, but rarely checks out their sites.
-Via Social Media, he know the types of people they are, upcoming projects, and where to go should he want to purchase anything.
-If he likes their personality on social media, he'd consider checking out their stuff.
-"I don't visit blogs anymore. I don't know people who do."

The double asterisks indicate a concept I hadn't thought of. Interesting.

Now, my friend is a few years younger than my fifty-one. And he's only one guy in a sea of ideas and thoughts. But it got me to thinking: are blogs outdated?

A Defense of Blogs

I have been writing at my own blog since 2007. I have now published over 1,000 posts. I'm very proud of that accomplishment. At DoSomeDamage, I'm in my eleventh year of constantly publishing a Saturday column. Again, very proud of that accomplishment.

But is it worth it?

I still say yes.

My friend dubs blogs to be  time machines. And, as a degreed historian, I agree. I like that I have various markers based on date and specific events. What is my take on The Last Jedi or John Carter? There it is in real time for anyone to see.

And over time, my personality emerged via my blog writings, both on the personal site and at DoSomeDamage. Want to know who I am if you've never met me? Just take a look at the blog titles and the blogs themselves. It's all there.

Maybe it's my age, but I read through dozens of blogs a day. Granted, I don't read them all, but I have a feedly feed that collects all the blogs I want. Everyday, I scan through my feedly, reading the blogs whose titles intrigue me and skipping others. Skipping lots more than I read.

But yeah, I still read blogs. And in our short-attention spans selves, I think there's a place for long-form posts to go along with the microblogs of social media.

I might, however, be an outlier. What are your thoughts on blogs? Do you read them or skip them in favor of social media?

Blogs I Like: Rough Edges by James Reasoner

James Reasoner has written so many books I’m not even sure he knows how many. A career writer of over 40 years, Reasoner is an old-school pulp writer working in the modern age. He loves and adores all types of fiction—especially westerns—and he channels all of that enthusiasm into his blog, Rough Edges.

Reading the Rough Edges blog is like sitting next to a kid in the candy store and having him tell you about all the different types of candy, who made them, and which are his favorites. Actually, the image works better if you imagine that same kid but in a drug store sometime in the mid-1960s. This was the time when comic books and dime store paperbacks could be seen in just about every establishment. This kid is a voracious reader, consuming just about anything, but favoring westerns, SF, and old pulp superstars like Doc Savage and the Shadow. Throw in the trips to the library and bookstores and you have a kid who realized he loved to read and never stopped.

Now, with the Rough Edges blog, Reasoner has many more years of reading and knowledge to share. He has many regular features. One of my favorites is Saturday Morning Western Pulp where he’ll take a particular issue of an old western pulp and comment on the stories, authors, and cover artists. Sunday gets you Bonus Pulp, which could be a detective mag or a SF one. He typically does the Forgotten Book Friday segment where he’ll take an old book and/or author and “re-introduce” it to modern audiences who may have been too young to have read the particular book first hand. (I fall into that category a lot.) Somewhere along the way he started contributing Tuesday’s Overlooked Movies where he’ll examine some movie out of the mainstream and tell you why he likes it.

Reasoner, however, isn’t just a fan. He’s a working craftsman of words. He produces millions of words a year in content. Many of his books are under a house name or pen name, but you’d be surprised—no, amazed—at how prolific he is. And, a few years back, he, and his life, Livia Reasoner, started Rough Edges Press, an independent publishing house. Rough Edges Press releases some old titles by other authors and some of Reasoner’s short westerns that he wrote back in the day. He also releases new material like his Outlaw Ranger series. Most recently, Rough Edges publishes Blaze, the new adult western series featuring husband and wife gunslingers, J.D. and Kate Blaze. That series is up to eleven.

But it’s the Rough Edges blog that has become a constant companion. Every Saturday morning, one of the first things I do is check Rough Edges blog. No matter the day, I read Reasoner’s blog entries. Reasoner’s interests often dovetail into mine, so I’ve long considered him my tour guide for stuff I like and other stuff I'm probably going to like.

Why don’t you come along for the ride?

Finally! The Tarnished Star is here!

