Comments on: Do You Need a Blog Mentor?

By: Paula

Paula — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:36:00 +0000

Have you check niche blogger ? I haven’t try her yet. But it seems very affordable and effective

By: Britt26Kimberley

Britt26Kimberley — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:23:42 +0000

I had got a desire to start my own organization, nevertheless I didn't have enough of cash to do this. Thank heaven my dude proposed to utilize the personal loans. Thence I took the collateral loan and made real my dream.

By: Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:32:48 +0000

>Hi Rachelle,

Thanks for bringing this up – I get many emails on this because many creatives are not very technical, but are being forced into it now.

I have started consulting with people on their blogs. I am an IT consultant and author so blend both worlds! I love all the techy stuff and also love the creativity of it.
My blog, The Creative Penn, is one of the top 10 Australian writing blogs: if people are interested, they can check it out here
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Thanks, Joanna

By: Laura Christianson

Laura Christianson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:48:46 +0000

>Thanks so much, Rachelle, for the shoutout about my blog mentoring (or should I say, CONSULTING) services.

I appreciate you pointing out to your readers who don't think mentors should get paid for their services that those of us who do get paid started out as authors, bloggers, and unpaid mentors (and we still do a great deal of pro bono mentoring).

It took me many years to get to a place where I felt comfortable saying, "I am a writer. This is my profession. I've spent my career preparing for it, doing it, and I deserve to get paid a fair wage for it."

I didn't get paid for my blog mentoring services until I'd worked with a lot of people and they kept telling me, "You should charge for this."

Although I now mentor/consult with companies, large and small, my heart and passion is with authors.

One of the things we writers neglect -- either out of fear or from lack of information -- is information about how to build our platform or our brand. The Internet is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to begin building that platform. I think it's well worth an investment of $50 or $100 or even $1,000 to seek expert help, so you don't waste hours of your time re-inventing the wheel.

I also like what Camy Tang said about how promoting fiction is different than promoting non-fiction. If you're looking for a blogging or social media mentor, try to find someone who specializes in your genre (I focus more on non-fiction and niche topics).

Happy blogging!

Laura Christianson
Author, speaker, and owner of www.BloggingBistro.com

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:08:19 +0000

>This has been a fascinating discussion. I have to agree with Jenny that Christina Katz (http://christinakatz.com) has been a wonderful blogging mentor.

While reading reviews of her book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, I read that Christina's chapter on blogging was the most detailed and helpful around, and that it was clear she knew her stuff, esp. when it came to blogging.

I bought the book and took one of her classes on platform development. I continue to draw from each to keep my blog fresh and interesting for those interested in my specific topic (commercial fishing families).

By: Susan J. Elliott

Susan J. Elliott — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:23:42 +0000

>My blog became a book (well the book is based on the blog with lots of participation from my readers!) and I'm working on a second book so I just started another blog.

The blog is at
http://GettingPastYourPast.wordpress.com

and the book website is
http://www.GettingPastYourBreakup.com

I have left some advice over on AbsoluteWrite but would welcome email questions about blogging.

Susan

By: thoughtthinkers

thoughtthinkers — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:33:12 +0000

>Bogging really is easy and fun once you find your audience. My blog, The Thoughts I Think, is a funny look inside my life as a Christian mom. It isn’t always about kids but it is relatable to moms in some way; and because it has a humorous slant it is both fun and encouraging. I also update my Facebook and Twitter status whenever I have a new post; I get most of my traffic that way.

I hope that helps.

Ginny Martyn
http://thoughtthinkers.wordpress.com
ginnymartyn@yahoo.com

By: Camy Tang

Camy Tang — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:38:27 +0000

>Thanks for listing my service, Rachelle! I want to let people know that one thing I've learned is that blogging in order to promote fiction is a very different ballgame from blogging to promote a nonfiction topic like writing (think about it--it's a non fiction topic, even if you're teaching how to write fiction) or adoption or whatever. My expertise is in helping novelists blog and do online marketing in order to market their fiction, not their nonfiction.

Mary DeMuth is a good example of someone who does both fiction and non fiction, and she will also tell you that there are differences. She has managed to combine the issues in her fiction with her non fiction topics, but for another writer who only writes fiction, it can be more challenging to market your fiction via blogging or online marketing.

Camy

By: Stina Lindenblatt

Stina Lindenblatt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:02:06 +0000

>Ooops! That didn't quite sound right. Teenage girls are my target audience, not the topic of my blog. That's what happens with not enough sleep.

By: Stina Lindenblatt

Stina Lindenblatt — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:06:47 +0000

>Hmmm. I think I'll stick with Blogging for Dummies. It taught me everything I wanted to know about blogging. And because of it, I decided not to blog about my adventure in writing land (there's already so many great blogs on that subject already out there). Instead, I picked a topic that might be of interest to my target audience: teenage girls.

By: Derek Burress

Derek Burress — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:57:29 +0000

>I left you a message on twitter (you're not a follower, so I do not know if you saw it or not). I used to blog about real estate before I decided to try my hand at books. I have a ton of blog mentoring friends who could assist you. Several specialize in real estate, but there is two who works with other clients outside of real estate as well. They are kind of like me with my book, they just started with the real estate bloggers and moved on.

Let me know if you want some names and I will tweet them your way.

derek_burress (twitter)

By: Rebecca LuElla Miller

Rebecca LuElla Miller — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:06:17 +0000

>Rachelle,

I've edited published books, and meet the other three qualifications you list. You can find my current list of services at Rewrite, Reword, Rework. Thanks for the blogging mentor idea.

Becky

By: Yat-Yee

Yat-Yee — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:46:51 +0000

>I wish the mentor/apprentice system is much more common, not just in the writing field, but in everything else. I learned about teaching piano that way, and wouldn't trade my three years with my mentors for anything.

On an aside, I was just thinking Twitter can be overwhelming, yet in this instance, it worked.

By: Timothy Fish

Timothy Fish — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:43:12 +0000

>Rachelle (and everyone else), don’t get me wrong. I’m all for people paying for consulting services. Somewhere between $50 and $100 per hour is probably a fair rate for something like this. My issue is with calling it mentoring when we actually mean consulting. Consultants should be paid. Mentors should not be paid (at least not by the protégé). Some of you are already saying I’m splitting hairs here, but allow me to explain. It raises real ethical issues when a mentor is placed in a position of being the employee of the protégé. By definition, the mentor is a person worthy of respect, either because of a higher position in an organization, because of more training or because of more experience. When the protégé is the employer, the roles are reversed. A good mentor needs freedom to say what needs to be said, without fear that it will impact his income. The only time it is realistic to expect this freedom is when the protégé has no control of the purse strings.