Question for Blogging Fiction Authors: Where Do You Draw the Line?

[Mark Tullius]

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. I'm new here and would love to get some opinions from fiction authors who also blog. I'm just starting out in both worlds and am wondering how much you reveal regarding your personal life and views on controversial subjects.

I often get the urge to blog about subjects like religion and politics but I hesitate because it will probably cost me fans. I noticed a couple dropping off immediately after a recent post regarding Brightside's sexuality. Is it best to hope your messages come across through your books? If so, what kind of things do you write about?

Thanks.

Mark

[Mark Tullius]

Hi Amre. I just finished it http://marktullius.com/2012/11/how-i-explained-the-number-of-kdp-fr...

Be sure to check out the link to Rachelle's article and I'd also recommend checking out http://www.thecreativepenn.com/marketing/ Hope it helps.

My next post regarding the free days will discuss what it did for sales and visibility. 

Mark

[C. M. Albrecht]

Heh heh. Since I don't have any fans, I blog about religion and TV to my heart's content. I realize there's a market for freak shows. Always has been, but in the past the pretty-much confined them to side-shows. Now every time we change the channel, it's another freak show. People who drink their urine, people who save their urine to fertilize the tomatoes, people who don't believe in cars, people who believe in cars, but only if they're unadorned black, polygamists, murderers, trash collectors and people with houses full of untended animals; tattooed wonders, lizard people... The worst offender is TLC but others are getting on the bandwagon. Even National Geographic, once a proud institution, now works with the bottom feeders.

Wow, you shouldn't have got me started. You can check my blog at http://www.cmalbrecht.wordpress.com for more jeremiads and tirades. If you have a following, you may lose a few fans, but if you've (as the Captain would say:) "got your mind right", you don't want those fans anyway. Good luck and good blogging. 

[Mark Tullius]

You're completely right about the freak shows. It helped remind me just how important it is for us as writers to find our niche. Maybe it won't be urine drinkers but if we think long enough I'm guessing we can all find a group of people who will really respond to what we're writing. I checked your blog and enjoyed the World Fanaticism post. There are tons of people out there who would appreciate that, just a matter of finding them. Best of luck, thanks for the feedback.

Mark