I'M GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

You may be reading this blog because I (Krista) posted this jaw-dropping news somewhere on social media.

And let me tell you. If it were true, I wouldn't be hosting this blog today. No, I'd probably being still sitting in dumb-founded shock. Someone would also have to do CPR on my poor husband.

Or--- you may be reading this blog because someone else posted this jaw-dropping news somewhere on social media, and you're thinking.... WHAT??? Or-- YEAH!!!

Either way...

No one (that I'm aware of) is having a baby.

Unless you count manuscripts, which authors lovingly think of as "our babies."

Here is the REAL subject of this blog.

TITLES ARE IMPORTANT.

Titles draw in readers. Titles are the first thing we read, both on books in the bookstore or online book retailer or on blogs.

It's the title's job to capture the reader's attention (for books, in tandem with the cover.) A GOOD title makes readers think, "Wow, I wonder what that's about" or "Ohhhhh, I need to read THAT!"

Confession #1: I've been one of those people who has used the fact that publishers usually change book titles as an excuse to not get very creative with a title.

But we're trying to catch an agent/editor's eye too! An AMAZING title could very well help a submission rise to the top section of a slush pile. (Content will then have to be superior after that... a title can only do so much!)

Confession #2: I've also been one of those bloggers who have just slapped any ol' title on a blog post to describe what I'd written. How stupid is it, though, to spend all that time trying to craft the perfect blog post--- and then leave the title as just bleh? Especially in social media, where your dream would be that your post go viral.

Now, you might say, the title of this post is, well, inaccurate. No one is having a baby. And yes, titles should reflect to the subject matter. I think, though, in this case, it does, in a creative, slightly odd, way. The point of the post title is to underscore the importance of having a title that catches eyes and attracts attention.

Lest you think I've got this whole title thing figured out, please be aware that I DO NOT.

I HATE coming up with titles. It is not my strong suit.

This is why the title of my book proposal to Abingdon was, "A Sandwich Romance" because it was set in Sandwich, IL and was a romance. (see confession #1 above.) They renamed it "Sandwich, with a Side of Romance" which is a heap better. That said... my submission went through different channels than the slush pile, so I'm super lucky my poor title didn't hurt my chances. This, however, is not normal.

I have another full-length novel my agent has requested a GOOD title before we submit it. Right now, the title is "Mission: Jack" (a takeoff of Mission: Impossible). But eh... it's just... not the best. I debated for a while if it was super unique or super stupid. I'm leaning toward the stupid side now that time has passed. So it's on my list to retitle.

So--- I have TWO challenges for you today.

#1: Let's practice thinking of GREAT TITLES. Help me think of a title for (formerly known as) Mission: Jack! Below is a super brief (unofficial for the sake of this blog) synopsis.

While I don't promise to USE your title, (although reserve the right to if I love it and my agent gives her thumbs up!) we Alleycats will vote on which title we think is the most UNIQUE and HOOKING.... and the WINNER will get a signed copy of my first novel, Sandwich, with a Side of Romance. 

Mission Jack Synopsis:

Jenny is queen of safety and predictability. Her life is controlled by fear. But the guy she falls in love with over the Internet represents anything but.

Jack is in over his head trying to take care of his orphaned, preteen niece, and might be more than a little insane to be falling for a woman online, especially when a predictable "perfect" woman from his church is offering to be everything he could ever need.

Jenny and her best friend become convinced that Jack isn't the awesome guy he seems like, and that he's an Internet stalker. On a mission to prove they are right, they go on a road trip to Nashville, TN to call him out.

"Mission: Jack" goes exactly opposite of what they'd planned, especially when the real stalker shows up.

Jack must learn that perfection isn't always so perfect, and Jenny must learn that safety isn't measured by locks on the doors, but that trusting God is the only true way to peace.

#2: SHARE THIS BLOG post on Facebook or Twitter or both, complete with the title. Let's see just how much BUZZ a title with an eye-popping "hook" can get. Bonus points if you're past baby bearing age :-) :-) (and let me know in the comments if you shared it, I'll pick a winner out of those who share this post as well!)

Come on. I dare you.

(comments/shares must be done by end of day, Sunday, March 23rd. Winner to be announced on the following weekend edition!)

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Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and author of Sandwich, With a Side of Romance . She blogs about finding JOY in the journey of LIFE at http://www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by fabulous agent, Rachelle Gardner.

