Should I blog?

[moderntimes]

I'm a novelist and most of my efforts go into my actual writing, not ancillary activities. So for me, my "blog" is a page on my website. And my website isn't breezy and doesn't have all sorts of random stuff. It's instead purposeful: to discuss my mystery novels and give updates on their publication, links for the purchase, and pages containing sample chapters and news about my in-progress novel, too.

So my "blog" page is also not random -- I play around in Facebook or Twitter for that, plus some non-writing forums -- and my blog is also meant for promotion of my writing. And I really don't just gossip there, but I only add to that blog if I've got something new to convey regarding my novels.

So you're correct -- a blog can distract from the author's main work.

[BartMarket]

I think blogging is a good way to help attract new readers, but as others have said above it requires commitment to consistently produce high-quality posts.

If you don't have the time to do it right, I would avoid it. A poorly made blog (not saying that yours would be) would definitely be counterproductive.

[originaloflaura]

I love blogging, and this month I'm trying to update every day (at least M-F), since I want to keep up the habit of writing every day for NaNoWriMo.

I think that as an author, it can definitely help you build your platform and connect with readers, if you take it seriously and publish posts regularly. It's best not to write purely self-promotional posts, so I like to post book reviews of things I'm reading and enjoying (I try to stay away from posting negative reviews!), or bits and pieces that relate to what I'm writing (research usually makes interesting posts, since it may not actually end up in your novels, but offers readers a taste of what you're working on).

Blogging should definitely be FUN, so if you don't like to do it, I would argue it's not worth the time suck. But if you DO, then go for it!

[moderntimes]

Well, for people to read a blog they first have to know your website, right? Or maybe you just post commentary on facebook or twitter?

-- 02 Nov 2015, 13:15 --

Well, my website is focused on my novels and talks about this a lot, and my blog page on my website covers new things.

Mostly, however, I'm too busy with my actual writing to blog every day, just because. People don't want to know what I had for breakfast or what TV show I watched. That would be like keeping a "dear diary" and hiding in my room from mom or dad.

[Simon z]

Yea, I tried blogging for a couple weeks and then lost interest. This is because as pointed above, blogging requires dedication and perseverance to garner a solid audience. It takes the same dedication required to promote a book and can sometimes be a distraction for an author who wants to produce more works. Granted, a lot of writers have learnt to utilise the many potentials blogging has to offer but I'll rather stick to the other social media platforms.

[Richard Falken]

My own website has a news platform. It is a blog, I suppose. People can subscribe to my RSS and follow my software and literary activities. However, for me it is just a way for updating the frontpage quickly while archiving in an automated way older news.

Many want to start a blog in order to gather a fanbase around it. The problem is that, for doing that, you need to keep your blog very active and engaging. Something I have discovered is that people panics when some blog or group is two weeks late releasing the article of the month... gossips about the death of the organitation operating the blog spread very quickly. In order to gather a fanbase around your blog, you have to update it regularly and with good content. Which can be a lot of work if you are trying to build an online presence in more than one platform.

If you are not sure about setting a blog, you probably don't have a very strong reason for doing so - otherwise you would have already set it.

[moderntimes]

Agree, Richard, all good points.

As I said, my website is exclusively meant to market my private eye novels and the blog page there is an update on what's happening with the publisher and so on.

I occasionally post a link to my website on Facebook or Twitter to stimulate possible interest but I generally use social media just for fun. But my website blog is only meant for marketing my novels.

Let's face it -- most people don't need to know what I had for lunch or what movie or TV show I watched. Now for books, I add fave books to my website blog and I also link to other people's sites who are also mystery authors via my Fb or Twit.

I however reserve my website 100% for marketing my books. That way, it's a tax deductible addition on my income filing. Those of you who are actually earning "real" money or hope to soon be doing this, you might consider whether it's a tax-smart thing to mix your book-marketing website with general chatter unrelated to your writing.

[ashvini]

I think blogging is a great way to express opinions. So many things happen everyday, that we feel strongly or care about. Articulating the thought/opinion gives us a chance to analyze it further and blogging about it opens it up to the world to dispute/agree on.

[moderntimes]

All of which is fine, ash, assuming that lots of folks read your blog. But truthfully, why would they? I don't intend to demean you personally -- I'm in the same category -- but let's face it -- neither you nor I nor anyone else here is Stephen King or Rowling and it's unlikely that many people would be interested in my own blog. Or yours. Or anyone else's.

