Blogging can open up many career paths for writers
by Anne R. Allen
Most people who choose a career in writing first imagine ourselves as novelists or memoirists, not nonfiction writers.
But these days, writers, even novelists, can’t just write books. We need to start “A Multi-Media Author Business.” And that involves writing a lot of nonfiction. Especially on blogs.
Some of the “multi-media” advice is over the top, in my opinion–writers need to eat and sleep and have friends like other people–but I do think starting a blog is a good choice for most authors, even novelists. (Although I don’t think novelists need to blog more than once a week. I’m a big fan of Slow Blogging.)
Since I started blogging nearly eight years ago, I’ve watched a lot of author-bloggers succeed as writers. They may not have had huge success as novelists (although some have). But for all of them, the blog was the first step to a successful career in publishing.
A lot of blogs disappear, of course. Blogging well requires discipline, good 21st century writing skills, and the empathy to understand what your readers want. But if you stick to it, blogging can pay off in major ways.
Author Blogging is different from Business Blogging
I want to make it clear that I’m not talking about business blogging, which is different from author blogging.
Business blogs are about numbers. If bloggers can collect a huge number of subscribers, they get more money from advertisers. Unfortunately this often means the focus is on gaming the system and manipulating people rather than providing good content.
Writing a business blog requires a knowledge of advertising strategies. It involves the specialized art of copywriting. You need to be able to pack a piece with keywords, keep up with search engine algorithm changes, and write click-magnet headers.
Unfortunately, business blog gurus are often bullies. They use “neg” headers like “Your Blog isn’t Making any Money because you’re a Lazy &*##!” or “Why My Blog Makes a Million Dollars a Day and Yours Doesn’t.” Fixing your “problem” involves paying lots of money for a course.
And the pop-ups! There are always dozens of pop-ups—often un-closable—thrown up as a barrier between the reader and the content. These gurus promise blogging will make you a gazillion dollars a year if you just take their overpriced courses (and find out how to close those 752 popups.) Very few “graduates” make that money back. The “hacks” they teach are usually out of date and can drive away readers rather than attract them.
Their blogging books litter Amazon, and many authors pick up the books thinking they are what blogging is about.
The aggressive blogger image dominates social media as well. A few months ago, I tried to start a Pinterest board for blogs. But I couldn’t find one blogging “pin” that was about writing good content. They were all about aggressive sales techniques, gaming the system, and manipulating readers. I deleted my board.
Authors who hire aggressive business bloggers to set up their blogs are often hurting their careers. Bully-marketing doesn’t sell books the way it sells overpriced blogging courses.
We’re writers. We can do our own blogging—with better results.
Author Blogging Can be a Stepping Stone
Sometimes I think author-blogs need an entirely different name from “blog” since the aggressive business bloggers have given the medium a bad name.
An author blog is like a discreet ad in The New Yorker as opposed to a used car dealer’s late-night TV screamer.
Author blogs only need to appeal to a target readership, not vast hordes of consumers. Author blogs should be readable, friendly, and entertaining–not an advertising machine. They don’t make money directly. Instead they provide a platform for your writing and a way to communicate with readers and fellow writers.
In my own little corner of the blogosphere, I’ve watched many authors find success through this kind of blogging.
Here are some tips about what an author might blog about.
Good stuff often happens when writers take a different path from the one they started on: that Blog–Agent–Book Deal–Fame-and-Fortune path most of us fantasize about when we begin to write.
Seven or eight years ago, I made friends with a lot of newbie author-bloggers who were all trying to get the attention of agents and publishers. A lot of us were using our blogs to track our journeys to publication, so we visited each other’s blogs for industry information and also mutual support and friendship.
Then the Kindle Revolution happened, and I lost track of a lot of my blogger friends as I spent 18-hour days publishing ten books with two digital publishers as well as keeping this blog going. (Including a disastrous year of trying to turn this into a money-making business blog that nearly killed me as well as the blog.)
But recently I’ve been seeking out some of my old blog-friends. Seeing the paths they’ve taken has been fascinating. A bunch have disappeared from the blogosphere, but others have used their blogs as stepping stones to great careers—not necessarily the careers they’d planned, but creative, fulfilling ones.