Scheduling Your Blog PLUS Free Printable Calendar

You know the drill. It's late Sunday night and you forgot to write your post for tomorrow's blog. You want to be on a schedule. In fact, you are bound and determined to get organized and post every day, right? Keeping up with a blog is not for the faint of heart!

But there is hope for the weary.

Did you know that it is not necessary to blog every day? Not even every other day. Because truly, do you read every single blog you subscribe to every single day? No! It's impossible! Not every topic you write on is going to interest every single reader.

I've noticed something in my blogging journey. When I don't comment on other's blogs, I don't get comments on mine. I'm know I used to kill myself commenting on everyone's blog, but I just can't anymore. I don't have the time. So I've decided to spend my time blogging on what I am passionate about, not what I "think" other people might want to hear about. Because if we want people to read our blogs, we have to love what we are writing about. We need to be "real" and "engaging" in whatever topic we write about, because it is the personality of your blog that people flock to....not how often you post. And really, right now blogging is just a fun thing for me. I shouldn't dread it!

While there is no rules for how often to post, it is good to get in a habit of posting regularly. You need to decide what that looks like for you. You might be a weekend blogger. Or you may just be a Tuesday/Thursday blogger. Or you may be like the majority of bloggers and blog Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Just get into the habit of doing it, creating content that YOU love.

Here's some interesting facts about blogging, taken from Kissmetrics.

• The highest percentage of users read blogs in the morning.
• The average blog usually gets the most traffic on Monday.
• The average blog usually gets the most traffic around 11 am. (Eastern time)
• The average blog usually gets the most comments on Saturday.
• The average blog usually gets the most comments around 9 a.m.
• The average blog usually gets the most inbound links around 7 a.m. (those are links back to your post)
• If you post more than once a day, the chances of getting more unique views and inbound links are great. (That seemed rather obvious to me.)

So there is something to be said for scheduling your blog and being regular about it. If you get more traffic on Monday, then schedule your blog to post at 5 or 6 a.m. to so that it will be picked up in people's feeds by 7 a.m. You could even do a 2-parter. Post 1/2 the blog post in the morning, then the other 1/2 in the afternoon. I don't know of anyone who does that, but it is outside of the box, right? ;)

I want to share something that has worked for me. I use a blog schedule calendar and it has really helped to keep me more focused. I saw some across the internet and thought "I could make one!". And so I did. Here is a screen shot of what it looks like.

You can write the topic or title of your post on the day you would like to schedule it, then when you have it written and scheduled you can check the little yellow circle. You may have several posts going at once, but you will know it's scheduled once the circle is checked. This is just for printing. It is not editable. 

You can CLICK HERE to download the Blogging Schedule Calendar Printable. I have only created April through December for 2013. Who knows...maybe I'll created 2014 as a Christmas present for you!

Let's hear from you! What has helped you in your blogging schedule. What tips can you give us? What have you learned along the road? 

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

Managing the Blog Madness Without Going Mad

We've all read somewhere that we should be blogging, right? And so like the good little children we are, we created our beautiful blogs or websites and wrote posts filled with inspiration, humor, and of course, wisdom.

Then somewhere along the line, we realized we needed friends to actually read our outbursts of brilliance. So we proceeded to read up on how to increase our blog traffic, which opened a whole new world of must-do's. You know how it goes...Visit other blogs, comment on them, then revisit them, then comment on them again, then sacrifice your firstborn. Er, something like that.

Now I'm being sort of snarky here, and in all honesty, I love all the friends I've made through blogging and would sacrifice my firstborn for them...My firstborn being Finny the fish, of course. But we can all relate to this time struggle, right?

Jody Hedlund addressed this topic on her blog recently and had some great thoughts, one of which was the importance of prioritizing interactions. So I wanted to share one trick I've found to do this, particularly in the world of blogging. But to better appreciate it, I want to show you my former life.

Here's the typical scenario. I get up at 6:30, do my morning time with God while eating breakfast, then cram in as much email and blog visits as I can before my kids get up and eat breakfast at 8:00. After that, I turn on Mickey Mouse and let my kids veg until lunch so I can finish reading more blog posts. Then I slap some PB&J together and put the kids down for naps, during which point I read more blog posts, make more comments, and wonder where my actual writing time went.

Can you relate?

