Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

/ Staci Troilo

Ciao, amici! These last two weeks have been busy, but oh so fun. It’s nice to step away from writing and editing now and then to work on interpersonal connections. And I’ve been doing just that—visiting old friends and making new ones as I promote Tortured Soul.

I’ve done my fair share of blurb/cover posts. That’s what many blog tour companies ask for. The problem with that is sameness. People see the same thing over and over and begin to ignore it.

That’s why I don’t do formal tours with a company anymore. I’ve tried it a couple of times with groups of authors, and it just becomes noise.

Although it’s more work, I created a different post for every author who welcomed me to his or her site. I did different blurbs and excerpts, interviews, posts on research and folklore. I even did one on marketing challenges where my muse kind of took over and stole the show.

In short, those posts were creative. They inspired visitors to follow me around to all the sites, and they begged for interaction. Hence the thought behind my quote of the week by Albert Einstein:

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

I make no claims about my intelligence. I’ll let my education and work history speak for me on that. (I’m willing to bet you all have an opinion on that, anyway!) But I do think it’s smart to not bore your reader. Not in your stories and not in your marketing.

Or maybe that’s more of a common sense thing. Either way, that’s my thought of the week. What’s your take on it?

And now, this week’s writing links…

Posts by me, about my work, or at sites I contribute to:

Me

Story Empire

Romance University

Posts by others in the industry:

And when you’re done with these links, don’t forget to check out the sidebar, where you’ll find more links to some of my favorite sites.

Have a great weekend!

30 thoughts on “Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links”

  1. Staci, wishing you continued success with Tortured Soul. I’m loving the series!
    And I love that Enistein quote. When people ask me about writing, I’ve long said “I’m just not wired right!” Although, I’m proud of it. But I like what he said even better. Hugs on the wing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Teagan. The tour is winding down, but I’ve got a few more stops planned in the next couple of weeks. Just tapering things down rather than an abrupt stop.

      I’m not wired right, either. And I’m fine with that. If we were all the same, life would be so boring!

      Liked by 1 person

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  5. It’s true about the sameness Staci. I enjoyed your tour and creativity. I admit to not coming up with different posts for mine with the exception of new facts. I’m trying to find something in between that works. I always forget how busy new releases can keep you, but like you said it can be a nice break, too;)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • When I prepare for a release, I always come up with five graphic teasers that I can put on social media and as a gallery on my book’s page. That really helped me cut down on my work for the tour, because I just went to the part of the text the teasers came from and pulled out a longer excerpt. (Bonus points for the graphics for those posts already being done.) It’s kind of a shortcut. However you look at it, it saved me time on the posts, both content-wise (easy to select) and graphics-wise (they were already done). Then it was just a matter of specific info posts for other people.

      Everyone has to do what works best for them. If it’s going to take too much time away from writing, using the same post multiple times makes sense. Especially if the audiences vary widely.

      I really appreciate you following the tour, Denise. And I wish you luck with yours.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I enjoyed following all the stops on your tour, Staci, you did an amazing job! This quote strikes home for me. Sometimes, I think we get so caught up in our work that we forget to enjoy the creative aspect of it, it IS fun 🙂
    Have a great weekend!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks for following me. I know it’s a lot of time and effort for the reader, and I appreciate it.

      And you’re right; our jobs are fun. It’s good to remember that once in a while. I know I sometimes forget when I’m in the thick of things. But this is the best job I could ever ask for.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. I agree with you about the sameness, Staci. I noticed you did a different post for every blog – it’s a lot more work, but focuses on different aspects that may appeal to a wider range of readers. Hope you made tons of sales!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Teri. That’s another aspect I didn’t even touch on—appealing to different segments of the audience. I tried to match my topic with what readers of particular sites would enjoy. No point sending romance info to a fantasy blogger or horror content to a kid lit writer. I hope I hit the right demographics.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I agree with you completely about blog tours and the need to provide different content for your hosts. It makes the tour so much more interesting. I throughly enjoyed yours.
    Now I’m off to check out that Monsters link 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Loved the tour, and wow, different posts for each blog. Talk about work! Mae did the same thing when Cusp of Night came out, and, just, wow. But you are right, the different posts are more interesting. And LOVE Einstein’s quote. I’ll have to remember that one 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’ve done the different posts thing for my last few releases, although this was my biggest tour so far. I’ve found that even five different posts get a more positive response than the same post at twenty sites. And I’m all about entertaining a reader, not annoying them. The response to this release was quite favorable, so I think I’ll stick with this method. At least for a while.

      Thanks for the kind words—regarding the tour and the quote. (I wish I could have met Einstein; he’s a fascinating man, and I love that he saw the benefits to creativity.)

      Liked by 2 people

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