So do think about the paths available to you as you decide whether or not to start a blog (or lament that your blog doesn’t seem to be doing you any good.)
Magazine Features Writer
One writer who was a helpful source of information about social media didn’t land an agent, or even finish her novel.
But she got a paying gig for a magazine as an expert in social media. That led to jobs at other magazines.
Now she’s a successful advice columnist with a big following.
I’m sure she’s still got that novel in her files, but now she has a great writing gig that doesn’t involve agents, rejections or the hassles of self-publishing.
Other book bloggers have found regular gigs as reviewers or freelance writing work with high-paying magazines.
Blogging is a great way to show off your writing chops no matter what the subject matter.
Literary Agent
At least two of the bloggers I met early on are now successful literary agents. They started with book blogs that specialized in reviews. They became well known for careful, unbiased reviews, and eventually were approached by agents looking for interns.
After an apprenticeship, both of them were made full-time agents. One has recently opened her own agency.
All from a little blog.
Journal Editor
I have at least three friends who have been invited to edit new online journals or literary magazines because the founder of the journal or company that owned the magazine admired their blogs.
If you write and curate good content, people notice.
Freelance Book Editor
Some writers offered a wealth of craft tips and editing information on their early blogs. I know of several who were asked for beta reading help and then decided to hang out their shingles as editors.
Several of my old blogger friends are doing very well with these businesses. Their blogs gave them the cred they needed to establish themselves as professionals and provided a ready-made client list.
Cover Designer
A number of writer-bloggers I know had artistic backgrounds, so when they decided to join the indie publishing revolution, they designed their own covers.
Then they found that they could make good money designing covers for other indie authors. Most are still writing, but their cover design businesses allowed them to quit the day job.
Book Designer-Formatter
A lot of indies don’t have the skills to format their own e-books or POD files. Some tech-savvy authors found that formatting books paid more than writing them. They now have thriving formatting businesses.
Expert Author-Speaker
Some author-bloggers discover they like this nonfiction-writing thing. Even though they started out writing fiction, writing nonfiction for a blog every week brought out their nonfiction talents.
They got into the short, informal essay format that the Web craves.
So they put the novels aside to write nonfiction books, articles, and web content on the subjects addressed in their blogs.
Slowly they became established experts. Now not only are they selling lots of nonfiction books, but they’re in demand as public speakers who command big fees.
Publisher
Several of my early blogging friends are now publishers in their own right. They may have started a publishing business to publish their own books and then branched out and started soliciting submissions.
Others decided they’d seen too many great writers in their genre get stuck in the slush pile and decided to start a genre-specific small press.
Now they’ve got successful businesses.
Bestselling Indie Author
Many of my blogpals went the indie route while the rest of us were still on the query-go-round with agents.
Some went on to hit the USA Today and NYT bestseller lists. Yes, it does happen.
Traditionally Published Author
I don’t want to leave out the ones who did follow that path the rest of us were all trying to find. A bunch of my blog-friends got offers of representation because of their blogs.
Not because they posted their WIPs and waited for an agent to show up with an offer of representation. That doesn’t happen.
But they used their blogs for networking.
One was friendly with a blogger who became a literary agent. Another often visited a literary agent’s blog and her query got noticed because the agent remembered her. Another had a publishing industry blog that agents often visited, so the agent knew her name.
The most successful authors of all are the ones who started indie and got picked up by one of Amazon’s imprints (which are sometimes listed as “indie” but are really trad-pub.) These authors used social media, including blogs, to create the kind of big platform that gets the attention of Amazon. These are the authors who are buying luxury cars and houses with cash.
Not every author needs to blog, but blogging can help your career in unexpected ways. Here are some good reasons to blog, and some bad ones.
These are only a few of the paths where a blog can lead. I’d love to hear about more from readers.
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) June 18, 2017
If you know of more blogger success stories, please put them in the comments! Do you have friends who have launched a successful career with a blog? Do you have a blog that has led you in a direction you didn’t expect?