Now, picture this scenario. During my morning cram session of email and blogging, I do this. I open up my dashboard and Twitter account in a separate internet window. Then I do a quick scroll through the blog roll, right clicking on the posts that are of interest or high priority, and select "Open in new tab".

Important note: I do not read the posts at this point.

Then I skim through Twitter and do the same thing. All new tabs. When I'm finished, I may have 10 tabs open or 50 tabs open, depending on the day.

Here's how the rest of my day progresses. If I'm home with the kiddos, I take those short snippets of time while my son is crashing hotwheels together and I read one of the tabs, comment, then click the X. One down, 9 to go. I continue to do this throughout the day so that by naptime, if the stars align, I can write.

Here's another scenario. Say I don't have kids at home, and I have a full day to devote to writing. (Did I say "scenario"? I meant to say "in my dreams".) So I spend my day like this: Focused writing for 45 minutes, then a 15 minute break which may include getting up and stretching, grabbing a snack, and visiting a few of those blogs I'd opened earlier.

See how easy that was? Focused time. By opening all the items of interest at the start of my day, I can more easily budget my time and sneak in my blog reading in little snippets. And it helps me avoid getting sucked into my blog roll or my Twitter account for five hours straight and never leaving. If my list of must-reads is ridiculously long on a given day, I copy the links into an email and save them for another day.

How do you manage the blog madness? Any tips or tools to share that can save someone else time in the blogsophere?

*Blog & Hourglass photos by Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

**Sandwich photo by Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Improving your Websites and Blogs - a few how tos

Hidee ya'll, Pepper here and I wanted to fill you in on a few tips I learned from author, Jim Rubart, when he presented at The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference a few weeks ago. Great presenter, btw, with lots of helpful info to share. The room was packed to brimming.

First of all, if you haven't visited Literary Agent, Rachelle Gardner's blog, you really need to. It's lovely, and is a good example of a healthy blogsite that has all those 'winning' qualities to keep it popular.

Another great blog to visit is Seekerville, filled with wonderful tips on writing - and just a lot of fun.

Anyway, on to the info :-)

WEBSITES:
People SKIM websites and if you don't get your point across within 7 seconds, the reader usually moves on. Talk about a hook! So what can you do to help people hang around your website? Or at least read it?

1. The top right corner is the prime realestate spot on your page. Make sure you have something very important in that prime spot.
A link to your blog?
Your newest book title.
The link to 'sign up' for your newsletter.
Whatever is the 'catch' for those cyberfish looking for a good read.
Important info on the RIGHT!

2. Write in first person, not third.
Put your bio in first person - conversational tone. First person gives a more welcoming feel to your website. You still want to be professional, but not distant.

3. Think bullet points
What are the most important things about you that you want to describe. Think about the to whom you wish to appeal - what points of interest about you might make them want to learn more?

4. Be creative. Have a message.
On my website, I try to draw people into a conversation. I try to appeal to moms, writers, professionals, and people with a sense of humor. My novels have humor in them, so I want my website to give a hint of what my stories will be like. My 'catch' phrase (or message) is "To Life, Laughter, and the Lord"

5. Be Professional - Jim called your website your "business card on steriods".

6. (MOST IMPORTANT) Your website is really about THE READER, not you. Your job is to get people to like you within 7 seconds, so you appeal to THEM. What will entertain, inspire, or inform them? It's your marketing tool.

BLOGS
The same basic rules apply for blogs, with some changes.
1. Still need a HOOK! Your post needs to grab and hold your readers' attention.
2. Needs to be short - WRITE TIGHT!! A post is considered long if it reaches 450 words (oops). Take all the 'boring' parts out of your post and only put the meat of your topic into it.
3. Have a point to your post.
4. Is it visually stimulating? Lots of text doesn't encourage readers. Placing bullet points, bold, lists, italics, and pictures makes the post more inviting.
5. Blog a minimum of 3 times a week.
6. Give your blog a theme. People come to your blog to learn about....?
7. Be polite - respond to people's comments
8. And remember, the blogs are for THE READER, not you.

A few final tips:
How can you increase blog bites?
1. Comment on other blogs
2. Offer to guest-post for someone or write for free
3. Write interesting things
4. Be consistent
5. Be focused

There are easy ways to create your own blog or website. Blogger and Wordpress are the two top blog options.
What do you find important in a website? Blog?
What turns you off from a website or blog?