I really like the roundup of links in today’s Shoutout Sunday. These links pertain to building a solid blog, writer brand, and social media following, specifically Pinterest. These things aren’t thought about as much as, say, editing or drafting, but they’re extremely important, especially if you’re planning to self-publish and have to do almost everything by yourself. Enjoy the links! 🙂

How to Polish Your Writer Brand – This is a guest post on Writerology by Nicole L’autore (how pretty is that name?). I really like the idea of focusing on your personal strengths – I can’t vouch for what it’s like to have a literary agent or a contract with a publishing company, but I can share about drafting, struggling through NaNoWriMo, and figuring out launching a writer’s blog from the ground up.

10 Tips for Starting Your Own Blog – This article was written by my mother, which means I’m not at all biased. However, it is a fantastic article – she’s been blogging since it first became a “thing”, and she has tons of great advice to share!

20 Actions You Can Take to Look Like a Pro Blogger – Yet another Regina article. Don’t hate me, just go read it. I think this was orginally a shorter, older article that she has revamped and updated. And it’s perfection.

How SEO Can Work Wonders for Book Authors – Very helpful article from Midnight Publishing about SEO and making your blog easier to find in search engines. I’ll admit that this isn’t my area of specialty, so I have a LOT of article like this saved under Bookmarks. Now just to study them. 🙂

How I Gained 500 Pinterest Followers in One Weekend – I don’t have a very professional “Writer’s Pinterest”. I spend a lot of time tweeting, and I’m decent at Instagram, but I haven’t tapped the Pinterest market yet, at least not in this regard. But this article from Erin Harding is very encouraging and helpful!