Thanks to author Molly Greene for this guest post!
As an author, your most important goal is to find readers who become fans and buy your books, right? Well, a good solid author’s website that showcases a great blog can be an excellent vehicle to attract attention and build interest in your writing overall. You are “one of a kind.” Blogging can help differentiate you from other writers. Your unique perspective is individual to only you. Your job is to allow your uniqueness to emerge and have a presence on your blog.
Have you wondered if blogging can move your writing career forward? Do you agonize over what the heck to write about? One approach that addresses both questions is to publish blog posts that showcase similar ideas, voice, and writing style as presented in your fictional work. Every work of fiction incorporates certain non-fiction subjects – historical events, location, careers, hobbies, relationships, mental and emotional states – that you can write about as real world topics in articles on your blog. Craft your posts to mirror your novels to some extent, and ideally readers drawn to your blog will also be drawn to your books – and vice versa.
The challenge is and will always be delivering interesting, timeless, evergreen content that will bring your website visitors back again and again. Here are a few tips to help you accomplish that:
1. Content is king
Whatever your chosen blog topic, make every word count in one way or another. Great content is content that delivers value, and it is the single most important aspect of a successful blog. Evergreen content is even better: Go for posts that are timeless, that will be a good read and a great resource for months – or years – to come. Bottom line, to be successful you must focus on consistently writing good stuff.
2. Get real; be vulnerable
If you’re writing from the heart, make your readers cry. If your style is humor, make them laugh. If your goal is to be educational, by golly, educate. When a writer draws an emotional response from the reader, they’ve done their job, whether it’s provoking thought, laughter, or tears. The very best writers touch a nerve. The technical correctness of your craft is secondary to the reaction factor, although your craft should be sound. Make your blog your own. Be real. Tell the truth. Say something that matters.
3. Make it look effortless
The author should be invisible, which means don’t try too hard. Fancy words do not always make a good read. Posts that are personal and truthful and pertinent will get the most traffic and response. The same rules apply to both blog and fiction: Readers want something they can relate to their own experiences. Great writing is about relatability, about reaching deep and sharing truth. A writer’s first job is to address the human experience in some way, regardless of genre, topic, or style. Our second job is to get ourselves out of the way and make our writing about the reader, not the author. Emote, don’t self-promote!
4. Research your topics
Keep your finger on the pulse and your ear tuned to what’s happening in the world. By that, I mean find a way to passively research your chosen subjects. You can subscribe to lots of blogs and newsletters, set up a StumbleUpon or Alltop account, and rely on Google Alerts to bring the Internet and articles and information relating to your topics to you.
5. Approach your blog as a lesson in awareness
A blog can be a blessing and a burden, but it’s bound to produce growth regardless of your experience. The exercise of creating a 1,000-word post week after week that’s humorous, educational, insightful and/or touching is not a simple task. It forces you to be disciplined, focused, and productive.
You’ll become “that person” who is always on the lookout for content. Good news, though: Inspiration is everywhere, so be prepared. Your neighbors, friends, family, children, co-workers, even strangers will say things in passing that inspire you. So will other authors, bloggers, books, and articles. Your task is to pick apart events and filter all the incoming opportunities into content for your blog. When gazing through your writer’s lens, you will search your conversations and experiences for deeper meaning and significance.
Then you’ll blog about it.
Molly Greene is an author, blogger, and blogging coach with a preference for reading, writing, remodeling, real estate and rural life. Her nonfiction titles include the soon-to-be-released Blog It! The author’s guide to building a successful online brand, and the self-awareness guide, Someone Worth Becoming (July 2013). Molly is working on a second novel, Rapunzel; her fiction debut, Mark of the Loon, is available at major online retailers. Meanwhile, she blogs about her crazy, ever-changing world and self-publishing topics at Molly-Greene.com.
It’s also helpful to make sure people know that you’ll change names to protect the innocent, if necessary. Just so, like, your husband doesn’t stop telling you things because he’s afraid you’ll blog about it… . Not there yet, just saying. 🙂
Laura, I agree. Blogging has actually changed my life. I’m a better writer, a better supporter, a better blogger, a more organized worker bee who has great compassion for others banging away at their keyboards week in and week out because they’re committed to their blogs!
Thank you for that most informative post. Greatly appreciated. As a former Behavior Therapist, and entertainment, I did develope a passion for my chosen professions. I need to do the same for this newly acquired love of writing. You have opened my eyes. Blessings.
Great article! Curious about the ref to 1,000 word blog posts. As a blogger, I learned shorter is better, 250 to 300 words. Do you mean 1000 per post or 1000 words a week spread out?
I’ll let Molly weigh in on this, but for our clients we recommend 250 – 500 – More than that and you may want to bust it in two… We believe this because blogs, like most of what’s on the internet, is “drive by” reading – give ’em lots in small spaces!
Blog article word count is such an interesting discussion! My reference to 1,000 words is the length of post I typically write on my blog. I think it really boils down to your readers, the subject, and the post’s layout. “Scannable” posts that use subheads, images, short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered sections will help readers stay on your blog longer. Just my opinion and I hope that helps!
Another great post, Molly. I especially like the implication that as a blogger, we need to focus our content on subject matter that we are somewhat passionate about, and let that passion show.
Thank you, Larry! I’m thrilled to be a guest on Where Writers Win. And yes, you are so right – how fortunate are we to have the great good luck to identify a handful of topics that we can talk/write about until the wee hours of the morning. Oddly enough, “blogging” is one of those topics for me!
Great post. I agree; content is king–delivered in a straight-forward easy-to-read manner. What I love about blogging is that I have to get an idea from inception to drafting to editing to publishing–quickly and succinctly. It definitely has improved my writing, and the great thing that with great, timeless and pertinent content, hello?! There’s a book in there, too …
Laura