It took awhile but my copy of The Tarnished Star by Jack Martin (nee Gary Dobbs of the Tainted Archive blog) arrived in my mailbox today. I thought it was my next ARC from New Mystery Reader but no, it was The Tarnished Star. I'm finishing up Tobias Buckell's Crystal Rain for my SF Book Club (to be reviewed at SF Safari) but Martin's book will be read very soon.

Here's the synopsis:

All Sheriff Cole Masters wants is to raise a family with the woman he loves. However upholding the law in an era when gunfire speaks louder than words can be a risky business.Cole makes an arrest for the brutal murder of a saloon girl but the killer is the son of a wealthy rancher and it is clear the old man will do anything to see his son set free. Soon the peace of the small town is shattered with deadly force and Cole finds himself a lawman on the run for murder.The rancher wants Masters dead and the two deadly gunmen on his tail are sure they can do it. Soon blood will run as Cole Masters attempts to reclaim his tarnished star.

Two Sentence Tuesday: Pulp Edition

I'm currently reading two books, one a grand pulp adventure and one a fantastic SF novel. Since this is a crime/pulp blog, I'm posting one edition of Two Sentence Tuesday here. Head on over to my new SF blog, SF Safari, Two Sentence Tuesday: SF Edition.

James Reasoner's Gabriel Hunt at the Well of Eternity is hands down the most fun I've had with a book in a long, long time, probably since last year's The Dawn Patrol. There are so many twofers I could choose--including a brilliant inside joke that I am *not* going to excerpt here because I don't want to ruin the surprise; you'll know it when you get to it--but I'm going to highlight a couplet that exemplifies the type of humor that spices up this fun work.

His [the guy driving the air boat] moved with assurance on the controls. The airboat wheeled to the left--to port, Gabriel corrected himself; this was a boat, after all--and kept turning until it was headed straight back at the airboat that had been pursuing them.

You'll just have to read the book to find out how--or if--Gabriel makes it out of this dire predicament. And come back here tomorrow for a full review of this fun, fun book.

My crime/pulp sentences today are inspired by a word choice Jay Stringer gave to me as a writing exercise. He said it would be a fun challenge to take a certain word and each of us write a story around it. Kind of like the new Flash Fiction challenge Patti Abbott's started. The word Jay suggested was "lullaby."

"Brilliant," White said as she dropped her binoculars and rubbed her eyes, "We got a baby in there." Without another word, all four women reached into their vests, pulled out silencers, and attached them onto their pistols.

BTW, Jay Stringer's story, The Hard Sell, is the featured story over at Beat to a Pulp. I've read it, folks, and it's a fun story. It had me laughing and entertained all the way through.

For more Two Sentence Tuesday goodies, head on over to Women of Mystery.

Sherlock Holmes, Calvin Carter, and a Guy Named Mack

Mack, over at Mack Captures Crime, has embarked on a fun reading journey: read all the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in publication order. There's a reason for this and, to find out, you'll have to head on over to Mack's blog. In a separate entry, Mack lists Doyle's personal favorites Holmes stories and that of the Baker Street Irregulars. I'm looking forward to seeing what insights Mack discovers.

Today, in his entry to Patti Abbott's Friday Forgotten Books, David Cranmer writes about some Continental Op short stories by Dashiell Hammett. David laments that he's now read all of Hammett's published short stories. And he's 'sullen.' I can understand that feeling and it's one of the driving forces behind the reason I have never read all of the original 60 Holmes stories (4 novels and 56 short stories). I have my favorites and I've read them over and over again content with the knowledge that there are still more Doyle stories for me to read.

Ironically, Mack's reading challenge comes at a time when I have started reviewing the Holmes stories I know well. After the publication of my first short story, "You Don't Get Three Mistakes," over at Beat to a Pulp, I've created a character that I like and others seem to like as well. I am going to write more about my character, Calvin Carter, and have begun reseraching the structure of Doyle's stories to understand why they're so popular and long-lasting. It'll be a fun adventure and, you never know: I might just plow through all 60 stories to find out Doyle's secret.