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OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
The Golden Quill Awards. The theme is “Liberation.” $500 first prize. Short fiction, poetry and personal essay categories. Up to 1500 words for prose, 40 lines for poetry. Entry fee $15. Deadline September 15, 2017.
Cliché Story Contest! Yes, finally somebody WANTS clichés. STRINGYBARK DOG EAT DOG SHORT STORY CONTEST Write a story which contains a common cliché and is titled that cliché. (One cliché per story, please). Over $1000 in prizes, plus publication. International entries are most welcome. Deadline July 16, 2017. Max length, 1,500 words excluding the title. Entry Fee $12 (Aus.) Deadline July 16, 2017
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is putting out a new free anthology for writers. A Guide to Writing for Profit. They’re now open for submissions. 500-1000 words. Deadline July 31.
WOVEN TALE PRESS COMPETITION 6,000 words maximum of literary fiction or creative nonfiction. First prize is a one-week writing retreat in the legendary Hamptons in New York. Seven nights and accommodations for two. Also, publication and a complimentary copy. $$ prizes for 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes. Fee $20. Deadline July 31, 2017
Memoir writers! Here’s a list of publishers who accept memoir submissions. Without an agent!
Boyds Mill Press accepts unagented submissions of children’s book manuscripts. Highlights for Children owns the press.
20 Literary Journals that publish new writers. Compiled by the good folks at Authors Publish magazine.
Costa Rica Workshop. Weeklong workshop for writers and other creatives. July 15th—22nd. Price includes 1 week at Norma’s Villas, including 3 meals a day, morning yoga before workshops, and one day trip to the beach (surf or kayak lesson included), and a shuttle to and from the airport. Anne has a coupon code for $50 off the price for readers of this blog.
I already had a contract when I began blogging, but I’d say the IWSG was certainly not a direction I anticipated.
I’m coming up on eight years and like you, I’ve seen some amazing changes in some of the writers who are still around.
And thanks for mentioning the IWSG’s opportunity!
Alex–You sure have taken your blog to a fantastic place. You created one of the best, most supportive writing organizations on the Web! And you became a bestselling author in the process. Pretty impressive!
Anne, there is no question that my humour column blog (www.melodiecampbell.com – forgive the mention) was instrumental in getting me that first publishing contract at Orca Books, a large Canadian trad publisher. They were looking for a comedy writer. One of their authors pointed them to me. They read my blog, saw my other fiction credits, and contacted me. My 7th book with them comes out next year.
I am absolutely convinced that the blog did the deal. They could see I had a following. And they could read several examples of my writing style. That made me a far less risky venture, from their standpoint.
Another super post, Anne!
Melodie–I can add you to my list of traditionally published authors whose careers started with a blog! I didn’t realize your first book deal was sparked by your blog. Thanks for adding to the list of blogging successes!
Nice piece, Anne. You’ve really captured the big picture of blogging payback. I’ve been blogging for 5 years now and it’s led me to places I couldn’t have imagined when I started. I can’t say I’ve ever made a dime directly from the blog but it’s opened lucrative doors including work with a leading online news outlet and now with the film industry. I’ve made great friends with other bloggers/writers but the biggest return has been learning about web content writing. I gained enough experience from regular blogging to help my daughter build her web content business into a full-time paying venture where we can barely keep up. I strongly encourage all authors to keep up a weekly blog – you never know where it’s going to go and who’s going to find you.
Garry–Thanks for this! I can add online journalist and jobs in the film industry to the list! Congrats on your success.
Web content writing is the future and the best way to learn to write for the web is to do it on a blog.
Fantastic piece Anne. I love that you said us author bloggers aren’t necessarily looking to use our blogs for direct business. Those blogs with annoying popup ads seem to be getting worse, ads you can’t even click off. I just leave. I’m a nonfiction author who blogs about anything and everything nonfiction. I’ve built up a lovely following with readers and other authors who generously share my posts, invite me for guest author interviews and I’ve noticed with every interview I do just on a blog my book sales go up. My followers are somewhat like a tribe who follow and never know what to expect on my blog but they’re loyal, know they can expect honesty, a bit of humor, and useful information.:)
Debby–Aren’t those pop-ups awful? Sometimes, when I really want to reach something on the blog or website and they have that unclosable demand for my email address, I make one up. Usually “rudewords @ hotmail” or something like that. I get in, but I wonder what they think they’ve gained by it. (And how much of their “huge” mailing list consists of similar addresses.)
