Traditional wisdom states that if you are an author, you should have a blog to attract readers to your work. The experts tell you to write about your characters, plots, world-building, how your novel is coming along and don’t forget to toss in a little about your cat. Now, I can already hear you moan:
“Where is the traffic?”
“Writing a blog is hard!”
“Isn’t blogging a dead end?”
“Nobody cares about my book before I publish it.”
And you would be right on all accounts.
Blogging about a novel when no one knows who you are is a wasted activity. If you are not publishing your story as a serial, few will care about plotlines or characters. The only people that might be interested are your fellow writers. They may visit, but will they buy and read your book? Probably not.
Who you want to attract are the readers of your genre. They are your target audience, not other writers, family, and friends. The key to a successful writer’s blog is to write about content that is related to your genre and keep the personal angst off your platform. Be entertaining, but offer your readers content that relates to their interests. Then make sure to make it easy for them to purchase your book. You don’t need to blog every day. Once a week or even once a month is enough to get started. I have settled on blogging three times a week; but if I miss a day now and then, I don’t sweat it.
I am a science fiction and fantasy author. My writer’s blog is a mixture of posts. I write interviews with up and coming science fiction/fantasy authors and reviews of classic science fiction novels. My flash fiction and illustrated scifaiku poetry offer examples of my personal writing. On Monday I do a link-list of articles about the craft of writing. These articles are geared toward my genre or items that simply interest me personally, such as fountain pens and handwriting.
My first year blogging, I was excited if I had four or five visitors stop in on a given day. Slowly, the traffic to my blog has increased. Five years later, No Wasted Ink has around two thousand subscribers directly via WordPress. When I publish a story as a guest poster or in a magazine, the other place always reports plenty of traffic from my blog to their website. Likewise, when I published my first book, I announced it on my blog via a post, and this was enough to drive a decent number of online sales. The authors I interview on the blog report an increase in sales and traffic on their own sites.
Here are a few blogging ideas on related topics based on genre:
Science Fiction
Readers of science fiction love science and new technology. You could develop blog posts about scientific developments and how they relate to people. You could write reviews about classic science fiction books or films.
Mystery
Readers of mystery love the process of finding clues. Write posts about forensic techniques, true crime stories ripped from the newspaper, interesting ways for the police to capture and detain criminals.
Romance
You could do travel posts about romantic villas. Talk about the latest episodes of The Bachelor! Maybe you could follow the 10 eligible men in the world or the latest beauty queens.
Historical
Research the places of the era you write about. Talk about the customs and clothing of the time period. Find interesting stories locked away in crumbling (online) newspapers from the Victorian era. Write museum tours of the era you focus on.
Blogs do work. Don’t give up on the idea too soon. They are an important part of your author platform.
No Wasted Ink 
I really loved this post. I’ve been considering starting a blog…really, I should have already done it … but I’m not sure where to begin. This has given me the push I obviously needed. Thanks. Wish me luck. 🙂
I’m glad you found the post useful. The best day to start your author’s blog is today. 🙂 Always. Don’t be daunted. After awhile keeping up with the blog will be like second nature. 🙂
What about psychological thrillers or adult fiction? I love your ideas about genre posts.
I don’t write thrillers or adult fiction. I included examples of genre that I’m more familiar with. I’m glad you liked them. 🙂
Hi Wendy, and yeah, I echo your thoughts here…blogging is not easy!
When I first started my blog, I way underestimated how much time it would take to write thoughtful, well-conceived posts. And do it without simply rambling…. no one wants to read ramble!
Last month I was recruited to write blog-tours, so I tried it. Also time-consuming, but my first went well and gave me something concrete to blog about. Makes it a lot easier!
Now I can pick and chose which books from the recruiter’s list I want to go on tour for and keep my posts in my chosen genre, crime-fiction and noir, all at the same time. I think it will also increase my traffic eventually.
Oh, I still owe you a guest post on craft. Haven’t forgotten, just had a crazy month. Between getting a couple stories picked up, ( (https://shortmystery.blogspot.com,) and the blog tour and all, it’s been nuts.
But if you still want one, I could do this month!
Cheers,
Lisa
I tried blog tours when I first started No Wasted Ink, but I found that in a short time, I had plenty of authors coming to me directly for interviews and all my book reviews are of classic science fiction or fantasy novels. I think that blog tours is a great way to start though! I wish you the best with that. 🙂
We can talk more about your blog post privately, but yes, I still would like an article from you if you are able to get one in. 🙂
Here’s a better link, goes straight there…
https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2018/06/short-story-month-bonus-lisa-clarfella.html
Cheers all,
Lisa
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this post from the No Wasted Ink blog on the topic of better blogging topics for authors.
Reblogged this on Anna Dobritt — Author.
Great ideas to encourage new bloggers and some good ideas for those of us already blogging, Wendy. 🙂
Thanks DG. I’m glad that this article has been well received. 🙂
🙂
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
Reblogged this on When Angels Fly.
I tend to lean towards a comic approach on life and the struggles we all face. It’s not intentional. It just happens. That’s how I wrote my first novel. The unreliable narrator describing his everyday life. That’s how I write my blog.
Before I started I had to be honest. If my plan was to do this long term the only way that could happen would be to write about things that I’d want to read.
I’n not a teacher. I’m not a preacher. I simply like to talk about things that happens in our lives and that’s how I write books. So far my traffic has grown. Every week I get a new follower.
On an interesting note: I’ve learned to stop trying to figure out stats. For reasons I can’t explain I’m a huge hit in Australia and Canada. I’ll take it!
I have a person from Lebanon, Hong Kong and India who drop by regularly. Because of that I owe it to them to write the best I can.
Excellent topic. Thank you.
Some great tips there. Thanks
I’m glad you liked them. 🙂