A New Blog: SF Safari

Last year (2008 for those of you who will read this after 2009), I put myself through a self-education in the field of crime and mystery fiction. All my life, I had read science fiction or fantasy or other type books and never really put my toe in the crime fiction ocean. I read a lot, got wonderful feedback from other travelers farther down the road, and even got a few wistful reminiscences from folks who lived vicariously through me as I read a favorite author (to them) for the first time. It was a great year and I am firmly an irrevocably a devoted fan of crime, mystery, and noir fiction.

But, recently, I’ve rekindled a love for the first genre I read as a child: science fiction and fantasy. The inspirations are many and you can follow the breadcrumbs over at my first post on SF Safari. Needless to say, I realized I was woefully underread when it came to modern SF/F and it is a deficit I want to fill.

But this blog is not the place for it. Were I some name-brand author and y’all returned to my blog again and again because of me, I would start this journey and relate of its exploits here. But that is not the case. I’ve built somewhat of a reputation around the blogosphere as a ‘crime blogger’ and I am so enthused about it. I love it so much that I don’t want to dilute this blog with non crime fiction related topics.

Thus, I’ve created a second blog: SF Safari

The blog description pretty much sums up the reason for the blog's existence: Rediscovering the lost civilization of literary science fiction & fantasy and all the menagerie along the way...

It will be the place where I chronicle my rediscovery of all the joys of science fiction and fantasy in the written format. I plan on giving myself another crash course in a genre where I’ll read classics of the field while keeping abreast, as well as possible, of the new and modern storytellers of the genre. The links over there are all SF/F links of people and places you might know or might not.

I’m not abandoning this blog or crime fiction by any means. I love both genres, but I think both genres need a separate place to live and breathe and grow. I’ll still be posting here on all things crime fiction related. The Friday Forgotten Books will still be here. I’ll still blog about my writing projects (more about that on SF Safari’s first post). My review of the Gabriel Hunt books will be here. My review of the new works by George Pelecanos, Megan Abbott, and Michael Connelly will be here. And I’m still working with NewMysteryReader and a new review of my current book will be posted later this week. And I’ll still write about music here.

So, not to worry (as if y’all even did), I’m still here and alive and kicking in the crime fiction world. But I’ll also be writing about science fiction and fantasy. Come along for the ride, if you like. It should be fun.

First up: How writing a western inspired a fantasy story.

Later this week: a science fiction reading list sent to me by Lou Anders, the Editorial Director of Pyr, an imprint of Prometheus Books.

My illness has a name!

I've been sick since August of 2006. You see, that's when I began "thinking" and "Conceiving" and "brainstorming" about Book #2. In the late summer of 2006, I was fresh off the high of finishing Book #1. I had met an agent at a conference and she had asked for the first 100 pages of my book. Nirvana was had. Visions of many things danced in front of my eyes.

Then, the albatross settled its grimy claws on my shoulders and neck. I had an idea for Book #2. It was pretty decent, I thought. So I started conceiving. And I conceived and conceived and brainstormed and outlined and thought about the story...and nothing came of it. Frustrated, I asked myself: who is this book about? Interestingly, I came up with a different character. Ooookay, the brainstorming commenced. Again.

Long story shorter and to borrow a movie term, Book #2 got mired in development hell. I have written the first Act three times and each time, I've come to a dead end. Finally frustrated, I set it aside last year to concentrate on my blogging and reading and researching the mystery field. I've joked with people that it's taken me longer NOT to write Book #2 than it took to write Book #1. I knew I wasn't the only one who suffered from this affliction. And now we have a name for it:

Secondbookitis

I read that term this morning over at Murderati. Rob Gregory Browne wrote about being blog-blocked (I kind of share that affliction, too) and he name dropped Harley Jane Kozak who coined the term Secondbookitis. I know my illness. Now, what's the remedy?

For me, it's a new book in a differet genre. For the time being, I've abandoned my old Book #2 for new Book #2A (can't really call the new work #3 since I never finished the original #2). Book 2A is a western, it's a adventure, it's a mystery, it's a pulp book. At least, that's the way I see it now. What I am going to write is a book that will probably mash-up a bunch of genres but should end up being the book I'd love to read. I am, after all, the story's first reader. I just happen also to be its author.

So, with full knowledge of what's I've been suffering from, onward I trek.

