Well! After some weeks of research, followed by organizing what I learned, then creating 14 in-depth blog posts to be published on my blog over a 5 week period (3 posts per week) … and based on my own blogging experiences, as well as discussions on the topic with our local writers’ group, here are my personal conclusions on whether author blogging can still be useful for writers! You’ll also find a downloadable link to a PDF with useful resources for author blogs, social media, image sources, and email newsletters. The topics in this blog include:

A Short Background History on Blogging
What About Author Blogging Specifically?
Would Author Blogging Be “Right” For You?
Why Do I Blog? Are My Blogs “Author Blogs” or Something Else?
Do You Want More Information and Resources — a downloadable PDF with lots of resources related to author blogs, social media, e-mail newsletters, and sources for blog images/graphics

The following are the topics I’ll be covering more indepth in separate posts in this series; I’ll add links as I post them:

1. Is Author Blogging Dead?
2. Blog or Website or Both?
3. Social Media
4. Author Blogs
5. Connections and Audience
6. Content Tips
7. Goals
8. Layout
9. Types of Posts
10. Specific Pages
11. Promoting Your Blog
12. SEO
13. Ideas for Posts
14. E-Mail Newsletters
15. Author Blogs: My personal conclusions–and series resource list

A SHORT BACKGROUND HISTORY ON BLOGGING:

“Blogging” (by that name) started in the early 2000s mainly as either “online journaling” on nearly any and all topics under the sun OR discussion of personal “passions” (interests, hobbies, etc.). It was common for blogs to involve a lot of conversation via commenting and even forums.

It didn’t take long, however, for people, and especially companies, to start to blog for marketing purposes. This, in combination with the development of social media, led to a decline in the original purposes of blogs. Over time, the marketing emphasis has continued, but recently there has begun to be more of a return to personal interests, and even some online journaling.

WHAT ABOUT AUTHOR BLOGGING SPECIFICALLY?

In terms of author blogging specifically, I would say the following is basically true of how author blogs can be useful for writers:

• A blog is useful alongside (as part of) an author website. The author website, with its basically “static” pages, provides information on an author’s books and other related products and services, as well as ways for readers to purchase them (either on the site itself, or with links to Amazon and other online booksellers).
  
  
• Having a blog as well on the author website gives the author the opportunity to share information related to one’s books (and products and services). This could include writing-related experiences and advice, information about the setting of books (places and times), snippets (excerpts) from books, information about events (upcoming books, launches, conferences, workshops, etc.) and other similar information. You can also:
  • Share personal information and experiences (hobbies, travel, etc.) to build a “human” aspect about the writer.
• • Become well known as a person, not just as an author of certain books.
• • Build a “community” of loyal readers and followers who are interested in your books, products, and services—and who will be interested in purchasing them, hopefully.
• • Raise your author website’s “visibility” in search engines. Regular blogging (which could range from 2 or 3 times a week to as little as once a month) will attract interest from a search engine and bring your site closer to the top of search results.
• Be an opportunity to practice and improve one’s writing skills.

WOULD AUTHOR BLOGGING BE “RIGHT” FOR YOU?

I feel, personally, that whether to blog (or not), for an author, depends on:

• Personal goals—as related to the opportunities listed above.
  
  
• Your goals for your writing, books, other products, and services are important. Why are you writing? Who is your target audience? Do you write your books and other materials (including your blog) mostly for your own enjoyment, or for a particular group of people (family, friends, readers of your books, etc.), or as a window on your business, or what?
  
  
• How important is marketing to you? Even traditional publishers nowadays provide only bare minimum marketing for you (unless you are famous or have a topic—usually controversial or currently “hot”—that they think has a good chance of making your book(s) a best-seller, and thus making them a good profit). If you are self-publishing, you are really on your own for marketing unless you hire a publicist (which is expensive). You have to figure out what marketing methods will work best for you and your products and services—and how much money you want to make. And remember: there are millions of books published each year—how does that fit into your marketing plans, including possibly blogging?
  
  
• If you need to market your books, what other forms of marketing, in place of or in addition to blogging, are you willing to do: join several social media platforms, do personal book launches and follow-up talks, use media such as podcasting or creating videos on YouTube, pursue coverage on radio or TV or other media, do useful presentations such as workshops at conferences, be actively involved in local and regional and wider writers’ groups, and so on?
  
  
• How much time and effort and energy you have available to put into a blog. Are you willing to write blog posts frequently and on a schedule? How in-depth are you willing to make those posts—will they be short, friendly, fun posts, or will you write longer, more serious, in-depth posts? Both—or a combination—can work, though at the moment, longer posts are more popular (especially for search engines).
  
  
• Are you willing to link together your blog and social media? And work and participate regularly on both? Are you willing to experiment with different social media to see which ones work best for your author needs? Most readers “discover” and “follow” blogs by reading about them and going to them through social media links.
  
  
• How often do you publish? Are you writing one or two stand-alone books, or are you writing a series (which currently sells better)? What type of writing do you do: novels, nonfiction, memoir or other creative nonfiction, personal essays, poetry, scripts for film or plays, articles, short stories? If you write novels, what is your genre? How useful would a blog be for you in each of these cases?
  