Thanks for sharing your success story. I think a blog is essential for a nonfiction writer and you’re proving it. And you’re absolutely right that guest posts sell books!
Lol Anne, I’ve never thought to put in a fake address, but if I did it probably wouldn’t be a pretty one either. And thanks for your wonderful articles and your kudos. 🙂
Anne, I loved all the “blog journey” examples, which underscore that a blog is a useful vehicle for many reasons, not least of which it can lead to income you might not have realized was available to you in this new age of ebook publishing and online businesses. The business blogosphere has some lessons that can be useful to us small guys. Social Triggers, ProBlogger, Neil Patel, etc have useful tips. Just keep a clear notion of what you want and can manage with your own blog and resist the “make a billion bucks with your blog” emotional sales trap.
I’ve blogged weekly, primarily to gain traction for my fiction. I love all the fun of web design and hosting fellow mystery authors, but know that the blog isn’t so much a money maker in and of itself but the hub of my branding. I never thought of the places it could take me beyond that but now you’ve given me a new perspective!
Carmen–You’re right that some of those big blog gurus do have good tips. They have tips about SEO and other stuff we can use. But they’re just so pushy! Once I stopped into one of those blogs, didn’t much like the post, and 10 minutes later I got a private email demanding that I tweet the post. Guess how fast I unsubscribed and vowed never to go back?
You’ve put it very well: your blog is the hub for your branding. It’s the center of your online presence. When you think how much you’d have to pay for advertising if you didn’t have it, you realize it DOES pay.
Hey Anne,
I agree that blogging can certainly be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. And I’d love author blogs to be called something else, how about – wrogs? Too weird? Too sci-fi?
I’ve been blogging a really long time. At first I started out just on a whim, then it became a mission to just write everyday. To make that commitment to myself, which I did. And I do believe that in large part blogging is what got me working on what I always wanted to do, which was write novels.
But I get so lost about what to blog about now that there seem to be rules about it. you know? I have to be mindful of my platform and my image and blah blah blah blah. And I find it really gives me stage fright. Not really knowing what direction to go in. Plus my ‘day’ job is copy writing, so I have this back and forth with myself about what writing is appropriate for both.
Anyway, hopefully I’ll figure it out someday.
Good post.
Annie
Annie–Wrog! I love it!
I think author-bloggers can ignore the rules. An author can blog about anything that’s of interest to her readers. So you can blog about your pets one day and philosophy the next and run a recipe the next..just nothing so polarizing it drives away a segment of your audience.
Another excellent post Anne! I think that many authors see a blog as another thing to fit into their day but either forget or simply aren’t aware of the positives of blogging. Like you I’ve been blogging for many years and my blogs are part of me. I can’t imagine abandoning my book blog – I take holidays every so often, but I always come back. It’s fun talking about books with people from the other side of the world! If nothing else, your weekly blog gives you the opportunity to pass on some hard won information but also chat with your peeps every week. I see that sort of networking as invaluable!
Barb–That’s so true. Probably the most valuable aspect of a blog is the networking. That’s where most of the opportunities come from.
And as you say, it’s fine to take “holidays” from the blog as long as you have firm plans to go back. I think the business bloggers make blogging seem like such a slog, authors are scared off it. But mostly it’s fun–like having a coffee with friends.
