Authors contemplating a new blog are often stopped because they just aren’t sure they can come up with enough material to share. They have a few initial post ideas. But beyond that, they are stumped—blocked. They can’t imagine producing something worth publishing every day or even once a week. And some don’t. You’ve probably visited blogs where the most recent post was in October of 2010 or even 2008.
Here are some ideas for your blog:
• Share the back story of your book—how you came to write it, for example. This could cover at least a week’s worth of posts. Invite others to share their stories and you’ve greatly expanded your material.
• Talk about the writing experience. You could have something new to say on this topic practically every day if you go into your writing style, why you chose it and how it works for you; what inspires you; what inspires other authors you know; how you manage your writing time; what helps you overcome writers block and so forth.
• Provide information related to the topic of your book. If you’ve written a novel or children’s book, pull themes from your story to expand on in your blog posts. If your book is nonfiction, you should have numerous avenues you could explore with your blog followers.
• Use excerpts from your book. Actually publish sections from your book.
• Write how-tos: How to flesh out your characters, how to approach a publisher, how to choose fabrics for your quilt, how to groom a terrier, etc.
• Share resources related to the theme of your book. Yesterday, I offered links to online critique group sites. I’ve also provided links to book reviewers, publishers, magazines seeking articles/stories and much more.
• Keep up with the news on your topic and give reports through your blog.
• Invite guest bloggers to fill space in your blog.
• Give your opinion on topics of interest to your followers. Write editorials or essays on the state of the publishing industry, the popularity of the Kindle, the use of certain words in the English language, the price of ebooks, etc.
• Interview others in your field or genre.
As you can see, a blog is whatever you want to make it. But you’d better tune into your audience so that what you bring to the table is what they want served to them. Just keep putting yourself in the shoes of your readers and you should be able to entertain and inform them quite adequately through your blog.
FYI, I’m Patricia Fry. You can learn more about me, my books and my services here:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com