john scalzi

I keep reading articles that say blogging is mandatory for writers nowadays. That agents and editors won’t take you on if you don’t already have a platform. This is hooey.

Let me repeat that. Hooey.

You do not need to have a blog. You do need to have a website that lists your publications and provides a way to contact you, so people can track you down if they want to. That’s it. The world is full of blogs with writing advice from people with only a few publications under their belt. Sometimes they give good advice, sometimes they don’t. It’s not ordained that you must contribute your quota of “avoid adverbs!” to the pool.

What else do you really need? You need to be writing steadily and sending stuff out.

Yes, if you have 50K Twitter followers, you may be more desirable in an editor’s eyes. But the time and effort you would need to spend growing that Twitter following from scratch would be better spent writing. You are not going to gain swarms of followers unless you are putting some effort into entertaining and informing them.

If blogging is going to be a chore for you, then don’t do it. Or engage in a very simple form of blogging: post a brief excerpt of what you wrote that day (or week, or whatever). You’ll find people are just as satisfied with an interesting story chunk as that preachy bit about not piling adjectives together. And, when the piece is published, that announcement gives you something else to put on the blog.

John Scalzi gets mentioned as a blogging success story. What doesn’t get mentioned is that he put an entire book up a bit at a time, and gained much of his following that way. Scalzi does have the sort of web presence that would make a publisher lick their chops. That sort of web presence doesn’t come easily.

I’m headed into the city this evening to hear John Scalzi read from Fuzzy Nation. I’ve loved the Little Fuzzy books (and I’ll note that there’s a bunch of his stuff free for e-readers) since discovering them as a teenager and found a book club edition of the first two this weekend at the thrift store. I’d forgotten what a tear jerker the first one is, and the anti-corporate message seems even more timely than usual. I haven’t read Fuzzy Nation yet, but I’m picking it up today and looking forward to it. I’m also fascinated by the idea that Scalzi’s written fan fiction – it opens up some interesting questions about that debate.

I recommend the first book for people working on learning how to create emotional depth, which a couple of writers have mentioned to me lately. Any book that has me welling up with tears is doing its job right in that regard. I’m taking my Writing F&SF class to this reading so they can be inspired by seeing a writer in action – maybe Scalzi will get them to cry (in a good way).

Participants: Lou Anders, Brenda Cooper, Gordon Van Gelder, Cat Rambo, Sam Sykes

Works from 2010:
Ben Aaronovitch, Midnight Riot. (Kindle version)
Lou Anders, (editor) Masked. (Kindle version)
Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan, (editors) Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery. (Kindle version)
Ilona Andrews, Bayou Moon. (Kindle version)
Ilona Andrews, Magic Bleeds. (Kindle version)
Jon Armstrong, Yarn. (Kindle version)
Paolo Bacigalupi, The Alchemist.
Paolo Bacigalupi, Shipbreaker. (Kindle version)
Elizabeth Bear, By the Mountain Bound. (Kindle version)
Elizabeth Bear, Chill. (Kindle version)
Elizabeth Bear, The White City. (Kindle version)
Lauren Beukes. Zoo City. (Kindle version)
Patricia Briggs, Masques. (Kindle version)
Patricia Briggs, Silver Borne. (Kindle version)
Patricia Briggs, Wolfsbane. (Kindle version)
Bullington, Jesse. The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart. (Kindle version)
Jim Butcher, Changes. (Kindle version)
Jim Butcher, Side Jobs. (Kindle version)
Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects.
James Enge, Travellers’ Rest. (Kindle version)
Catherine Fisher. Incarceron.
Eric Flint, The Tangled Web (Ring of Fire). (Not recommended as an entry into the series; those new to it should start with 1632).
Kate Griffin. The Midnight Mayor: Or, the Inauguration of Matthew Swift. (Kindle version)
Clay and Susan Griffith, The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1). (Kindle version)
Hale, Benjamin. The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore. (Kindle version)
M.K. Hobson. Native Star. (Kindle version)
Mark Hodder, The Strange Affair of Springheel Jack. (Kindle version) Philip K. Dick award winner)
N. K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms. (Kindle version)
Mary Robinette Kowal, Shades of Milk and Honey. (Kindle version)
Ian McDonald, The Dervish House. (Kindle version)
Devon Monk, Magic at the Gate. (Kindle version)
Devon Monk, Magic On the Storm. (Kindle version)
Elizabeth Moon, Oath of Fealty. (Kindle version)
Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death. (Kindle version)
A G Pasquella, Why Not A Spider Monkey Jesus?
Mike Resnick, The Buntline Special: A Weird West Tale. (Kindle version)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Diving Into the Wreck. (Kindle version)
John Scalzi (editor), Metatropolis. (Kindle version)
Sprunk, Jon. Shadow’s Son. (Kindle version)
Sam Sykes, Tome of the Undergates (The Aeons’ Gate, Book 1). (Kindle version)
Ian Tregillis, Bitter Seeds. (Kindle version)