A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Keeping Up the Blog

 

It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. 

Today's post discusses blogging for authors. Blogging is an excellent platform for authors, especially authors with a first-time book, if they do certain things to make the blog a good support for their book. Here are some things to consider if you plan to make a blog an important part of your platform.

Importance of consistency

Blogs have brands. They are recognized. When the brand is reinforced, readers feel comfortable with the blog and validated in the time they will spend to read your posts. (And maybe even excited enough to do some word-of-mouth advertising for you.) There are two items that require consistency in order for readers to recognize and value your brand.

• Consistency of content. If your blog is about climate concerns, the topic of your book (your blog should surely be about the topic of your book), then do not stray far from that topic. Readers will be coming to you for information on that topic. If you want to include a secondary topic, then pick a day of the week when readers can always expect to find a post on the secondary topic.
• Consistency in posting. You can post daily, a few times a week, or once a week. (Once a week would be minimum.) If you do not post daily, then be consistent in which day(s) of the week you post. That is when readers will come looking for your newest input. There may be times when you cannot post, so it never hurts to write a number of posts in advance and set them up for automatic release at specific times.

Finding content

You need to keep content interesting, pertinent, and novel. You may find that you have to expand beyond your book and the topics in it to do that. Here are some approaches to including good content:

•    Do some quick research on the latest news on the topic(s) of your book. Include that information in your blog.
• Include short excerpts from your book. (Don't give away too much, just enough to entice readers to buy your book.)
• Link to someone else who has written on the topic. Better yet, track down Influencers on the topic and ask them to link to you -- and to provide you a blurb that you can use as a post about them on your site. If you find a blogger with interesting, related content, ask him/her to write a guest post for you. Most bloggers will be flattered and happy to do it. They might even turn around and ask you to write a guest post for them on their blog.
• Write a think piece on any of the topics in your book. You could even do a think piece once a week ona specific day.
• Discuss in depth the topics in your book -- you can explore them more deeply sometimes in a blog post than in a book.
• Share what others have written about your book. Reviews, awards, endorsements are all great blog topics.
• Make a trailer for your book and share it in a post. (You might also tack it somewhere that is always on the front page for readers to watch.)
• Prepare at-home activities that can go along with the carious chapters of the book.
• And when you have numb-brain, put up a brief holiday greeting with a great picture -- this can be for a particular day (cancer awareness day, dog appreciation day, etc.), a holiday (Christmas, Chanukah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa).

Structuring your blog

However you structure your blog, maintain a consistent structure. Again, readers will come to expect a specific structure. Give that to them to make them comfortable, feel like they know you, and want to come back for more.

One thing you should always do is include information about your book(s) and yourself. It can be information that comes at the end of each blog post. You simply cut and paste from one post to another. This is your free advertising. It is also the source of your credibility as a writer of posts on your topic(s).

Bottom line: The bottom line is what we started with: be consistent in content and timing. Readers will understand a short post or even a notice that an emergency is pulling you away but you will be back with a post the next day. Where the hard comes in is with silence.

See more Publisher Conversations with authors HERE.

 Learn more about publishing from an acquisitions editor -- how to get your book proposal accepted, why proposals are turned down/accepted, and how to find the right publisher for your book. On special sale for $5 while inventory lasts at MSI Press webstore. Also available as an ebook and an audiobook.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic that you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

                             

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