Lemme ask a question to those here in this thread -- when you say "blog" where exactly do you put the actual info in the blog? Do you post it on your own website, is the blog essentially a Facebook post or a post in another social media forum? Where is thie blog so that other folks can read it?

For example, my blog is a page on my own website which I personally wrote and maintain (I'm pretty good with computers and know HTML fairly well). So my website under my registered domain has the main page (called "index" in the lingo) and then there are separate pages for each of my novels, a biography page, a page where you can order the books via Amazon, and a "blog" page to which I add commentary regularly.

Now since my website is specifically purposed to promote and sell my novels, I keep that separate. And so I also post general commentary other places, such as a classical music forum, cat lovers forum, gun forum, and so on, plus Facebook and Twitter, depending on the subject matter.

But frankly, I don't generally post a daily blog. Nobody wants to know what I had for lunch or whether I went to Kroger that day. I think it's a little pompous to imagine that people are eagerly awaiting my daily activity log. Specific commentary on current event or politics, maybe.

[CallMeMissEllis]

I like to use my blog as a way of keeping me on track, it keeps me writing because I update it once a week with my latest writing project. It's also really handy if you have an idea out of nowhere and want to run with it for a little bit and get feedback on it .

[moderntimes]

Okay, I guess my definition of "blog" is different. I thought a blog was a continuing "online diary" which people maintain that contains their thoughts and reflections on all sorts of things, and it's shared with others, maybe family and friends. Or for a well-known person, fans.

If however a "blog" is simply a notebook or scrapbook dealing with ideas and other writing things, and it's not shared with others, then I'm totally mistaken about the definition of what a "blog" is.

For example, I'm working on my 4th novel. I keep an "ideas" file on my desktop (virtual desktop on my trusty HP laptop running Windows) and this ideas file sits next to the actual novel in progress. I type the actual novel's text into one file, but the "ideas" file is for keeping plot concepts, new character descriptions, thoughts about upcoming story lines in the novel, and so on.

Likewise, for all my other writing -- I do book reviews and I'm writing other things, proofreading stuff, this and that -- I might create an "ideas" file for each project, and any passing thoughts or general literary flashes of my immense and superb author's mind (ha ha) are put into a sidebar "keeper" file into which I can dip at leisure so I can access them later.

Will someone set me straight? If the term "blog" insofar as it applies to this thread means a personally saved bunch of ideas and other writing concepts which are later used to write something, and it's not really meant to be shared, then I've been mistaken about what a "blog" is. Up till now I'd thought that a blog was some sort of online file shared with others. My bad.

[CallMeMissEllis]

Oh sorry that's probably my fault! Sorry for confusing you!! It is able to be seen by the public, but I like to use it for a kind of public diary and place to get feedback on ideas as well ) hope that clears it up a little bit!!

[moderntimes]

Sure. My website blog always requests feedback, too. So we're on track here.

How may I ask is your blog made available to others? Do you email them in a CC group mailing, or do you have your own website as I do? Where do blogs which are meant for others to read appear?

And of course I'm asking others here too -- if you "blog" for others to read, how does the blog get disseminated? Thanks.

[doyle5]

I've been wanting to start a blog of my own. I do write for a blog attached to my families business.

But I wouldn't know what to write about.

[moderntimes]

Well, doyle, you have answered your question. It's not "should I blog" but, as was said above, "why should I blog?"

If you can't think of a reason, maybe your writing time would be better spent on another task, like a new short story or magazine article.

I often wonder why some people think it's interesting to others that they had lunch a particular restaurant or went to Kroger that afternoon. Hello? Nobody cares.

Now if you're a person with a fan following, whether you're a writer or musician or actor or scientist or whatever, and there are a bunch of folks who may be interested in your thoughts about a certain subject, then I say blog away. I'm a mystery novelist and my website is specifically dedicated to my novels. And so I have a blog page on that website which I update regularly with news of my writing. This makes sense. (not that I've actually got a huge bunch of fans, ha ha)

You should ask yourself "What is the purpose of the blog?" If it's a "dear diary" thing, then maybe just keeping a diary is the best idea. But if it's to share ideas and info with others, then an internet blog makes more sense.