Great post, Anne. I think this applies to me: “…writing nonfiction for a blog every week brought out their nonfiction talents.” I started writing short stories and novellas and recently realized while writing a short post on my Good Reads blog that I really love nonfiction. I’ve edited three anthologies–you wrote an amazing essay for Equality–and also edited a lit mag many years back. Right now I had the choice of finishing a gay romance or a memoir of my mother. I weighed them both and Mom’s memoir tipped the balance. I’m having a great time independently publishing this book with the help of three great writer pals who are excellent editors, cover artists, and know the publishing business. How lucky can a writer get? Loved this post. It’s so true for me. And perhaps for some of your other readers and writers. 🙂
Paul–Congrats on the Rainbow Award Hon. Mention for Equality! You’re one of the people who took off with nonfiction after years of fiction. Congrats on the memoir. I’m sure you’ll get back to the romance series later.
Great to hear that it all started with your blog! It’s happened with so many people. Blogging really does pay off!
Thank you Anne – I’ve been on the fence about blogging and you just gave me the push to get started. I like the adventure and mystery in blogging that you describe.
Dianne–I’m glad I helped you make the decision. There’s lots of advice on author-blogging in How to Be a Writer in the E-Age (which is on sale) Or put “blogging” in the search window here. I have lots of tips on low-maintenance blogging.
You’re preaching to the choir. : ) Thank you for these inspirational stories, Anne.
Leanne–Thanks! I know you’ve been blogging even longer than I have. 🙂
So agree with you about the value of blogging to network and help your writing career, It’s disheartening at times seeing so many people leave blogging, especially after developing so many connections. I really think my blogging helped me land my contract writing job. If I do ever decide to try to get an agent and get a book published, I think my blog and agent spotlights will at least help me get taken more seriously. It is a lot of work, but definitely worth it.
Natalie–I do find it sad to see so many of my early blogfriends have disappeared. But the ones who stuck with it have mostly done very well. You’re one of the people whose blog took off early and has become an institution.
Literary Rambles is one of the best blogs around for children’s writers (well, any writers) Thanks for all the work you put into it!
Eric Barker @bakadesuyo and his succesful blog BarkingUpTheWrongTree landed a book deal with HarperCollins, based on excerpts from his blog, and he’s now a WSJ bestseller. Also, Mimi Matthews @MimiMatthewsEsq got a multi-book contract from her Victorian era blog: 2 nonfiction books directly from blog posts, 1 novel set in Victorian era
Alexandria–Thanks for the success stories! I think nonfiction book authors always do better if they start with a blog. It’s so much easier to land a book deal if you already have a fan base. Nonfiction is what people generally come online for, so it’s easier to do it with nonfiction. But like Mimi Matthews, you can segue into fiction after that.
Such a great topic Anne! What resonates most with me in your post is the larger community aspect of blogging. When I started blogging I had no clue what I was doing, but I kept the blog going. Eventually, I connected with a large group of authors on a platform that was quite isolated — where there weren’t many ways to connect except through DM. I really wanted to find ways to break the isolation! So gee whiz, I had an idea: make a guest blog Q&A and host them as guests on that blog I was just going through the motions on. Not only did this break the isolation (the platform soon formed a Goodreads discussion community that grew to over 400 authors), it showed me that blogging has many dimensions. I’ve since hosted many guest authors, and have been a guest on numerous blogs, and I LOVE these posts as much as coming up with my own. I do pay attention to my stats, but not for the sake of hitting business goals — that drives me nuts!! — rather, it’s so I can assess how useful various posts are. I often pick a future topic based on how useful something was to my audience. It’s about them, not me; that’s the attitude I’ve come to adopt with blogging, and in fact it’s taught me a lot about the right attitudes to bring to writing and publishing.
And I must add too — your blog reflects this same spirit and I’m so happy I’ve discovered you!
John–I probably should have added the category, “Starting an online community” because that’s what you and Alex J. Cavanaugh and so many others have done.
Stats DO matter, but not for all that competition, buy-followers, BS that you see on business blogs. But as you say, they tell you what is working and give insight into what readers want. That’s very valuable.
Congrats on your social media success!
Excellent post. Thanks again. For some reason you didn’t mention that at least one author-blogger you know is now a substitute book clerk, volunteer guitar-tuner & unpaid bricklayer. And life is good.
Charlie–Also an audiobook narrator an award-winning fiction writer. 🙂 But hey, tuning those guitars is where it’s at! 🙂
I still love author blogging, even 8 years after I started! I don’t know how many readers I’ve gotten but it’s helped me become a freelance blogger for tech companies AND a contributor to the Folklore Thursday blog.
