A blog is a content driven website created by an individual or a group of individuals. Generally these sites require no fees. Many authors create blogs to enhance book sales. You don’t have to be published to start one. Building a faithful blog readership may lead to book sales in the future, a worthy goal for any author. One of big goals of an author’s blog is to attract and audience and keep them.
Why does an author need a blog? Author blogs work in a number of ways. First, they can connect content with “fans”. Second, they can have a wider audience in mind, such as other authors, publishing professionals, book buyers and fans too. In these blogs, authors mix in reviews of other books and interviews of other authors with their devoted fan content. A few authors have “meme” driven blogs. Their blogs center on the propagation of “viral” ideas. These ideas leap quickly across the web and bring in a vast amount of interest. A successful “meme” blog will generally have the largest audience, but is one of the most difficult to successfully create.
Blogging is often a shared activity. A huge advantage to group blogging is the ability to draw in more readers. Group blogs have specific advantages beyond an expanded audience. One advantage of group blogs is flexibility. Since a group is shared, not as much responsibility falls on one individual. If someone is ill, or has an emergency, one of the other members can cover for the occupied member. A group blog is also a great choice for someone who wants to build a web presence with a little less time commitment.
Now for some nuts and bolts about blogging. Sites like Blogger and WordPress are the most popular host sites of blogs. Blogger is very simple to use but lacks the versatility of WordPress. In turn WordPress’s complexity may require an expert’s help. Most blogs include a blog post archive, a way to display followers, a short description of the author, and a list of similar blogs that may be of some interest for readers. Blogging is a time intensive activity and isn’t for everyone, especially if you tend to have a very erratic schedule or perhaps you have very little time for writing activity. Blogging may steal too much valuable time away from the “meat and potatoes” part of your writing work. Blogging might not fit your creative process and add unneeded stress to your life. Blogging may not give you the editing time, the processing time, and researching time you need to create master works.
In the end, you don’t have to blog, but it can help you. Think about your audience and consider if blogging might be a good fit for you. A blog is a good way to build a readership. Consider it.