  
• Who is your target audience, and how do they use the internet? What kind of marketing method, online or off, will best reach them in particular? Will they read your blog?
  
  
• It seems, from my observations, that authors who blog fairly regularly are those who are continuing to write books (or other writing forms); while those who write one or two books (or just occasional other forms) and are then “finished” with being authors tend to be satisfied with just a simple author website. They might start an associated blog  and maybe will blog for a while but give up once sales start to drop off. Which group do you fit in with?
  
  
• Are you willing to keep at it with your blog over a fairly lengthy period of time? Successful blogs usually develop because the author doesn’t give up but keeps at it for an extended period of time.

WHY DO I BLOG? ARE MY BLOGS AUTHOR BLOGS OR SOMETHING ELSE?

In terms of myself, I blog because:

• I like to write. I find it fun and intellectually stimulating. For me it is a wonderful adventure, related to my broad interests, my love to do research on my “interest of the moment” (at the current moment,  that has been author blogging), and my enjoyment sharing what I’ve discovered with others. I come from an extended family of teachers, so maybe writing and teaching are in my blood, so to speak.
  
  
• I started to design my own websites in the mid-1990s. I began a website that focused on what I was learning at the time about my current interests of home schooling, basic website coding, and internet use. Before blogging platforms were available, people world-wide would enthusiastically share their ideas on “email groups”. When blogging platforms became available, those groups declined. Some platforms like “Blogger” were specifically for blogs, while other platforms like WordPress made it possible to combine a website and blog, and required very little “techie” ability, which made it even more attractive.
  
  
• I have often referred to myself as a “Jill of all trades” as I have multiple, frequently evolving and changing interests, and I therefore have developed multiple sites over time. Some, like my https://penandpapermama.com/ site which focuses on education topics like homeschooling, tutoring, and curriculum writing, and my https://normajhill.com/ site which focuses on writing and editing, are combined websites and blogs. Others, like my https://pentictonpedestrian.wordpress.com/ and https://haidagwaiibuildingbridges.wordpress.com/ sites are just blogs where I post current writing and photography. I’ve also had various other blogs or blog/websites along the way where I’ve explored current interests such as spirituality, involvement in social justice activities, and being a mom of 5 teenagers at the same time.
  
  
• I’ve helped other authors set up specifically author websites and encouraged them to blog as well. The ones who actually blogged for a time have tended to be those who either are really interested in marketing their books, which they continue to write, and/or those who simply enjoy writing their blogs.
  
  
• I have not been a “novel author” though I love reading novels and I have certainly been an editor for dozens of novels, as well as editing many other kinds of books and writing. My personal writing has occurred in print and broadcast journalism, curriculum writing for educational purposes, collections of family and life stories, some poetry and short stories, and so on. I have taught writing as a schoolteacher and as a tutor. I have also coached writers, ranging from school and college students through adults of all ages. I have “sold” my own writing through writing columns for newspapers, articles for magazines, how-to books such as cookbooks and educational materials, and I have had writing-related business income from editing and coaching. I am more of a non-fiction and creative nonfiction writer, though I do write some short fiction and poetry. By the way, I sometimes feel like some of my blogs are pretty much books themselves, LOL! (This series on author blogs might even qualify as a potential book—what do you think?)
  
  
• Therefore, my major blogs tend to mostly be on non-fiction topics like education or writing, editing, and publishing. And some of my other blogs tend to be on topics which follow my current personal interests and explorations. Therefore, I blog because I enjoy writing, and I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experiences. I don’t really blog much for marketing, although I’ve had good success selling my how-to educational materials, as I link to them on the Teachers Pay Teachers site from the “products” page on my Pen And Paper Mama website/blog (https://penandpapermama.com/products/ ). And I have had opportunities to do income-producing workshops, and coaching and editing work, based on the information I provide on my blogs.
  
  
• I tend to blog a bit sporadically—well, quite a bit sporadically! But if I were trying to “sell” a book or series of books on an ongoing basis, I think I would post more regularly: ideally, for me, that would be about once a week, on a particular day. I certainly have enough material developed to write several in-depth non-fiction books, and I’ve even completed NaNoWriMo a few times just for the fun challenge of it, so maybe I might try publishing more book-length items now that I’ve “retired” from tutoring and have more time. We’ll see!

DO YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES?

If you’d like more information on blogging, social media, e-mail newsletters, and sources for graphics for your blog, check out this PDF list (It’s downloadable and printable, too!).

WHAT’S NEXT?

So what do you think? Am I even qualified to call myself an author (some folks seem to think you’re only a “real author” if you’ve published a full novel…)? Am I even qualified to teach about author blogs? Hmmm… (I feel I’m an author! So there!)

What about you? Is “author blogging” for you? Why or why not? After all my research and thinking about this, I have come to the conclusion that there is no “right answer” overall for authors as to whether they should create blogs. There are lots of good reasons, but there are also potential difficulties and problems. In my opinion, author blogging—of whatever approach–is something every author (whatever kind of writing you do) needs to decide for yourself. What about you? What’s your take?

Comments: Please share your personal experiences and conclusions on this interesting topic, in the comment section. Thank you!