Blogging for many authors is a way to communicate to their
readers and market their books. However, they are finding that there are some issues.
Finding time and interesting content to write about on a regular basis can be a
problem.
This post is a summary of comments from a collection of
outstanding, award-winning authors interviewed at the HBS Author’s Spotlight and how
they tackle the marketing of their novels and the issues involved.
To date we have conducted over 300 interviews. (Click on the author’s name to view their
complete interview.)
General question
During our interviews I will ask the authors questions about
their blogs and what they are trying to do with them. The questions usually
follow along these lines.
Do you want to keep readers informed or market your books or
provide useful information to other writers or all of the above with your blog?
Are there time issues or problems that get in your way?
Marketing to Your Readers
Many authors use their blogs to target their readers and
market their novels. Their goal is to provide interesting content and keep
their readers informed and coming back for more. They feel that using a blog to
maintain an on-line presence is the key to selling their novels. Here is what
several of the Spotlight Crew had to say about the approach.
Author Damien Boyd is the author of the The DI Nick
Dixon Crime Series.
“I try to keep readers informed and involved. They have been
kind enough to read my books and so it’s only fair! It’s also nice for new readers
‘checking me out’ to see a good website and an active Twitter and Facebook
presence but it’s more about being available to readers who like to get in
touch, as many do.”
Award-winning and USA
Today Bestselling Author Susan M. Boyer is
the author of the Liz Talbot romantic mystery series.
“Honestly, I feel as though of all the things I do, the blog
is the thing that most often gets pushed to the back burner, because there are
so many things to be done and a limited amount of time. My first priority has
to be the books. That said, my primary goal with the blog is simply to
communicate with readers. It’s sort of a postcard from my world.”
Best-Selling Author Helen Hanson writes Mystery & Thrillers
and Suspense novels.
“Readers are my focus. They’re the only reason my work hit
the Top 100 on Kindle. I love hearing from people who’ve read my work. It’s a
total kick. I will write you back if you send something my way.
When I was writing my first novel, 3 LIES, I had no readers,
but I wanted to blog. So I wrote whatever I felt like. When I published 3 LIES,
being a geek, I decided to do my own ebook formatting. Consequently, I learned
and blogged about the process. These were also intended to be my notes to
format my next book. You forget this stuff unless you do it routinely.
Consequently, a lot of writers found my site. It’s been an interesting
experience conversing with them, and they’re writing some amazing stuff, so I
kept the formatting series available for other writers.”
Brent Hartinger is the author of The Russel
Middlebrook series. The movie version of his novel: Geography Club was released
in 2013.
“I suppose it's marketing, but I honestly never think of it
like that. Like any good blog, it's a way to express myself.
The bottom line is that these days most authors need to do
more than write books. They need a "presence" online, and they need
to make themselves available to readers. I know this makes a lot of writers
uncomfortable, especially older writers who broke through under the previous
system. At first it made me uncomfortable. But I've learned a few things.
First, it's not "me" out there -- it's Public Me.
It's a version of me that I think readers of my books would be interested in. I
share some, but not everything. I try to stay positive, I try to be
interesting. I don't burden people with stuff that's only interesting to me or
my partner, and I never ever bitch or complain in public. I get to do what I
love for a living! Writing-wise, I have nothing to complain about, especially
to my fans.
Second, it's not "work." After all these years, I
now know that interacting with readers is actually one of the best parts of
being an author. These are your fans, your friends! And whenever it starts to
feel like "work," I stop. I move onto something else.
Sometimes it is hard to deal with the Internet -- everyone
has an opinion about your work, and they don't hesitate to write about it in
the most brutal way possible. Like most authors and artists, I avoid online
discussions of my work, pro or con. Criticizing works of art is everyone's
right -- I do it too about other books or movies. But not about or for me. It's
not something I'm involved in or ever will be.”
Author John Heldt writes Romance and Historical Fiction novels.
“I created the blog a little over a year ago to promote my
published works and update readers on the progress of future projects. On
occasion I use it to review books and tell people about my other interests.”
Michael R. Hicks is the Bestselling author of
the IN HER NAME Sci-Fi and HARVEST Thriller novels. Mike has also written the
The Path To Self-Publishing Success.