Icy–I wrote a long comment but WordPress didn’t seem to like it. It disappeared into a gray screen. 🙁
I should have included “freelance blogger,” which can be a good paying career. Congrats on all you’ve done with your blogging!
I have that effect on technology 😉
Superb post, Anne. I’ve come across this just when I’m torn reading recently how blogging is a thing of the past and knowing (but not sure) that it’s something that will help me in my writing career in the long run. Your article just clarified this issue for me and now I’m sure blogging will not be a waste of my time. Looks like even a weekly blog is better than no blog – and that I can manage.
Anne, this is the most encouraging advice on author blogging I’ve ever seen. It puts starting and maintaining an author blog within my reach, I think. I love the way you’ve captured the essence: “Author blogs should be readable, friendly, and entertaining…”
Sometimes, though, I think that people like you offer such good advice, what on earth could I really add, newbie that I am?
Tricia–Your comment is encouraging to ME, since I’m planning a book on the subject. I want to tell authors that blogs are easy and fun, not the hard-sell slog that the business bloggers make them out to be.
Follow my link above to the post on “What should an author blog about” and I’m sure you’ll find lots that will apply to you.
I started my blog as a place to start a little creative writing, tell personal stories, to inspire and to share ideas. I never thought that it would lead to being a contributing author to a published anthology book. That opportunity has broadened my writing experiences and encouraged me to keep writing. Your article really resonated with me to what other possibilities the blogging experience could bring. An author blog format sounds like the lane I should take my blog next. Your advice and knowledge with this type of blogging format is something I find very helpful and useful for that next step. Thanks Anne!
Laurie–Yes! That’s another thing to add to the list: A blog can lead to invitations to publish in anthologies and boxed sets. Anthologies and boxed sets really got my career going again after the loss of my first publisher. Nobody should underestimate the value of being in an anthology. Congrats!
Do check out my post on what an author should blog about. (hint: pretty much anything that interests your ideal reader.) And don’t listen to the business bloggers! Best of luck with the next step!
I started blogging years ago when Livejournal was a thing, and I just wrote random stuff about my stories there. Then my mom started a blog about her garden, and I started an official one to share my day and pictures of my kids. Now I have an author one where I talk about the odd philosophical problems I run into during storytelling or research. (Today’s post is about why stories about human psychology make for the longest-lasting books, with examples from children’s picture books.)
Kessie–I remember LiveJournal! It sounds as if you know how to make blogging fun and interesting for your readers . Your subject today is intriguing. I’ll check it out!
My blog didn’t lead to my first publishing deal, but without it I wouldn’t have gotten my second (different publisher) who “checked me out” online before offering a contract. I’ve also had several true crime offers, which I never expected to write. I don’t know what the future holds, but I can’t wait to find out. Probably the best thing about blogging are the friends you meet along the way. The writing community is one of the most supportive groups on the planet, and we’re so blessed to walk among them.
Sue–You’re so right. Networking with other authors and becoming part of a community is probably the #1 reason to blog.
Best of luck with the true crime writing. That’s one of the most popular genres on TV right now and I think it’s a growth genre. Congrats!
Kessie, I agree with Anne. The post you mention sounds fascinating! Could you post either a link, or the name of your blog, so I can read it? Thanks!
Tricia–Don’t try to find it following Kessie’s Gravatar. I just did and when I clicked on what was supposed to be her website, I got hijacked by one of those scammers who freeze your computer and ask for money to remove the “virus”. It isn’t a virus, and you just have to unplug the computer from the wall and reboot (never click on them to close them or they’ll have you.)
Anyway, it must have been an old website and she hasn’t updated, and the old blog was hijacked. That happens a lot.
Hi, Anne,
What a great post… I started blogging around the same time as you. So, like you, I’ve seen the changes good and not so good. But it is interesting and fun to see where everyone is going. And our blogger friends pretty amazing….
