I’m going to be brutally honest here: I don’t really get blogs.
I’m only doing this because I want to sell you books. According to popular wisdom, blogs create a platform, which supposedly translates into sales. I’m not quite sure I buy that. Most of my friends and family who really know me and care about me don’t buy my books, so why should I expect you to just because I wrote some snappy article and posted it on a blog?
Blogs are supposed to let readers get to know you and feel a connection, but that doesn’t always make sense to me either. I read Stephen King, Jim Butcher, P.N. Elrod and others because I love their stories and characters. I don’t give a shit what Stephen King bought at the grocery store today or any of the other random garbage that pops up in blogs. I’ve never understood the appeal of blogs, especially back when they started. Some emo exhibitionist feels the need to publish their diary on the internet so everyone else can read it? So what? I’ve got plenty going on in my life, I don’t care that much about yours that I want to follow your exploits on a daily basis.
My observation is that blogs are a form of entertainment like any other. The posts have to be interesting, funny, controversial, or informative. You’re not going to get lots of intimate personal details from me, because I don’t know you. I don’t post sensitive personal stuff up online because you never know who might read it and when it might come back to bite you on the ass.
If you’re reading my blog, thank you. I’ll try to make it worth your time. I’m not going to post my vacation photos or talk about my trip to the dentist here. I’m going to talk about vampires and occasionally other things that interest me because I want you to repost my stuff and make me more famous. Like I said, brutally honest. In return, I will try to be as entertaining as I can while constantly self-promoting because that’s what blogs are nowadays, make no mistake.
Guess who just figured out how to put gifs in his blog post?
I’m Brian Patrick McKinley, and I approve this message.
P.S. Buy my book!
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Blood-Novel-Hegemony-ebook/dp/B00DWKVPH2
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Blood-Novel-Hegemony-Volume/dp/1491007753/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
The Ravings of a Sick Mind 
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Reblogged this on Genevieve Dewey and commented:
OMG! This man said exactly everything I feel. So um, yeah, what he said. *muah*
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Thank you! I figured I might not be the only one who felt like this!
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I do believe you are getting the hang of this shit Brian. 🙂
I shared it all up and down. Foshizzle my nizzle.
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Oh, and, I’m not sure if you know this, but, your blog posts are importing into this emagazine too, which will be publishing widely in PDF emagazine very soon.
http://asmsg-horror-thriller.com/Emagazine/
So, fear not, we will splatter your shite all over the internet. 🙂
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That is what I want, my shite splattered all over the internet! LOL!
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Hi Brian. Love your brutal honesty, and I agree with you. I remember when blogs first started stirring and I was one of those people who posted all my creative insanities that no one ever looked at or really cared about… except maybe this one guy who knew this guy that I knew when I was in 10th grade.
I eventually got sick of that and took down my site. (which back then was pretty cool because I had little games, a chat module and offered script kiddies the option of writing script in their comments… and to think I hosted that site on a dial up connection.)
So then I thought about the word BLOG… Why is it called a BLOG… this is what I came up with BLOG=Boring Lives Of Geeks. (That’s almost and mostly what my blog was about back in 2006)
Since that time I have become a published author and suddenly BLOG is no longer means boring lives of geeks to me. It means working to produce something that people might and almost be interested in. Which is why I seldom host my blog. Instead I let my characters do it for me by talking about the books they’re in.
Btw- Ancient Blood looks like a good read 😉
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Thanks! I appreciate the support. I wanted to post this up as a kind of catch-all disclaimer, since my blog is pretty much all about my writing. I like the idea of having characters write posts about their lives, though, that’s pretty cool! I may have to steal that! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Vampire Syndrome Blog and commented:
I disagree that your blog “sucks,” Brian McKinley! It’s very well done. I must agree, however, that “author” is a much different skill set than “blogger”, and only a relative few authors such as Kristen Lamb have truly mastered the art of “pro-level” blogging. The best strategy for the rest of us is to concentrate on quality over quantity. Blogging at the Kristen Lamb level requires a mastery of various social skills that are NOT necessary for writing great novels (just ask J.D. Salinger!). Even most #1 NYT best-selling authors’ blogs lack the social engagement of Author Kristen Lamb’s Warrior Writers blog (and many of them have less followers than Lamb does!)
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Gotta love brutal honesty. Well, I guess you don’t GOTTA love it…but I appreciate the hell out of it. 🙂
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Thanks! Love hearing from readers! It’s makes my cynical, goal-oriented blogging less cynical and more fun!
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