One Lovely Blog Award – And Passing It On

Our blog was recently nominated for the “One Lovely Blog Award” by one of our members. We are grateful for this honor, though “loveliness” is not necessarily our goal. Rather, we aspire to be helpful to other writers wending their way through the increasingly complicated world of digital publishing.

But as members of the blogosphere, we feel compelled to nominate other blogs that we find informative and inspiring to writers and independent publishers today.

Nominees for this award are required to:

FIRST:  Thank the blogger who nominated them, which we do in all sincerity.  (Click here to see Story & History, where we were nominated. Some of members’ blogs were also nominated in this post. Check out our blogroll to the left to see what our members are writing these days.

SECOND:  Post the One Lovely Blog emblem on their blog.  See logo on the right.

THIRD:  List seven random facts about themselves: Here are some facts about our group:

1. Write Brain Trust was born last year on February 16, when a group of writers who had been discussing digital publishing developed the name and launched this WordPress account, along with a presence on Facebook and Twitter. We also created our mission statement, which is in the header of this blog.
2. As of today, the group has 38 members, though some are more active than others.
3. Our non-writing experience includes among other things: chaplaincy, information technology, journalism, local government, law, management, meteorology, psychology, nonprofit work, the performing arts, quilting, and teaching. Someone in the group knows something about almost everything (or says they do).
4. Since our inception, the group has published more than fifteen books, with new books coming out every month.  We have supported each other in formatting books for CreateSpace, Kindle, and Nook.  We develop book covers and back-cover copy together. We suggest marketing ideas. The collaboration has been phenomenal.
5. Members’ non-fiction books include books on parenting, marble collecting, memoir, and devotionals. The novels they have published fall into many genres – fantasy, historical fiction, thriller, suspense, young adult, and romance. Some members have also published anthologies of short works. (We’re hoping for a book of poetry from a member sometime in the next year.)
6. Group members have marketed their books through press releases, book signings, radio interviews, blogs, product conventions, writing conferences, panel discussions, Twitter, Facebook pages, and a variety of other techniques.
7. We can currently be found on Facebook as WriteBrainTrust, and on Twitter as @WriteBrainTrust. We encourage you to follow us on this blog and on those accounts.

FOURTH:  Nominate fifteen other bloggers for the award. There are many types of blogs these days, so it’s hard to say what is a blog and what is web-based content of another ilk.  For this column, we are defining a blog as any site with content updated regularly (generally weekly).  With that definitional caveat, here are blogs our members find particularly useful in developing our creativity, marketing and publishing skills:

• Jane Friedman, Being Human at Electric Speed – Jane’s knowledge of traditional and digital publishing and of social media marketing is unparalleled. Her blog is the first place many of us turn. She is now web editor at the literary Journal, Virginia Quarterly Review. On her blog, she posts about writing, reading, and publishing in the digital age.

• Digital Book World – Technically speaking, this site is not really a blog – it is the online presence for Digital Book World, which provides educational and networking resources for the consumer publishing industry, from writers to agents, booksellers and technology vendors. But it contains a blog with posts by a variety of experts in publishing, and it is an excellent source of information on the publishing industry today. Our group discusses information from Digital Book World almost daily.

• Smashwords – The official blog for the Smashwords e-publishing site. Our group hasn’t used Smashwords much to publish our ebooks, but Smashwords is a force in the e-publishing world due to the sheer volume of authors who use it. This blog contains good information on the publishing world. Note Mark Coker’s post on predictions for book publishing industry in 2013.

• The Writers Guide to Publishing – A site founded by D.D. Scott that is devoted to teaching writers about e-publishing and the business side of creative work. This site contains some excellent resources.

• E-book Builders – This is the new site for Digital Ebook Building and Formatting, which posted about ebooks, formatting, converting ebooks files, and anything pertinent to digital publishing and publishing for indie authors. We hope the new blog  keeps this focus.

• Writer Unboxed  – A collaborative site begun by Therese Walsh and Kathleen Bolton that now includes posts on writing by a myriad of good writers. If you want to feel like you are part of a writing community, follow this blog.

• WordPlay: Helping Writers Become Authors, by K.M. Weiland – This blog features tips and essays about the writing life. K.M. Weiland seeks to help writers understand the ins and outs of the craft and the psychology behind inspiration.

• Blogging Authors – This site bills itself as “a gathering place for writers and readers.”  The site accepts guest bloggers, so if you are interested, check out this site.

• Blogging Bistro – The author, Laura Christianson, is a social media services provider, who consults and writes for others. Her book Blogophobia Conquered is an excellent resource for new bloggers, and Blogging Bistro is a good source of information for those of us who are independent bloggers muddling along on our own.

• Catherine, Caffeinated – A young Irish writer, Catherine Ryan Howard blogs about writing and self-publishing.

• Courage 2 Create – A fiction writer and blogger, Ollin Morales  inspires others to follow their passion. This blog offers writing advice and strategies about pursuing a writing life.

• The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn, an English writer, provides resources on writing, publishing, and marketing. Joanna bills herself as an author and entrepreneur, which we all must be to publish these days.

• Jeff Goins Writer – This writer posts about writing and life. Jeff’s writing is compelling, because he freely shares his philosophy about writing and life.

• Writer Site  by lucewriter – A blogger who experiments with story, writing theory, and poetry as she shapes her life by writing. Good for creativity and encouragement.

• Bookshelf Porn – A photoblog showing luscious pictures of books, libraries, bookstores, and bookcases.  An offbeat selection to end this list, Bookshelf Porn offers dessert for writers and readers to make you drool. Probably the “loveliest” blog in this list.

P.S. Many good blogs were left off this list. Add links to your favorite blogs on writing, marketing, and publishing in the comments below.