Blog Shout Out - David Wailing

In this week's blog shout out we visit David Wailing's blog, I've read a few of his books and they're worth checking out as well. To add to his talents he's also a skilled editor, you can find details of that on his blog as well.

I had no choice when it came to blogging. When you officially become an indie author and get your special badge (the one that gives off warning klaxons and alerts sensible people that you’ve entered the room), it’s in the small print. You are hereby required to set up a blog and talk about yourself all the time. “Hey, I’m sure I can do that easily enough, don’t you think?” I said to the empty room.

Although I’m not the most prolific blogger in the world – or even in my street, her at number 26 blogs about her bowel movements – I have found it to be a useful platform. Over the past couple of years, it’s been a good way to ‘set out my stall’ as an author, alongside other online avenues like my Facebook page and Twitter account. The advantage of a blog is it’s flexible enough to handle more complex messages, from announcements about new work to short essays.

Alongside the standard news update posts, I write semi-regular book reviews which are often for the work of my fellow indie authors. There’s a hell of a lot of talent out there and every review helps raise awareness of it! But I’ll also feature a more mainstream book if I’ve enjoyed it and sometimes even classic authors such as Isaac Asimov.

Most of my longer articles look at the background behind my Auto Series, which is all about how social media will evolve in the near future. This includes asking who actually controls the internet, how personal data assistants will soon evolve into ‘autos’, and what Facebook will be like in ten years time. The digital world is so fast-moving that I can see the roots of the future I’m writing about very clearly in the news stories of today. It’s unsettling to read that something I’ve predicted is actually happening!

Probably my favourite post was the one inviting everyone to a virtual launch party to celebrate the release of my first Auto novel. Mainly because it led to a fantastic and hilarious day with dozens of people around the world, using our imaginations to have a crazy imaginary party on Facebook! I can heartily recommend this as a way of drumming up interest and giving your readers a good time while also promoting your work.

In terms of popularity, it’s perhaps inevitable that the posts advertising freebies and promotions are usually those with the highest number of viewers. This inspired me to create a new section on my blog specifically for free eBook downloads. Readers can nab some of my short stories and even a whole novel for free in whatever format they prefer.

Next year I plan to set up a brand new blog for my freelance editing business. This will offer tips on English usage, advice for writers, and articles on the nuts and bolts of proofreading and editing. It’s also likely to be riddled with rants about how much I hate semicolons and my personal crusade to stop them infecting literature like some kind of nasty punctuation virus… (Time for your special sweets, Mr Wailing.)

But at the moment, my author blog will continue promoting my fiction, reviewing books and offering the occasional article about our ever-changing world. I might not be as regular as her at number 26, but hopefully my blogs won’t go down the pan as often as hers do.

Blog link: www.davidwailing.com