Asked & Answered: On Books and Blogging

Ana Spoke  is a blogger and self-published author. I have been following her blog for over a month now, and have learned some great tips and tricks about blogging. The newest idea she shared was a blog tour.

Ana is promoting her new book Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1), and in an effort spread the good word she is doing interviews and guest posting on her follower’s blogs. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to interview her! Since Ana is in Australia and I am in the US we did the interview over email, which was another first for me.

“You Go, Girl!”

According to Ana, Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1). was born when she wrote a spoof scene of Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, Book 1). The scene was about Isa, a young and dumb girl, meeting  an eccentric billionaire. She emailed that scene to her sister who found it hilarious and demanded more. At her sister’s urging she continued writing bits and pieces of Isa’s story.

“This time it had to be different.”

Ana has shared on her blog that she has started multiple writing projects, but none of them really went anywhere. When Ana had a raw draft of Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1) she made the decision to turn these scenes into a book and finish it! Ana’s read a number of books and articles on plotting, character development, and creating drama, but needed some additional motivation to complete the book. She started her blog to give her public accountability in working toward her goal. The blog narrates her journey from draft to publication and beyond. Since deciding to publish the book herself the blog has also become a marketing platform. To expand her reach and promote her brand Ana has started posting helpful articles on a regular basis and engaging other bloggers.

“I love data…”

To meet her goal of finishing the book Ana needed structure to stay on track. She created a spreadsheet to track her daily word count. Ana also shared some of her blog stats with me that show the snowball effect of her recent marketing efforts.

• 1,863 blog followers
• The week of 09/06 – 2,092 views from 923 unique visitors
• 21,477 Twitter followers

Ana assured me this was a big jump from the approximately 20 followers the blog had in the first year. Having these data points to track progress have been very motivating for Ana, and have helped her achieve her goal of becoming a published author!

Pro-Tips

• Consistency – blog once a week and have a daily word goal.
• Try to learn something new every day.
• Have fun!

Thank you, Ana for the wonderful insight into the world of blogging and writing. I am going to start tracking my daily word count so I can review my own trend lines, and hopefully see some improvement! I also can’t wait to jump into Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1). I’m through chapter 2, and am looking forward to really getting into the book over the weekend.

If you’d like to see what all of the fuss is about grab a copy of Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1) and head on over to Ana’s blog!