Writers Need a Blog

No matter what you’ve heard, the intention of most writers’ blogs is to create a professional looking online presence to assist in gaining interest from people in the publishing industry.  You see, blogging is part of a writer’s platform.  If you’re not sure what a platform is, check my last blog post.

I started blogging to be able to say in all honesty that I did everything in my power to get published.  Though it would have been prudent to check all options, I went directly to Blogger.  In truth, I’m envious of a lot of other blog templates, namely Wordpress.  If you’re thinking of starting up a blog, do your research.  Don’t be shy about asking for advice if you see a writer’s blog that you really love.  Writers are extremely supportive of each other. 

Research indicates that it is imperative to post at regular intervals to keep your followers’ interest, and it’s equally important to know your audience.  I chose to post every Monday morning but I had no idea about my audience.  I didn’t have a clue where to begin.  The description of my blog became Musings of a Writer.  That enabled me to write about a variety of topics. 

Visitors to a blog can tell a lot about the writer by the information provided on their site and the tone of the posts.  I guarantee that a regular follower of your blog will know you as well as they’d know a friend. 

Your blog is a good place to showcase your published short stories or excerpts from novels.  You are building your identity with readers.  I provided links on my blog to some of my early online-published stories.  Recently, after reading a couple of them, I took them off the site.  Hopefully, that means my writing has improved.  However, they still make a presence on my Bloggers stats.  People are still reading and enjoying them.  Stats don’t actually show that they are being enjoyed, I made up that part. 

Speaking of stats, I think mine are crazy.  No way could my blog have had that many hits.  Probably 90% spammers.  Everything I’ve read says not to pay attention to numbers.  Whether it’s hits on your blog or Likes on your Facebook page.  Fehghedabouddit.  Stats are not to be believed.  That’s another thing for bloggers to accept – there are a number of occurring and recurring technical difficulties.  L

In my opinion, there are more pros than cons to having a blog.  Over a year ago, one of my posts (an interview with an author) led to a monthly magazine column.  In the last few months, a portion of the magazine has been available online.  These links to my columns are now on my blog site.  Just in case you check them out, this is a smart-ass opinion column and not at all, I repeat, not at all indicative of my writing style for my crime/suspense novels.    

Admittedly, on my blog site I have provided short stories that could be greatly improved and magazine columns that are not an example of my writing style.  It sounds like I’m instructing writers on how not to set up their blog sites.

Here’s more advice from someone who would rather write a novel than a blog post.

Stay focused and Keep your eye on the goal ... then you’ll have something to blog about J