[Inspired by my
annual Virginia pilgrimage with the boys, this year’s series has focused on
AmericanStudying interesting places in the Commonwealth. Leading up to this
special weekend post on my presentation at the Historical Writers
of America conference in Williamsburg!]
Last weekend I
had the chance to present on “Building
a Public Scholarly Career through Short-Form Online Writing” at the HWA
Conference in Colonial Williamsburg. I didn’t get to attend as much of the
conference as I would have liked (for a very good reason—touring Jamestown and Williamsburg with
the boys!), but I did also get to hear one great session before my own. So here
are three takeaways from that session and my own:
1)
Making Connections: The other session I attended
was led by Shari Stauch,
the creator and CEO of the website Where
Writers Win. Shari’s talk focused on strategies for building readership
through targeting what she calls industry influencers, and although she was
talking specifically to authors of fiction, I found most of her suggestions
highly relevant for my own books and public scholarly career. For example,
Shari highlighted the role that the presidents of state
Library Assocations play in contributing to the programs and activities at
public libraries across a state, and thus suggested contacting those officials
in order to help set up readings and talks; I’ll definitely be doing so when my
next book comes out later this year. An audience member chimed in with a similar
idea for state
Humanities Councils, which have speaker bureaus that authors can apply to
be part of. All ideas that any and all writers should consider as we work to
reach audiences and enter conversations.
2)
The Varieties of Online Writing: I structured my
talk around three sub-genres of short-form online writing with which I’ve
worked in the last few years—personal scholarly blogging (duh), writing for
scholarly sites such as We’re
History, and writing for more public sites such as Talking
Points Memo and The
Huffington Post. Preparing and giving the talk helped me really think
through those different sites and sub-genres in a more analytical way than I
previously had, and I was able to identify some interesting distinctions and
their effects on my writing as a result. For example, for We’re History
contributors are asked to minimize hyperlinks (combined to my heavy reliance on
them in posts here), and that leads to a form of writing in which I include
more info and contexts in the pieces themselves, rather than linking to such
materials as I often do in this space. For another example, for the public
sites I’m often asked to write shorter paragraphs than the 250-or-so-word ones
in posts here, which leads to writing that hits key points while leaving
sub-topics or supporting evidence more implied than explicitly addressed. All
aspects of this gig about which I’ll keep thinking, aided by the HWA talk and
my conversations with the audience members there.
3)
I Need You: Or, more exactly, your comments! At
my talk, one of the audience members asked who comes to the blog, what draws
them there, what they find, and the like, and I had to admit that I often am
not sure. Blogger’s statistics give me a good sense of how many views I get,
where around the world you all come from, and whether you arrive here through
searches or other websites. But I’d sure love to hear more about who you are,
what you’re looking for and/or finding here, and any thoughts or responses you’d
share, whether on particular posts/series or on the blog as a whole. So if you
have a chance to share any such thoughts in comments (or, if you prefer, by email), I’d very much
appreciate them. Thanks!
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Lessons for online, historical, or other forms of writing you’d highlight?
Or, one more time, care to say hi in comments?!
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