Here's where the irony will come in. Kozak's term refers to the second book a new author has to produce *after* the first book is published. I fully expect to suffer from Secondbookitis twice in my writing career. I've lived with it for two years now in trying to *just* write that second book. I suspect I'll also come down with it after I've published my actual first book (I say actual because who knows how many I'll have to write before one sees publication). To that I say one thing: Bring It On.

SF Signal: The Faces Revealed...and more fun information

If you are a regular visitor to SF Signal, my essential daily SF fix, as I am, you know that the guys who run the blog are faceless. No longer.

Head on over to Cult Pop for a video interview with John DeNardo and J. P. Frantz. In addition to seeing their faces and hearing their voices, they give a rundown of the daily operation of SF Signal, how it started, and other interesting tidbits.

Enjoy.

Best Book by a Dead Guy List

Patti Abbott has asked an interesting question:

What's the best book you read in 2008 that was either written before 1970 or by a writer no longer with us?

An interesting question for me considering probably half, if not more (haven't checked yet) of the book I read this year (and are reading) were written by writers are now dead.

Go on over and see what you think and add to the conversation.

SF Signal's Best of 2008 List

The good folks over at SF Signal (still my favorite and best source of all things SF/F/H) recently asked me to list some genre-related items I considered to be among the best of 2008. My answer, and others, are now online.

Go on over and take a look, see what you think, and comment away. Oh, and be sure to bookmark SF Signal and visit often. You really can't go wrong with all the material (including free stories) they post everyday.

Preview of the New Pulp E-zine "Beat to a Pulp"

Head on over to David Cranmer's The Education of a Pulp Writer and check out the preview of his new e-zine Beat to a Pulp.

From David:

Ok folks, here’s a sneak peek at BEAT to a PULP. Only the home page and the guidelines page are available until the entire site goes live December 15th. Our new email address for submissions is given on the guidelines page. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Cool Story Site (A Twist of Noir) and Fun, Fun Story

Courtesy of a link on David Cranmer's blog "The Education of a Pulp Writer," I discovered a nice story site on the internet: A Twist of Noir. The story David highlighted is "The Dumb Factor" by Sandra Seamans. The site is a place I hope to land a story one day. And Sandra's story is nice, short, pretty dang funny (I'm not sure I can watch "The Brady Bunch" the same way again), with a brutal ending.

Blog Update and Blog Type

Apologies to those who've come to this blog looking for new content. The day job is picking up quite a pace and the resulting tiredness at night has not been conducive for good, thought-provoking essays on crime fiction. Plus, there is the general writing funk, as described in this previous post. I will be returning tomorrow with a Forgotten Book, as part of Patti Abbott's Forgotten Book Friday.

--->One of the things I'm very excited about (as a reader and a writer) is David Cranmer's new online e-zine, Beat to a Pulp. It looks like a fun place, especially since other online e-zines are folding. I'll be submitting some material over there in the coming weeks. Y'all go on over and check it out.

--->In the meantime, I found this site: Typealyzer. It's an interesting site that analyzes a blog and delivers its take. Turns out, this blog is The Thinker. Here is the text:

The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

The wife's going to laugh pretty hard when I tell her my blog is "logical" and "analytical," two things I'm not when living at the house. I do not agree with the "...not good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people" comment as that is one trait I do have when not writing. Interesting.

So, fellow bloggers, take the test and see how your blogs rate.

Wonderful Hard Case Crime News

Wow! This Monday just got a lot more exciting. Want to know why? Head on over to Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine blog where he reprints the latest updates from Charles Ardai, one of the founders of Hard Case Crime.

And you thought 2008 was a good year for Hard Case Crime? Wait until 2009. Here are the teases:

• Something from Robert Parker (no, not that one)
• Chance to win a free book!
• Lester Dent

(Thanks, Bill)

Ellery Queen Magazine: November 2008

Since Ellery Queen is one of only two major magazines for mystery short stories, I think it's important to support the magazine and purchase most issues. This year has been easy since the editors brought in a Black Mask feature most months. This feature is usually an old story first published in the Black Mask Magazine from the heyday of the pulp era or a new story written in that style. The August 2008 issue featured a new story by Mickey Spillane.