Michael–You’re one of the bloggers I met early in my blogging career. and it’s fun to “bump” into you on various booky sites. Yes, some of the changes are not so good (like the hacker I just ran into trying to find Kessie’s blog), but it’s great to see how people have used their blogs to do some fantastic things!
Very well said. All blogs are business blogs and care just about folllowers. author blogs should be different. Thanks for the inspiration. I started a new blog but now I know what path I want ????
urvi–I think maybe we should call author blogs A-blogs and business blogs B-Blogs. They are so different, they need a different name. Best of luck with your A-blog!!
Hi Anne,
I knew Debby and Garry. I found you on Chris’s site
In response to what you wrote: I teach people to be business bloggers. However, I have never had click bait headlines like that. I have also had pins on Pinterest that lead to articles with writing tips so I am surprised you could not find any there.
I am one of the people that dream of becoming a speaker that you wrote about.
Maybe you want to check out my blog. Although I do you teach bloggers how to get their numbers higher, I also offer writing tips and I have authors follow me. I have even a guest blogged on author sites. I blog over at http:mostlyblogging.com
Janice
Janice–Best of luck with the speaker gigs. That’s a great career path. I didn’t mean to say all business bloggers are bullies. Just that some of the most competitive blog gurus tend to bully their blogging students. It seems to work for them.
But authors shouldn’t emulate them, because they’re trying to appeal to book readers, not other bloggers.
I have to admit I don’t go looking all over Pinterest for pins. Writing books takes a lot of time, so I don’t have that kind of leisure. I just look at the pins that Pinterest sends me every day. The ones about blogging were a turnoff, to say the least. I had to delete my board so they wouldn’t send me any more.
Blogging for business is so very different from blogging for authors that I think it needs another name.
As I said, business blogging is a specialized talent. It requires a lot of copywriting skills as well as tech skills that novelists don’t have or need. My hat’s off to you!
This is a lovely post. This is what I thought blogging was all about when I started last September and I have met wonderful people and learned so much from fellow bloggers and writers. I find this community very encouraging and helpful.
Robbie–I’m so glad to hear you met up with the author-blogger community right away. Writing can be a lonely profession, and blogging helps us connect with friends who are going through the same stuff. Things are always easier with friends. 🙂
Hey Anne,
This is probably the 3rd time I’ve visited this post in the past week. Started blogging since a few months and yes it is a business blog but I’ve resisted the temptation of showing 752 popups in vibrant colors until now.
It’s hard when you start writing, mainly if like me, one has spent a major part of their career in non-writing professions. And with all the advice from experts turning us into a machine just gets depressing.
To that effect, your post on blogging has such a unique and fresh perspective (for me at least) to help the new ones start on the right note and keep going. It gave me the right reasons to continue. So I keep visiting your post to keep my spirits up and keep writing.
And yes, I’m subscribing without any popups hollering me to do so 🙂
Jash–Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment. I’m glad my “easy-does-it” approach to blogging works for you. I do think business bloggers can also do well to back off the hard-sell tactics and offer a friendly, warm environment to readers instead of screaming and bullying.
I’m working on a book on “Easy-Does-It” blogging that will be available in October. I hope it will help other bloggers like you to see there’s an alternative path.
Hey Anne, I have been reading a lot of books and also watching videos of the famous bloggers online, out of which I really liked what you have mentioned here. I can relate to lot of things and it just didn’t feel like you are writing for the sake of writing it! I am very new in blogging. I have a huge passion to write but I have so far written for myself. I now want to take it to next level. So is there anything you would like to share as in how should I start or where to start as a new and first time blogger. (I do not wish to make money as of now all I care about is how to get more and more people to follow and comment so that I can evolve in this stream. TIA
Alisha Harshe
Alisha–I have a very different take on blogging from most bloggers, who are blogging to sell advertising. I have a whole lot of advice for a blogger like you –but unfortunately it doesn’t fit into a blog comment. But it’s all packed into my book The Author Blog (link in the sidebar here to the Amazon page, but it’s available at all online retailers.) It’s only $2.99 for the ebook and has much more info you can use than most “courses” that cost $100s. Good luck with your blog!!