Is Blogging Worth It for Authors?

[Ned Marcus]

It's not just about selling your book, it's about selling yourself as an author. You have a series of books? Put them all up! Write about why you wrote the book, what inspired you. Talk about yourself so that a reader who read one book feels more connected and willing to try another, maybe from a different series...

The notion that you have to write every day or twice a week or whatever to call it a "blog" is nonsensical. Write however often you feel like adding content...

In my experience, it was easier to add content and build a regular readership for non-fiction than it has been for fantasy. People were already looking for the non-fiction materials that I posted mini-articles on. That made it a lot easier to be "discovered", and to leverage the blog or website to promote sales. For fantasy, the blog or website is really more of a landing site right now: a way to connect with readers and hopefully encourage them to buy subsequent books.

I think the selling yourself part is important, and something I'm trying to do, but it takes time to learn how to do it. I agree with the second point, too, but I think it's useful to be regular, as I mentioned before. Certainly agree with your point about nonfiction. I also write nonfiction (and have a separate website for it) and it's so much easier to think what to write, and much more SEOable (if that can be a word).

I'm not sure how I missed your post before (I must have been in a rush the day I posted), but some good points.

 

[Susan Gourley]

I've been a consistent blogger for over ten years. I've found an entire network of bloggers who will promote my work when I have a new book published. It does take some time, but I've been at it so long that I know what I want to write. I have at least two guests per month so my fellow bloggers can promote their own work. I enjoy reading the blogs of writers I enjoy like Michael J. Sullivan.
But...you have to enjoy blogging to make it work. If you hate it, better to spend your time on other social media. Also, a good blog can fill in as your website. Marketing is hard, so find what fits you, be it blogging, Facebook, Twitter, or something else.

 

[zoey]

I like visiting author websites only if there is interesting fresh content. I have heard some authors hire bloggers to write on their behalf. Whatever be the case, maintaining a blog year on year is mighty hard.