  Noticing Newbies
This week: Getting the Word Out Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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This newsletter is dedicated to helping new members find their way around Writing.Com, and for members who have been here a while, too.
Since we have on average somewhere around 200-300 new users each day, the ones who are most likely to get read and noticed are the ones who stand out. While a certain amount of garnering reviews is based on being in the right place at the right time, taking some time to polish your Portfolio and the way you present yourself in the community will do wonders to improve your odds of being read, rated and reviewed by your fellow Authors! |
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Hello all, this is Jay's debut novel is out now! back again for one more issue of the Noticing Newbies Newsletter!
I thought this month I would address some tips and techniques for getting the word out about your writing and try to bring together a number of the points I've tried to make in my run here on this newsletter.
It doesn't have to be an aggressive marketing campaign, but making the best use of the tools provided here on Writing.Com make it easy to draw readers and reviewers into your Portfolio!
I'd like to put it out there that while this newsletter is targeted to Newbies, the reality is that I don't know any member of Writing.Com who thinks they get "enough" reviews.  Every member of this site likes to get meaningful reviews, young, old or in between. We all want to know that there is someone out there reading and that these people have things to say about what we have written. It's vital to the craft of writing-- establishing an audience. Attracting and entertaining that audience can be tough, but with a little effort, you can craft an engaging Portfolio.
With that in mind...
Free Advertising: Item Titles and Descriptions
Make your Item Titles and Descriptions really stand out! "Untitled," does absolutely nothing for me as a reader, and I know a lot of others who feel the same way. Writing "Please review!" in your Item description is a waste of 14 perfectly good letters/symbols that could be dedicated to telling your audience more about your work.
Posting an item to Writing.Com with any setting other than "Email Comments Only" means that you've posted it here to be reviewed by other site members. Trust me-- we all want to get reviews. Use that title and description section to your advantage instead of wasting all that FREE advertising space! If you really can't think of a title, think of a word or phrase that has meaning for your story, preferably something original. If you can't think of a way to describe your poem or story, use a pertinent excerpt from the story to get readers' attention.
Remember of course that you should always represent your work in the best possible light so double and triple check for typos and grammatical errors in your titles and descriptions. You want to show your potential audience that you care about how they see your writing.
Sending Other Members Thoughtful Reviews
Sending meaningful reviews to other authors here at Writing.Com is in my opinion the best way to establish a following here. There are many members who will "trade" reviews by sending a review to anyone who has reviewed them in kind. It's one way of saying "thanks!" for some people, though I don't know that it generates a lot of repeat traffic. Posting your reviews as public, however, is a great way to display your writing chops and participate in the community here.
Public reviews are a double-edged sword-- on the one hand, you can learn a lot from reading reviews posted as Public, and the most active reviewers are posted on a list accessible from the Reviews page. On the other hand, you want to make sure that you are always posting good and honest advice to other authors when you post a public review.
Contests such as "Good Deeds Go Noticed" [ASR] are another great incentive to public review-- you never know, you just might win something in return for doing a good deed for another author. Sending good reviews is a way to participate in the community and to show other authors that you care about more than just your own Portfolio.
Plug Pages
Judicious use of the different Plug Pages here on Writing.Com definitely boost views to your items, but don't go overboard-- remember to follow the rules. It's also not a bad idea to check out a few of the other items on the plug page while you're there-- you might find something interesting. Looking at what other people are posting while you're there also shows you some pretty clear examples of good titles and descriptions, and some which are not as effective. There are almost always examples of both!
Signatures, Other Sites, and Blogs
It's generally considered rude to link-spam on the Internet, but including a link to your Writing.Com Portfolio in relevant places can definitely drive traffic to your writing. Most forums on and off-site have settings where you can post links-- for example in a signature or profile listing. Sites like Facebook have utilities that make it simple to share pages like your Portfolio, your recent Writing.Com Blog posts, and other items you find here on site. Obviously Facebook isn't for everyone, but think of ways that networking that sites similar to Facebook can help you... These are just a few ways to promote your writing for free to the people you want to share it with the most.
Bidclick Advertising and Autorewards
Two not-free methods of generating traffic to your items: The Bidclick system and AutoRewards for reviews. I've experimented with both of these to some success. While main-page Bidclicks can be expensive, using Genre listings and Item Type listings are often much cheaper and still generate a higher profile of pageviews than simple word-of-mouth and some of the other free methods, like the plug pages.
These are just some starting points, though. The best advice I have to give on this is to just keep at it! We are all here to learn, to practice, to read, and hopefully, to write. If we're lucky, we might even write something other people want to read!
It's been an honor to guest edit for you all. Thanks for making me think every month, and I hope I've made you think as well. 
Over and out!
Jay's debut novel is out now! |
This month's picks, hot off the presses-- check them all out!
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Noticing Newbies: March 09, 2011 Issue [#4281]
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