“My primary goal is just to have a virtual living room where
people can come in and flop down on the sofa for a while and paw through the
books scattered on the coffee table. If I was smart, I'd probably put a lot
more effort into blogging like John
Scalzi does, but I haven't gotten there yet. But I can't complain with 600
or so visits a day on average. I'm sure I sell at least some books through my
web site, but it's really just there as a place for folks to go who want to
find out more about me and my work.”
Science Fiction,
Fantasy and Romance Author Katie Jennings
writes the Dryad Quartet series.
“I’m trying to update my blog much more regularly these days
by posting things that interest readers. I’m doing a fourteen week blog series
about ghosts and ghost hunting to help promote So Fell the Sparrow, which I
hope will build up lots of hype for the book. I have no idea how I have time for
everything, as I always feel like I’m behind. I have a backlogged list of
things to do and it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day!”
Author Brian D. Meeks is the author of the Henry Wood
Detective Series.
“If I'm honest, I mostly use my blog as a daily diary of
what I'm doing with my books. A couple of years ago the posts were much better.
I've been blogging every day since Jan 2, 2010, and the busier I get with
writing/publishing, the weaker the daily blog posts get…”
Author Ty Patterson is a Thriller & Suspense and
Crime thriller writer.
“I want to make my blog as the starting point for my
readers’ journey but I am nowhere near that point.
Currently my blog serves as yet another discovery platform
for my books. I also use it to share my writing experiences with other
authors.”
Author Michele Shriver is a Mystery & Fantasy
Writer. She is noted for her Real Life Women’s Fiction novels.
“I actually just made a lot of changes to the blog and
website a few days ago, so this is good timing. I want it to be a place where
readers can come and learn a bit about me and about my books, but I enjoy
featuring other authors on the blog as well. Lately I've had the chance to
feature some new releases of other authors, and also some interesting guest
posts. I like to do that because it's a way to keep the blog active even when I
may not have much interesting to say or I've been too busy writing on my books
to write new blog posts. I'll be blogging quite a bit about my conference
coming up. As for time- it's just something else that has to be squeezed in.”
Author Richard Stephenson is the bestselling dystopian
author of the New America Series.
“At the risk of sounding greedy, the primary goal of my blog
is to drive sales. I’m sure any author
with a blog will agree. The secondary
goal is the satisfaction of helping my fellow indie authors so they won’t have
to struggle like I did when I started out.
It also helps that I’m very tech savvy.
Before I started writing, my biggest hobby was a little side business
fixing computers for friends, co-workers, and whatever business they sent my
way. Anything computer related comes
natural to me so I have been fortunate enough to be proficient at it.”
Author Mike Wells is an American bestselling
author including Lust, Money & Murder and Passion, Power & Sin.
“My primary goal is to be a successful writer and entertain
my readers as much as possible. My blog
serves that purpose. The information and
tips for other writers is sort of a freebie every now and then I’m inspired to
share what I’ve learned and write a post about it. Simple as that.”
Mystery Author Dave Zeltserman is the award-winning author of
the Julius Katz mystery series.
“Small Crimes blog:
What I’m trying to do with the blog is connect with my readers, provide some
interesting articles, and keep readers’ apprised to new stuff of mine coming
out.”
There May Be Issues
Several of the Spotlight Crew had issues with blogging
because of the time involved. They wanted to prioritize their work schedule
between writing novels, social media and blogging. For some blogging had to
take a backseat.
Author Cindy Blackburn is the author of Cue Ball
Mysteries and the Cassie Baxter
Mysteries.
“I use my blog—a funny, silly poem posted every Sunday—as a
way to tell folks what’s been on my mind that week. It’s my ‘news’ really. Time
is a huge issue. Between writing mysteries, keeping up with my blog, twitter,
and other social media, I’m almost always working. And even when I’m doing
something else, I have my current work in progress and characters in my head,
nagging me. Good thing I love my job!”
Best-selling Author Russell Blake is the award-winning author of
The JET series, Assassin series and BLACK series.
“I view the blog as a pressure valve, to let off steam,
nothing more. I write my blog mainly for other authors, so not a lot of books
being sold that way. I have no goal other than to be relevant in any discourse.
People will buy my books due to word of mouth, primarily, so all the social
media and the rest as anything but a way to interact with readers I view as a
waste of time. As to time, if you look at the hours I put in; it’s not hard to
find the time if what you do is this, twelve to fifteen hours a day.”
Author Carmen DeSousa is a romantic-suspense and
paranormal author of the Southern Suspense Series.
