Do you desire to be an author, then start blogging

I’m amazed at how many writers, still don’t have a blog.

Seth Godin does, Amy Poehler does,  David Brin does and so does Diana Gabaldon, E.Lockhart and Deborah Harkness.

So what do these writers all have in common? They are all authors, and smart authors have blogs, but why? I’m sure each writer has their reasons, but I notice one common theme, it’s a great marketing tool for their body of work.

So what’s really happening leading up to a book launch:

1. As the book nears publication, emphasis turns toward marketing
2. You hear blogging is a great marketing tool
3. So you setup a blog and then…

It’s just you and the sound of crickets…

So what when wrong? 

In this case what you are actually doing is creating a Marketing Landing page, that you need to direct traffic to. Alternatively, if you had of established your blog before starting to write the book, you are more likely to have readers and potential customers by the time it’s finished.

Don’t leave the decision to start a blog, until the last minute because you’ll be wasting your time. Plus, Book Publishers want to know that you already have a strong following before they take a chance on an unknown author. Your blog audience and social media presence will be very important if you are going down the traditional publishing route. And even more important if you plan to self-publish.

However, there is a more important reason why you want to have a blog, it’s the way to keep your writing muscle alive. You see if you want to be a great writer then you need to write. Seth Godin publishes to his blog everyday, without fail. He has a writers streak that can only be described as AMAZING and at a recent conference he mentioned that Isaac Asimov also had a long writing streak.

Apparently, Isaac Asimov would wake up, sit at his desk and write until 12 noon everyday, without fail. Is it any wonder he wrote over 500 books in his life time, surely there is a lesson in that for all of us.

When you write every day you become a writer, when you write every other day you just write – Tweet

Now, Isaac Asimov surely didn’t have the time for a blog did he? I was surprised to find out he did, but as the Editorial Director on a website that was dedicated to his craft. We all need blogs, even if it’s just a way to sell our books. But until you have books to sell, you can still use your blog to keep your writing streak alive.

Do you wake up some days with writers block, and just can’t seem to get motivated to write, just a few more pages of your book?

Maybe self doubt is kicking in and you are wondering if anyone will ever read it anyway. So you take a day off from writing and then the next day you use the same excuse and before you know it, it’s been a week since you last wrote anything? Well maybe you need a blog to keep that writers streak alive.

You see writing on a blog is much easier than writing a book, because a blog post doesn’t need to start where the last one ended, or finish where the next one will start. A blog gives you the creativity to write what you want, and is great for keeping your writing streak alive, when that storyline for your book has seemingly reached a dead end.

It’s important to keep writing, somewhere. Anywhere.

Now, have you ever wondered what your readers are really going to think about your book?

Does your ideas need validation?

Well if you had a blog, which had attracted the type of readers who like your style of writing, then you have the perfect place to validate your work.

Let me explain a little further…

Let’s say you had started writing a book and weren’t sure where the central characters were heading, so you need storyline validation. Do you let a friend read the draft to see if it’s OK, does she even like the type of writing you do? Well the readers of your blog would.

Try publishing an excerpt from the book, to see what they think. Perhaps run it in a series over the whole week, and encourage feedback. Are you brave enough?

You see eventually you’ll need to show your work to the world, so wouldn’t it better if you already qualified that it resonates at least with a few of your readers? Wouldn’t that validation make you feel like writing more? A blog is surely a must have for a serious writer.

Remember if you look after the quantity of writing, the quality is bound to be in there somewhere.  Then your problem will be just finding a great editor.

Are you on a writing streak? If so please let me know on Twitter @diyblogguy or Face Book.

I like you, so please