It could be that you plan to write a five-book young-adult series about a dystopian world. Maybe your goal is to write cookbooks or a memoir. If your end aim is to publish books, why should you consider writing for a blog?
It all comes down to publicity.
Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, you as the author will shoulder a lot of the burden of marketing your content. Even big publishing houses expect authors to schmooze and interact with fans. There will need to be somewhere that you can post about your progress, answer questions, and keep readers enthused. Sure, a portion of people love Facebook, but just as many people swear against ever participating in the “Evil Empire”. For every Twitter lover you’ll find ten people who despise Twitter. The solution is to have a wholly independent place for people to find and talk with you.
Make sure your blog has an easy-to-use URL, for all sorts of reasons. Going with something simple like LisaShea.com is best. If you do something long and complex like SweetMedievalRomanceNovelsForKids.com the chance or someone remembering or typing that all in properly is slim to none.
What to post? Post generally on topic, to build up a base of fans interested in that area. If you’re going to write books on gluten-free recipes and living, post all sorts of tips about gluten-free life. If you’re going to write SciFi for young adults, post about books you’ve read in that genre. Post ideas about teleporting or lasers or whatever else strikes your fancy. Those types of posts will draw in like-minded readers who will then enjoy your content.
Definitely post updates about your writing. Readers love to read those. Even if you just got one page written, celebrate your progress. People enjoy cheering you on. If you get stuck, ask for ideas. People love chiming in with thoughts. Even if you really don’t need any ideas, it gets the conversation rolling.
The nice thing about a blog is you can set it to auto-update your Amazon Author Central page, your Goodreads page, and many other locations. By updating in one place you automatically keep a variety of other systems active and posted with content on your topic area. That means you’re more likely to be found by people searching on your topic, and your fan base grows, which then leads to more books selling on launch.
If you’re a writer and don’t have a blog yet, look into setting one up. If you need help, send me a message. I’m happy to lend a hand!
This article was first published by Lisa Shea in the March 2022 issue of the Boston Mensa Beacon.