We had a lively discussion at our writers club last night about the importance vrs non-importance of blogging for the general public to read. Some insist that it helps to build courage to get our writing out there while other argue that blogging is more for those who love to rant without guidelines from a larger body. Admittedly, I have never blogged and cannot see the sense of dumping my written thoughts and ideas into a jumbled pot of millions of bloggers who are trying to get attention. I have read dozens of blogger's posts to get some sort of idea of style, form and grammatical rules for blogging but, have found that anyone who owns a computer can put their blogs on sites for the world to read. I would say that 9 out of 10 bloggers fail to say anything that is of any value other than non-researched ideas or preferential rants that border on silliness. So, the question still remains, are blogs any benefit to would like to be published authors? Gloria.
Like pretty much anything, they can be if you use them properly. I just put the flash I write on mine - originally I'd planned to do book reviews and general rambling on there as well, but it turned out I didn't really want to do that. My blog is never going to be a promotional thing for much that reason, just somewhere to put what I write. Written well, and promoted properly, a blog can help you build an audience. Written badly... well, doesn't say much for your book.
I agree with the hat - they can be, but often aren't. I wouldn't say they're necessary, for sure. There are lots of successful authors who don't blog. But if they're well done, they can be one more tool for getting your book in front of people.
***************** You hit my sentiments on this to the tee. Any badly worded, catastrophic grammatical published piece can end a writing career as quick as anything I know of. This was one of nay arguments at our writers club last night.
It's a common tool writers use to create/maintain an online presence and readership, and thus can be especially valuable for the self-published author who have little means of promoting themselves without forking out a fortune. However, like all things, you need to use it well in order for it to be of any value. Blogging takes a lot of time. As you've noticed, a lot of blogs are useless and readers know. They're not stupid. If all your blog contains is silly, unresearched opinions, the blog is unlikely to fly. But valuable blog posts - posts that are actually useful, insightful and/or educational, or perhaps resourceful - they take time to produce. You need to research and read up on the topic, including other blogs. To properly build an audience you may wanna start linking to valuable resources from other bloggers and create a network. All this takes time and effort - and it's not the case of reading the first 3 things you find on Google and including them in your daily blog. So unless you're willing to put in the time necessary to make your blog worthwhile, then I'd say it's better to have no blog at all. Why waste your time and produce something that doesn't even read well, which would only give your own book bad rep? But if you're actually interested in blogging and have the determination/discipline to maintain it to a high standard, I think it could be invaluable. Question is if you're willing to put in the hard work, when you could be writing your own novel instead
I think I'm going to shut mine down. I find I tend to publicly mope and feel bad about myself on it and I don't like that. I find mine is turning out to be a public whining post.
I'm using Blogspot right now for my articles, but I'm not quite satisfied by this platform. I've found another platform called Papeur, it seems nice. I mean it has a good design. I judge a site by its cover, yeah, I'm so bad. Has anybody used it? I need some advice.
With any kind of social media, you need to be posting consistently and frequently to get anywhere with it. It takes a lot of energy to build up your followers and then almost as much to keep them. It may be one of the few free forms of advertising but unless you're really time-rich or really cash-poor it costs more in time and energy than paid advertising costs in money.
You don't have to blog to be successful, though I can think of some authors for whom their active blogging and social media presence has certainly helped.
I agree with everybody, Most appropriate for such brethren is the local 'writers' club - the traditional and controlled gathering of the misfit, eccentric types and the drivel they spout. My friend tells me that ladies, occasionally a single man or chap in his anorak, gather, eat biscuits, read their 'stories,' snooze and cause absolutely no harm to anybody whatsoever. There is no need for these 'people' to go on-line, going forward. ... [apologies: over-excited, been at work all day, sorry xx]
