Why Blog as a Writer? And Why Not:

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I love blogging, and would like to have a 48-hour-day, so that I can pursue it more often. My blogs include not only publishing and book marketing topics, but aviation topics, gardening, travel in Canada and worldwide.  They are also my basis of posts and tweets on social media – and even for my non-fiction books.

A blog is one of the most valuable tools to show you and your work to readers. Your blog is part of your platform and your author brand.  Your blog has endless benefits, such as higher “Search Engine Ranking” on Google, better visibility, and to separate you from mainstream writers. Several Blog reader surveys found that blogs are building trust, and are influencing buying decisions.
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Blogs are an essential tool of any writer.  Not only does it get you writing on a regular schedule, it lubricates your writer’s brain, eases the fear of putting yourself out there in the world.
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1. Top Authors are Blogging
Top author blogs include those of fantasy authors Neil Gaiman or J.A. Konrath, spirituals Paulo Coelho, Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, and business authors Tim Ferriss and Malcolm Gladwell.  They all have sold millions of copies, yet they still blog for fun and in order to sell their books, then we should definitely do the same!
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2. Blogging is Your Exercise in Writing
Every artist needs to practice, practice, practice…  Musicians need to play hundreds – if not thousands – of pieces, before they can even think about playing in front of an audience.  Same is true for any other kind of art, and also sport.  Athletes who want to attend a competition, let alone the Olympics, need to exercise 40 to 80 hours a week (often beside their work or studies).  Blogging is an author’s “training”, actually an easy one, as the book’s content or experiences of their writing or new things they learned can go into their articles.
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3. A Blog is Not Only Pure Writing
New blog posts do not necessarily be a written articles, as explained in: Why Blogging Sells Your Book.

  • Photos, Videos, Podcasts,
  • Snippets from your book
  • Slide-Shares, info-Graphics, lists
  • Polls / Surveys
  • Re-blogging, curating other blog posts
  • Introductions or single chapters of your upcoming books
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4. Your Blog: A Marketing Essential
Your blog, along with a newsletter and website, are the best ways to build a list of online followers, you can introduce your work to an ever-widening circle of readers.  Not only is blogging great for updating contacts about new events and what you are currently writing, but they are also perfect for helping your website rank higher.
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5. More Visitors With New Content
With constantly updated content, you will for sure receive more visitors to your blog than a website.  These visitors can easily be lead to visit your actual website with a link at the top left “Visit my Author Site”.  Blogging increases excitement about your future books, and enlists “your fans” to help spread the word.
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6. You Need a Blog to Support Your Book.
Last, but not least: Your blog facilitates networking with your peers and readers, and makes you focus on your author brand and how you want your work to be known.  Blogging is content writing  and content marketing, and much better than advertising.
Why You Should Not Blog:

  • The “make money blogging” dream is one that rarely works out.  Ads and affiliate revenue are not coming easily-  and not fast.  In most cases you need first several hundreds of blog posts and have a name in a niche, and a huge audience that supports you.
  • Don’t expect that writing a blog has a significant immediate impact on your book sales, or your freelancing revenue.

Trust is a rare and valuable commodity on the Internet. You can’t buy trust or a reputation as a writer.  It has to be earned by demonstrating your commitment to your readers – for example by blogging.

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