What Does Your Byline Say About Your and Your Blog?

April 27, 2007 | By Lorelle VanFossen | Filed Under Blogging

What does your author credit or byline say about you and your blog? Have you thought about it?

The author credit or “byline” is the line featuring the author’s name on the post. It is usually found under the post title or in the post meta data section of a blog post.

In Lorelle is the Author of Lorelle on WordPress, I shared the shock of thinking of myself as an “author” on my blog for the first time:

Okay, so sometimes I’m ahead of the game keeping you informed of what is happening in the “now” of WordPress and blogging, but this is a thought I come late to the game with: You are a published author if you have a blog.

Did you make this “published” and “author” connection?

I’m a writer. I’ve published so many articles in so many mediums, I’ve lost count. I’ve also written books and have been dealing with book publishers on and off for years. But the thought that I’m the author of this blog, and the rest of my websites and blogs, caught me by surprise.

It also made me sit up and think about the responsibilities of being an author.

I still struggle with the label “author” on my blogs. I’m the writer, publisher, cook, chef, and bottle-washer, but author - ah, nope. That’s still a hard title for me to bear. But it is one of the labels used to define a blogger on their blog.

A fellow blogger recently told me she liked “contributed by”. She told me that her blog is her way of “contributing to society” and making the world a better place. She chose her introduction words for that reason. It didn’t just come with her blog.

Many introduction words come with the blog’s design. And few pay attention to it. Do you? Do you know what yours says? Have you given it much thought to what it says, or doesn’t say, about you?

The most common phrase for “announcing” the author of a post is:

By Ivana B. Goodenov

It’s fairly safe and doesn’t mean much. Some just use their name with no byline introduction. Another blogger said it was like a signature to them. Their stamp and seal of approval.

Other popular introduction words are:

I find most of these to be pretty innocuous, showing activity and contribution without a lot of responsibility. The word “author” to me carries a huge responsibility. Does it for you?

Which terms do you prefer on your blog?

Lorelle VanFossen blogs about blogging and WordPress on .


About the author: The author of Lorelle on WordPress, as well as several other blogs, Lorelle VanFossen has been blogging in one fashion or another for over 14 years, covering travel, nature and travel photography, web design, web theory and development, blogging, and WordPress extensively as web technologies developed. Lorelle is also the author of the fast-selling book, Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging, available in the new Blog Herald Bookstore.

© Copyright 2007 The Blog Herald | Submit post to Blogosphere News | More articles by Lorelle VanFossen


Comments

6 Responses to “What Does Your Byline Say About Your and Your Blog?”

  1. Stephen Glauser on April 27th, 2007 10:43 am

    For a while I was using “Published by…” but have since switched to the much simpler and ‘correct’ “Written by…” on all of my blogs. I’m still a little unsure of what I will end up using down the line, as I start more and more blogs.

  2. pelf on April 27th, 2007 11:31 am

    Couldn’t agree more with you on this, Lorelle. I think the word “Author” carries a lot of responsibilities, considering a lot of us blog “recreationally” instead of “bring a professional author”.

    And I wouldn’t want any “introduction words” on my blog if not for the fact that my younger sister sometimes guest-blogs on my blog, and I want to be able to differentiate posts written by me and by my sister :)

  3. Terry Ng on April 27th, 2007 12:02 pm

    We use “Article by” on Kineda.

  4. Lorelle VanFossen on April 27th, 2007 5:37 pm

    Pelf, good point. Some blogs don’t feature ANY name for the author of the post. We work so hard on defending and “owning” our words as our personal expression, and yet we don’t put any name, even a nickname or pen name, on many of our blog posts. Excellent point.

  5. John Winslow on April 30th, 2007 5:46 am

    Posted By

  6. nathanr|ca » Blogging Is Not About You on June 6th, 2008 4:23 am

    [...] blog is not about you. Sure, it starts out about being about what you want. About what messages you want to send. About [...]

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