Having published her own book, Snappy Social Networking: How to Dominate the Blogosphere & Everything in Between, Summer Lane loves to connect with other authors online.

She reviews both young adult and new adult fiction on her blog, Writing Belle. A lover of indie and self-published books, she spends a lot of time reading books from such authors.

Miss. Lane has even gone as far as turning the dreadful Monday into something fire-filled and fantastic!

Read below and see how Miss. Lane accomplished such a feat. It will inspire you to create something unique for your own blogs.

Straight from the author’s mouth: Writing Belle, Indie and self-published authors welcomed

Can you tell me about your blog and the objective you hoped to achieve?

I started my blog, Writing Belle, last year because I wanted to create a public platform for myself as an author, but I also wanted to connect with other people who were excited about writing and publishing. The purpose of my blog is to accomplish three different things: to talk about the art of writing and surviving in the publishing business, to review books (especially self-published books), and to have fun!

Can you talk about Indie Mondays?

Sure! Indie Mondays is something I created with the purpose of spotlighting self-published and indie-published authors. I spend a lot of time reading indie books, and I think self-publishing is well on its way to becoming the way for an established author. You don’t have to be dependent on big-time publishing houses because of the Internet, the Kindle, the Nook, the blogosphere, Twitter, and all sorts of other incredible tools at your fingertips. I love self-published books – and I feature them pretty much every Monday on Indie Monday!

As a book reviewer, what do you look for when you consider reviewing a book?

I look for uniqueness and category. I generally review Young Adult and New Adult – and occasionally a memoir or biography if I like the subject matter. I won’t review erotica because that’s just not me – but I adore romance within the YA and NA categories. I also love the author who can look beyond the Edward/Bella storyline and create an entirely new story. Liz Long, Richelle Mead, Colleen Houck, Summer Day, are all authors who are both bestselling or self-published…and their stories are all unique.

I love your blog design, what inspired it?

Thank you! When I first started my blog, I didn’t even know how to center my header – let alone create one. Today my inspiration is summer vacation. I basically like to change my blog design along with the shifting seasons. My mom also taught me to love shabby chic antiques, so I use those colors (minty greens, pale pinks, turquoise blues) on my blog, too.

How did you get your blog started and how long did it take before you saw results?

I started it by accident, to be honest. When I was in High School I had named my blog Writing Belle, but I forgot about it for a few years. After I finished my first semester of college I decided to play around with it – and it quickly became clear to me that it was an amazing platform for anybody interested in writing or publishing. I would say it took about three months before I started getting lots of traffic and involvement from the blogging community.

What are some tips?

Three things: Consistency, consistency, consistency! It’s important to keep posting on a regular basis. Readers want to have fresh, updated information – especially in a world where trending topics on twitter shift literally every 2 minutes. Also, interact with as many other bloggers as possible. Build those friendships. It’s the single best way to become successful.

If you could share a bit of wisdom with aspiring authors who desire to create a successful blog, what would it be?

Be true to yourself. It sounds kind of weird – this is blogging, not high school after all – but as you blog, you’ll find that there is some pressure to do what everybody else is doing on their blogs, from interviews to features. It’s being unique that will make your blog highly successful. I wrote a book about being a successful blogger called Snappy Social Networking: How to Dominate the Blogosphere & Everything in Between. But the most important thing of all is to have fun. I have met people from all over the world because I started blogging, and I’m enjoying every minute of it!

Related articles

• Book reviewers needed? Connect with Summer Lane (lawreigns.com)