5 Benefits of Maintaining an Author Blog

A couple weeks ago, I admitted a blog is a time consuming endeavor. I pointed out that, if you only have time to write future books or maintain a blog, publishing more work would probably do more to get you found than blogging. But there are benefits to doing both if you can make the time.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to start a blog if you haven’t already:

1. A blog can help you get noticed.

The big obstacle we’re all facing when we get started, especially as an indie author, is to get found. Until you’re in a bestseller’s list somewhere, it’s unlikely folks are going to stumble across your work.

Every blog post you have out there, however, is a doorway into your world. The more relevant your posts are to your target audience, the more likely they are to find you.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the best example for this, since I’m writing about e-publishing here instead of fantasy-related topics (AKA the stuff that would attract people who might be interested in my ebooks). If you haven’t seen my old post, “Authors, What Should You Blog About?” it may be worth a peep.

2. A blog can become a source of extra income.

When authors start a blog, their sole motivation may be to sell more of their books. Sure, it can do that, but that needn’t be the end of things.

If you work on building up a niche readership and a reasonable amount of daily traffic, there are other ways to make money from your site. I’ve talked about affiliate programs numerous times, and that’s one way to start earning: sign up to be an Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, or Barnes & Noble affiliate and include links to books you talk about on your site. You’ll get a cut if people buy them.

You can also sell advertising to other authors or list your blog in the Kindle store where people can subscribe to it for a dollar or two a month. If you write non-fiction, you can sell courses or products that are audio- or video-related and go beyond ebooks.

Take a look at “Three Ways to Make Extra Money with Your Author Blog” for more details.

3. A blog lets your readers find you and learn more about you.

Sure, there are plenty of stories of reclusive authors who never interact with their fans. But, all things being equal, most of us would rather support real people, and it’s often the ability to follow people’s journeys that make them feel “real” to us.

If you’re not traditionally published (and, perhaps, even if you are), nobody is going to pay for you to go on book tours and visit conventions. Having a place in cyberspace where readers, and potential readers, can find you is the next best thing.

4. A blog gives you an opportunity to help others (who may just help you back).

If you’ve ever guest posted, been interviewed, or had your books written up on someone else’s blog, then you’ve probably been grateful that person gave you the opportunity to get the word out. You might have linked to that blog post from your blog or tweeted about it or mentioned it on Facebook. That helps you, but it also helps the person who owns the blog. You’re essentially helping them promote their site.

If interview, review, or accept blog posts from other authors, they’ll likely do the same for you.

If all you ever do is talk about your own books on your blog, you’re going to have a limited audience, and you’re missing out on the ability to help other people. Altruism aside, people like to do favors for those who have done favors for them!

At the least, you’re increasing the depth of your blog and creating more ways people may find you. I’ve had lots of visitors find my site because they were looking for information on people I’ve interviewed.

5. A blog helps you build a website you may need down the road.

Right now, the royalties for indie ebook authors are attractive, with payouts ranging from 60-85% depending on which retailer your book sells through. Given the fairness of that cut and how popular and trusted the big booksellers are, it seems beneficial for all just to let them handle the selling part of things. But we don’t know what the future holds. Maybe one day, royalties will get slashed to 35%, or censorship or something else will make it less attractive to sell one’s books at these retailers.

If you sell your ebooks on your own site, you’ll keep 100% of the earnings, minus transaction fees. Right now, it may not be worth the hassle, but if things change… who knows? Authors may suddenly decide selling directly to readers is the preferable option. If that happens, you’ll be glad you’ve already built up a following on your site and maybe even started a newsletter, so you have the email addresses of your fans.

There you have it: five benefits of maintaining an author blog. If you have the time, you probably won’t regret blogging!