Carnival of Blogging Advice for Writers – to celebrate my first year on WordPress

What’s a carnival when it’s on a blog and not on a village green with the smell of candy floss in the air? (For American readers I think that should be cotton candy.)
I hadn’t heard of one before I came across Book Designer’s Carnival of the Indies  which has been running every month for the last two years. It covers a variety of subjects – all relevant to anyone interested in self-publishing
I gather that blog carnivals started soon after blogging became popular. A blogger would call for other bloggers to send in their best blog posts and publish them in – or links to them – in one large post so it became a one-stop-shop for information on a particular subject. So, I’ve decided to do something similar today in a small way and what more appropriate subject than blogging for writers.

I’m going to start with Seven Blogging Basics written last April by writer AK ANDREW. It is sensible advice written in an engaging style by someone who has come to blogging relatively recently. She learned a lot in a short time and I often feel that the best people to learn from are those who haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner. If you were learning how to word process you wouldn’t want Bill Gates to be looking over your shoulder… I think the blog is on pause for the moment because AK is moving countries but hopefully she will be back again writing and blogging about writing.

What Should A Writer Blog About?

Anne Allen lives in California and write romantic-comedy/mysteries.  Her blog is a waffle-free zone that contains a wealth of information and discussion about every writing subject you can think of. It won Writing Digest best writing website 2013

I don’t know much about Anne’s life – but I know enough to like her and respect her views

What A Writer Should Not Blog About

Jane Friedlander gives four reasons why you shouldn’t blog about your book, despite the temptation to yell ‘buy it! buy it!’ from the rooftops. Jane Friedman is an award-winning journalist and teaches digital publishing at the University of Virginia. Her blog is an international success so when she offers advice it’s worth listening…
Why Some Writers Should Stop Blogging

This makes a change. I’ve read many artciles online and in writing magazines that no blog means no publishing deal. This is a controversial guest post on Jane Friedman’s bog. L.L.Barkart writes…

“…in 2006, I started blogging. Over six years, I wrote more than 1,300 blog posts, garnered over 250,000 page views, helped establish a large blogging network for which I later became the Managing Editor, test-marketed five books and wrote and sold them. I watched blogging colleagues get book contracts. I hired some of these  bloggers as editors for the network where I managed. I was a true believer in the blog world.

But on Saturday, November 10, 2012, I suddenly did the unthinkable. I myself stopped blogging…”

And finally a link back to an earlier post where I highlighted where you can get great original photographs for your blog free of any charge. (Like the one above…)

Have you written or read a good post about blogging – let me know and I’ll post details.
Do you have any advice to offer to a newbie blogger?

photo credit: StevenM_61 via photopin
photo credit: ~Oryctes~ via photopin
photo credit: Christos Tsoumplekas (Back again!) via photopin