Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf: MBS Blogoversary SPOTLIGHT #7: Author JL McDougall

Friday, June 24, 2011

MBS Blogoversary SPOTLIGHT #7: Author JL McDougall

SPOTLIGHT: AUTHOR JL MCDOUGALL

I know Jaime from participating in Pump Up Your Books Blog Tour. She has offered another generous gift prize for my followers through my Blogoversary!

Jaime is working on books that help authors promote plus some other warm hearted things!
So You Want to Write a Guest Post: An Author's Guide to Promoting with Guest Blogging

Here are Jaime's Q&As!

Question #1: Why do you write/what do you hope your readers get from your books?

A: I have been telling stories since before I learned how to write them. My childhood was never a dull one with the most ordinary things becoming fantastic adventures. I write because it is within me to write.

At the moment, I have only written short non-fiction for Chicken Soup for the Soul books and a non-fiction guide for authors who want to promote via guest posting, so I hope readers find it useful! However, I do have a paranormal romance novel I am planning on publishing by August.

When it comes to my fiction, I simply want readers to feel. I think that is the goal of any good writing. Readers might feel in love with the leading character, feel swept up in a fantasy world or want to scream at a character to 'get out of the house! There is a murderer in there!' No matter what it is, if the reader has felt something, I have done my work an author well.

Question #2: Why write the 'So You Want' books? What's next?

I originally wrote the 'So You Want to Write a Guest Post: An Author's Guide to Promoting with Guest Blogging' after seeing two guest posts come through. One was about three sentences long. The other? About three thousand words long. It was clear to me that these authors had no clue about readability, the ideal length for guest posts or even how to follow clear directions.

Now these are two extreme cases, but paired with a lot of questions I have recieved over the years about guest posts, inspiration for an ebook struck. I created a guide that doesn't assume you know a certain level about guest blogging; it takes you through all the basics including formatting a guest posts, ideal length, topics to write about and even where to find blogs that accept guests posts.

I do plan to turn this into a series for not only authors but book bloggers as well. I have the bones for a few guides worked out, including on focusing on online book tours and another focusing on making your book blog the best it can be. But immediately next on my list is my paranormal romance novel that I'm just finishing the final edits on. (So I'll be back soon!)