Should You Blog As An Author? Here Are 6 Great Reasons Why
Is it a must for every single author to have a blog?
No, not really… There are many authors out there who are doing well without one. Especially well-known authors who have become household names. Because they have reached that point in their career they don’t have to put in as much effort as up-and-coming authors.
If you’re an upcoming author, having a blog is a great way to put your name out there.
There are so many reasons why you should consider having a blog. From making new connections with readers to establishing yourself as an author with a wider audience who has not come across your book.
Whenever we create a website for a book or for an author, I always go through some of the reasons why it would be beneficial to have blogs.
So, here is our blog post on this…
6 Reasons You Should Start Blogging Even as a New Author
1. Helps solidify your online platform.
Your blogs can be part of your marketing and public relations (PR) strategy. I know the PR part might sound a bit dramatic… but every author has a public image- that is your author identity.
The website is where you put yourself out there for your readers to know more. And, your blogs are what you can use to get people to know you as a writer and your writing abilities.
If you are a self-published author and possibly looking into working with publishers, agents or editors, you can use your blogs to show your creative abilities to people you might want to partner up with.
2. Your blog can attract new readers
You already have readers who know you as an author and are somewhat familiar with your author websites. I am assuming that you have a website where readers can find you and your book. If you don’t, here is some inspiration for your website as an author.
Having a blog will not only allow you to communicate with your current readers but with potential new readers.
I know if I am deciding if I’d enjoy reading books by a certain author, the first thing I generally do is look them up and see if I can find something short they may have written before.
If their blogs and/or short stories are great, then I’m sold on whatever book that comes. This brings me to the next point.
3. Make it your testbed
With a blog, since it can be a short piece of writing, you don’t need it to link with your previous or next blog. This allows you to test different aspects of your writing style or test the storyline of your next book.
Or you can use your blog page for your other types of writings that interest you. For example, if you also write poems or book reviews, this is what you can use it for.
There is no rule of thumb on what type of blogs you can write or what it should look like. Make it your creative space where you try new things and get feedback from your readers.
4. Connect with your readers
Blogs are one of the best ways for you to have a space where you can interact with your readers about various aspects of your writings.
Unlike community pages on different social media platforms, you own the space and are in full control of the creative space. On your own website, you don’t have to compete with other authors or distractions such as ads.
This gives you the ability to fully interact with your readers without any distraction, they can be on your website for as long as possible. You can build a relationship with the audience and will be able to easily get their feedback on your writings when needed.
5. A blog post can be shared.
This is one of my favorite things about blogs, you can share them on your different social platforms and tell people that your blog exists and that it needs to be read.
You can literally share the link on every platform under the sun, and from wherever the person finds the link they will be led back to a pot of gold- that is your writings.
This will also help boost traffic to your site. This is what we do all the time. You write a blog, post that you’ve written a blog and add the link to the blog. And just like that, someone who sees the post and is interested in what you write goes to the link.
And, if they like the blog they will share it with someone else who could potentially read the blog and buy your book.
6. Increase website traffic and visibility
The more you blog the more content there will be on the world wide web for people to see. This means over time your website will get more traffic and will become more visible.
This comes back to SEO, which is all about making changes to your site so that you can easily be found. You can initially set up your website so that when people search for an author in a specific genre your site comes up.
So with more content you publish, you will get more traffic. This means naturally over time as more people know you, you will get more readers who are willing to buy your book.
Blogging will not give you instant results
As great as blogging is, it is not something that will get you results overnight. It requires time and effort, and the impact of your blog posts is only seen over time as you gain traffic to your website.
The more you write the better results you will get. And once you start seeing the results, all the time you put in will be worthwhile.
The blogs you wrote months ago will still work to produce results for you, this is because there will always be someone you who has not read one of your blogs. And someone who has not bought a book but has heard of you will eventually come across a writing piece they will like and that will get sold on buying one of your books.
There’s a blogging style for everyone
Like I said before, there is no one way of writing your blogs and there are different things you can blog about. I’d suggest starting off by focusing on particular topics (such as reviews, short stories, poetry, etc.) or your specific niche.
Here are some ideas for you to choose from:
1. Interviews
If you’ve had interviews on your books or you have given interviews with other authors, writers, or other people within the industry, having those interviews on your blog page will increase your credibility as an author.
You can link to their websites, this will increase traffic to your site. And since they will mention their interview with you to their reader, listeners or fans… this could bring you, new readers.
2. Reviews and opinion pieces
Writing book and movie reviews or even reviews on articles that you came across is a great way of sharing your thought process. You can never go wrong with an honest review or opinion piece.
Book and movie reviews will definitely have book and movie fanatics hooked, they’ll be wanting to read more of what you have to say… especially if they are critics.
3. Short stories
If you feel like you have a sudden flow of creativity that is not enough to write a whole book, then short stories will be the answer.
These are a great way of showing your creative ability to the world. If they enjoy your short stories they will be looking forward to reading your next book.
4. Write on topics related to your hobbies
If you are also into writing poetry, baking, bird watching, etc. the list of great hobbies is endless. You can write content related to your hobbies, this might interest readers as well.
5. Nuggets on characters in your books
Sometimes there are certain characters in your book who you don’t give insight on, especially when it comes to their life behind the main story that unfolds.
Because there is a lot of mystery surrounding these characters, readers would most likely want to know more about them and would be willing to follow up on their unfolding stories in the form of regularly published blogs.
6. News updates
In the process of writing your books, many things happen and often things change and don’t go according to plan. You can use your blogs to keep your readers in the loop at various stages of your book.
Examples of good blog ideas
Maybe these could spark some inspiration on what you would like your blogs to be about. Once you decide, don’t feel like it’s over and that there’s no more going back.
You can always change the direction of your blogs because as you write new blogs, the older ones get archived automatically and only the new ones will appear on the main page.
A Home For Your Blog Online
Of course, you’re going to need an author website to house your blog!
That’s what we do best!
We’ve built websites for million-bookselling authors and debut authors just starting out on their book-writing careers. Feel free to reach out to us to learn more about our author website design services.
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