Blogger David Cranmer over at The Education of a Pulp Writer has submitted a review of the November 2008 issue of EQMM. And, as of now, there's a lively discussion with 15 comments. Head on over to David's site and take a look. Then, find your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy. Or you can go to Fictionwise.com and purchase the electronic version for your Palm Pilot or Blackberry.

Busted Flush Press: Now on the Blogosphere

Thanks to Patti Abbott's blog, I discovered that Busted Flush Press now has a blog. Busted Flush, founded by David Thompson of Houston's own Murder by the Book, publishes out of print books and anthologies of new work. I've written about four stories from two of Busted Flush's books: A Hell of a Woman and Damn Near Dead. A nice feature at the site is a list of independent book stores around the country that sells and stocks Busted Flush titles. If you are like me, I'd much rather buy from one of the indie stores than the monoliths of B&N or Amazon.

Go on over and give David a big blogosphere welcome.

Elizabeth Crook Interview @ The Louis L'amour Project

One of the side effects of my joining Patti Abbott's Forgotten Books Fridays is that I've read two westerns. That's two westerns read in my entire life. My grandfather and dad love westerns but they were never my thing.

Until now. After reading two westerns (William Colt MacDonald's Mascarada Pass and Day Keene's Guns on the Brazos), I will forge ahead and read many more westerns. Never knew what I was missing.

In my research into things western, I stumbled upon a cool blog, The Louis L'amour Project. I love experiments and, based on the sub-title and mission statement, blogger Chris Jones is on a quest: "Reading a bunch of Louis L'amour and seeing what happens." From what I've read so far, all good things have happened.

A nice feature of The Louis L'amour Project are his author interviews. Today he publishes an interview with native Texan Elizabeth Crook. I've not read her work--yet--but her reminiscences of Aquarina Springs in San Marcos, TX, really took me back thirty years. And how many of us writers can relate to how she took up the pen and started writing?

Good interview and a good site to bookmark on your Google Reader. You won't be disappointed in either.

New Dennis Lehane Tidbits

Over at Bang!, Clayton Moore writes about Dennis Lehane and the fleeting hopes that another Patrick/Angie book is out there. Moore links to his review of The Given Day, Lehane's latest, in the Rocky Mountain News and also back to Lehane's website which has a nice video interview and pictures of Boston in 1919.

As most of y'all know, I credit Lehane and Mystic River as the demarcation line of my love of crime fiction. Before MR, I barely gave crime fiction a thought. After MR, the world had changed for me. The Kenzie/Gennaro stories are wonderful and Lehane can count himself fortunate that good movies have been made from his books. Whether or not Lehane ever returns to crime fiction is a matter only he can decide. But, for me, he was the door into the crime fiction room in which I now happily live.

Texas Historical and Literary Blogs at Texas Blog Notes

Recently, former librarian and life-long Texan, Will Howard, e-mailed me with a neat invitation. It seems someone had read my blog and recommended that Howard include my blog on his new bibliography of Texas-related literary and historical blogs. Needless to say, I was quite surprised and honored, especially when you consider some the other Texas author sites Howard chose (Bill Crider or Rick Riordan) are full-blooded professional writers with long careers. At that point, I was honored and humbled. Now, I have to step up.

Howard has compiled this bibliography and its available at a new website: Texas Blog Notes. If you are interested in Texas, history, or literature with a Texas slant, I encourage you to go on over and check out Howard's list. As a historian, a writer, and a Texan, this bibliography is a wonderful way to spend some great hours reading and learning and just having fun.

Star Wars Must Die*

*That's the title of a blog entry today over at SF Signal. For my part, I am a lifelong Star Wars geek. Like innumerable of you, something changed in me the day I watched Star Wars back in 1977. I grew up with Star Wars and I will always love Star Wars.

But I have almost no interest in the new Clone Wars movie. In fact, when the wife asked "When are we going to see it?" and I told her I'd rent it on DVD later on, she was shocked. This was, of course, while waiting in line at Mickey D's to get my son a Happy Meal and a Star Wars toy.

For me, the post-Return of the Jedi years are much more interesting than the pre-Star Wars years. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn is fantastic. You simply must read it. Everything you loved about the original trilogy is in there plus more.

But go read the essay at SF Signal. It's worth reading and I agree with most of its thoughts.