“Ahh…one of my number one questions[time]! The easiest
answer: I’m a workaholic, and I love books. I wake up at five a.m. and spend
three hours of my day simply blogging and chatting on social networks. I then
workout on an elliptical where I am able to read for an hour. After that, I
drop my son off at school and then come home and write until I have to pick him
up. I try to write two thousand words a day. At night, I edit for other
authors, and then right before I go to bed, I read what I wrote for the day.
So…I spend about fifteen hours in my book world.”
Author Douglas Dorow is a mystery and thrillers
author.
“Managing time is the magic bullet. I have a full-time job
in addition to my writing, so I have to prioritize what I work on if I want to
get any writing done. Blogging is something I do less frequently. I don’t know
if I should do it at all since I do it infrequently, but I like to share things
with readers and writers once in a while, so I post something out there once in
a while.”
Author Paul Levine is the award-winning, bestselling
Mystery & Thrillers author of the JAKE LASSITER and SOLOMON vs. LORD
series.
“Well, now that I’m deep into the next novel, my blog has
suffered. When I’m caught up blogging,
the novel suffers. Again, I blog for
fun. Yes, I’d like to pop up on search engines with readers looking for “legal
thrillers” or “courtroom mysteries,” but on a time/benefit analysis, I’m not
sure blogging is great marketing.”
Author Julie Anne Lindsey is the bestselling author
of the Honey Creek Books and The Patience Price Mysteries.
“I feel I neglect my blog horribly these days. In the
beginning I wrote daily, then three days a week, then once a week….As writing
has gone from an aspiration to a deadline situation, I’ve fallen away from the
dedicated schedule I began with. I started my blog the year I started writing
in the hopes of publication. I thought there was enough to learn that it
deserved being chronicled, so I did. I blogged about whatever I learned that week
about craft, blogged industry news and contests, my personal rejections and
triumphs. It was a sounding board. A place to find friends and share what I had
to offer. I also used it to gain followers. Back then my followers were all
writers and that was the goal – outreach and documentation.
I’m not sure who visits now, but I use the blog for
continued networking, to support and encourage fellow writers and to share news
related to my career. I open the blog to any writer who wants to guest post or
spotlight their new release and I occasionally blog about an event or something
notable in my writing journey, but overall, I’ve fallen slack. It’s tough to
juggle it all with real life and meet the deadlines, so family comes first,
then friends, then writing and editing.
After that, I update my social media and the blog gets my
attention last. Time management is the toughest thing in this life, I think.”
Bestselling Mystery
and Suspense Author Robin Mahle is an
author of the Redwood Violet suspense series.
“But it is difficult and I’m not nearly as up to speed with
the whole blogging thing as some of my colleagues. I should be posting much more often, but I
need to write novels or all the blogging in the world isn’t going to do me a
bit of good. My goal is to simply give
readers a glimpse of who I am and tell them a little about my writing process.
If they like what they read, maybe they’ll pick up one of my books. It’s all about building relationships!”
Suspense Author Dale Mayer is a writer of Romantic Suspense,
Thrillers and Paranormal Romance. Dale has written several series including the
Design series, By Death Series, Family Blood Ties, and Psychic Visions series.
“My blog does touch on the industry and publishing and
writing at times, but I’ve cut back on that.
I think there’s too much infighting going on and it’s
counter-productive. As Jeff Bezos [Amazon founder] notes
and I just blogged about: Complaining is
not a business strategy.
I do Survival Friday posts every Friday to give readers of
my blog important information they can use.
I plan on starting Who Dares Wins Wednesday after Survival
Friday runs out in July. Giving people
useful tips for living.”
Author Tracy H. Meyer writes gritty, edgy Young
Adult/New Adult fiction and Adult Romance.
“First of all, thank you! I enjoy writing on my blog, though
I don’t do it on a schedule.
I write a blog when something comes into my mind that I want
to write about. I also contribute to others’ blogs and that’s a really fun way
to reach new readers. My daily priority is writing, then social media, then my
blog. But if something pops up in my head that I want to blog about, nothing
can stop me!”
Author C. J. Peterson is the author of the The Holy
Flame Trilogy.
“I’m afraid as far as my blog that gets the least amount of
attention from me. Along with the Featured Author page, that is changed out
each month. When I post in my actual blog, they tend to be posts that mean
something to me. I tend to post only if a thought strikes me, or a new release,
or in the last two, it was poetry from my husband’s heart from his time in the
military. My main passion in writing is in the books.”
