How Blogging Can Help Authors Reach an Audience
You’ve heard of blogs, but do you know what they are and why writers need them? Whether you’re published or unpublished, blogging can help you to reach an audience. A blog provides writers with a platform to display their writing style, voice, and personality.
What is a Blog?
A blog is a site on the internet that a blogger manages. The blogger publishes content through blog posts. A decade ago, blogs were viewed as online personal diaries that shared the blogger’s thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Though some continue to use blogs for this purpose, blogs have evolved.
Today, many bloggers use their blogs to gain an audience, become influential, and earn income. Unlike commercial companies that have blogs and offer products, services, and advice to their clients, personal blogs add a personal element to the services offered.
Because of the increased popularity of blogs, it’s no surprise there are millions of them on the World Wide Web. Though reports vary, according to SoftwareFindr, at least 400 million blogs exist. Statista states that in the United States alone “In 2015, 28.3 million internet users updated a blog at least once per month. The number of bloggers in the United States is set to reach 31.7 million users in 2020.”
Why Authors Should Have a Blog
A blog can connect unpublished writers with fans who may become a ready-made market for future books. It also provides another outlet, outside of traditional queries, for agents and editors to find potential authors.
One example of this success is Jill Smokler who founded the parenting site Scary Mommy in 2008. Smokler created her blog to chronicle her life raising kids through the lens of “parenting doesn’t have to be perfect.” Her unapologetic posts on imperfect parenting resonated with parents, catapulting her blog’s popularity. Publishers noticed. In 2012, Galley Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, published Confessions of a Scary Mommy. The book featured a collection of Smokler’s blog essays and became a New York Times bestseller.
A blog allows published authors to engage with fans, thus helping to create a loyal readership. Authors can use their blogs to reinforce their brand which may lead to sales. They can also directly sell their books on their site in addition to through traditional retailers. Authors can use their blogs to announce exciting news, like upcoming tours and books to come. For these reasons, many publishing houses recommend that authors have a blog. Publishing is a business, and publishers want to sell books. Authors who can help them to achieve this goal will stand out.
Authors should make sure their blog contains a balance of promotional and non-promotional posts. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re reading one advertorial after another. Children’s author Grace Lin does a good job of this on her blog. She posts regularly, which keeps readers coming back. While she does list her books with links to purchase them, she also offers crafts and recipes that relate to her
books. This cohesive branding strategy is something publishers look highly upon and readers appreciate.
Blogging is a Journey
Creating a popular blog that attracts an audience, including publishers, doesn’t happen overnight. It requires dedication and creativity mixed with strategy and consistency. Stay tuned for more articles on blogs and authors.
This post was written by Maria Adcock and originally posted in the SCBWI Kid LIt News/Newsletter: Summer Edition ©All rights reserved. All content is copyrighted ©2019 The SCBWI Long Island NY. SCBWI.org. Kid LIt News is a quarterly and educational newsletter of the Long Island, New York region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the international organization for professionals in children’s publishing.