It is All about Blog Content
Some of the authors interviewed on the HBS Author’s
Spotlight thought blog content was important in keeping their readers involved.
The idea here is to get the readers to keep coming back to the blog.
Author Giacomo Giammatteo writes Mystery and Suspense
novels in which many of the scenes are taken from real-life experiences.
“…I love writing about our animals, so many of the blog
posts are either about them or incorporate the animals into stories on writing
or life in general. I have two blogs: one for my non-fiction website, http://nomistakes.org, where I publish weekly
tips on resumes and interviews and such; and the other is my mystery blog and
the topics can range from my animals, to drug addiction, to writing, anything.
My goal is not to sell books, but more to just let people know who I am.”
Author Garrard Hayes writes Crime, Mystery and
Thriller novels.
“Thank you, although I don’t blog as much as I used to. I
post my interviews there and write about foreign policy and the Middle East. My
blog is part of my website but it appears on my amazon.com author page and on
my Goodreads author page automatically, and I post it on Facebook and tweet it.
All my social media sites are connected, so people can easily find my website
on my Twitter profile and so on. I’m passionate about writing and encouraging
others, but also I like to inform people about things that affect all of us,
such as the danger of militant Islam and the abuse of human rights.”
Best-selling Author Kathleen Kirkwood (pseudonym for Anita Gordon)
is award-winning Romance, Historical Fiction, and Paranormal writer.
“LOL, that's another struggle and I may have to only do it
every other week. We'll see. If I'm going to put time into a blog, I want it to
have some "meat" to it and be of interest to the reader as well as
myself since it takes me awhile to compose them. There are so many interesting
facts and tidbits that come up during the writing of a novel, but that never
get into it, I'd like to include them in the blog.
It's a sort of a behind-the-scenes look, an ‘author
confidential’ if you will (yes, inspired by the Doctor Who Confidentials.) I
also love historic recipes and am including foods my characters eat in the
pages of the book (and some they don't, but still with an historic connection).
I'll be focusing on Viking cooking is several blogs ahead, including Katla's
skyr. Meanwhile, next week, I'll dish up some Pönnukökur með þeyttum rjóma,
Icelandic Pancakes (think dessert crêpes).”
Author David Lawlor is a Historical Fiction Writer
and provides an editing service for other authors.
“They are very important in that they are the only real
means I use to tell people about my books. I have found many helpful people on
Twitter who have been more than willing to tweet to others about my writing. I
also have a blog – historywithatwist.wordpress.com
– which celebrates the bit players of
history, the ordinary man or woman who may have done one extraordinary thing.
There are many of them out there and their stories can be just as powerful, if
not more so, than those larger historic figures. I get to interact with
like-minded enthusiasts on the blog and often have stories referred to me from
people who follow it.”
Chantel Rhondeau is a Romantic suspense
author. Chantel writes the Agents in Love series.
“I used to spend a lot of time blogging. Now, I'm a great
cheater, truthfully. Since I know my readers are interested in finding new
authors and things to read, I signed up as a tour host for blog tours. Then I'm
given ready-made posts, can give my readers new, interesting content, and I
don't have to put a ton of work into it.
Now, of course I do try and get in some book reviews and
more personal posts, but when I'm in a rush and behind schedule, my blog mostly
maintains itself with the blog tour posts.”
Bestselling Author Vickie McKeehan writes romantic suspense.
“I still don’t know why I dragged my feet so long about
starting a blog. I love having one now! The only problem with it is coming up
with new content.
I’m the first to admit I’m not as good about writing
articles as I should be. Writing books takes up most of my days. I salute those
other writers like Carolyn Arnold though
who can do it all and make it look effortless. Carolyn’s one who does it all.”
Takeaways from Using Your Blog to Market Your Novels
A.
Keep readers informed, involved and interested.
B.
There are time issues involved with blogging on a
regular basis.
C.
You must prioritize your work load between writing,
social media and blogging.
D.
Interesting content will keep the reader coming back to
the blog.
E.
A blog helps you practice the art of writing.
Related posts
Plus:
From Joel Friedlander and Joan Stewart
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Or EMAIL at: james.moushon@gmail.com
View my website: James
Moushon – Mystery Writer
Or visit my blog: The eBook Author Corner
Take a look at my Author’s blog: HBS Author’s Spotlight
And the HBS Mystery
Readers’s Circle
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