How to Build Readers With Blog Posts
It seems nowadays that everyone has a blog. My friend just made a blog for her dog, and his blog is getting more hits than her own! (He is a much better writer than she is). The key to having a successful blog is reciprocity. The good old give-and-take. It's not just for friendships anymore! The fact is, with so many blogs out there, you need yours to stand out. Just blogging about your life is not enough, unless you were raised in a little people's circus in Brussels. If you were, then feel free to blog on, and send me the link.
For the rest of us, we need to give the reader something more. I am not saying you need to give out a free copy of your book. We live in the information age, so give your reader some unique and helpful information. No, the release date for your next book does not count. I recently had a great discussion on Goodreads, with a woman who was a romance writer. She said she blogs about her daily life and wonders why people aren't coming to her blog. Then she mentioned she was thinking about reviewing other romance novels. Bingo! People who don't know you don't care about your life. Sad but true. Give them something they want. If you're a romance writer, people who like to read romance novels would love some reviews of books you recommend. Once they see the way you write, and that you are giving them great ideas about what to read, they will trust you. If they trust you, then they will feel like they know you. They may start following your blog just for your reviews, but soon they will start reading the few things you put up about your own life as well. Stay away from your recent camping trip at first, and start with the difficulties you experienced with writing your most recent work. That's interesting to readers.
Once they are checking your blog a few times a week, they will buy your books for two reasons. One: They will be curious about you and what your writing is like. Maybe it's just plane curiosity at the beginning. That's OK. If you're a good writer, one book bought out of curiosity will turn into five bought because they love your writing. The second reason people will buy your book is because they want to support you. They check your site a few times a week, wait patiently for your next review, and suddenly feel like they owe you something in return for all you have given them. Voila, a book sale. Once again, if you're good, they will keep buying.
Now book reviews are great, but that is something every writer can provide. What makes you unique? For me, I put up something I call "Your Daily Dose of Beauty". I basically find a beautiful picture that I hope inspires my readers. It doesn't matter to me if it helps inspire them to write their own novel or tap dance on the kitchen table. I just want them to feel inspired. If they feel inspired by my picture once, they will come back for more inspiration time and time again, and I will provide. I have over 1600 followers, and I know many of them started checking out my page every night for my "Daily Dose of Beauty" but once they got used to that, they branched out and started looking at everything on my page. Mhairi Simpson, who I talked to, said she invents a "Wednesday Word" and then gives the definition for it. That sounds awesome. Wait! Don't run off to find her blog just yet, I have more to tell you.
My 1600 followers are on my Facebook page. Why do I use a Facebook page you might ask? Because my pet project is to help inspire young female writers, and they are more likely to check out a Facebook page than a blog. I write several times a day, all about how to be a writer. I love inspiring young writers so it's not a gimmick, it's a love. That's very important. If your angle is a gimmick, people will see right through it. Find something that you love, and write about that. I also answer their writing questions. This helps to develop a relationship with my readers. That might be a little more difficult on a blog, but you could do a weekly poll. People love to feel included. Plus you learn something new about your target readers. I also have an email sign-up. No, not just to tell them when my book is coming out. That's boring. I let my readers help choose the covers for my books. I ask them for help with naming characters, things like that. Then they want to buy the book to find out what I used. They feel like a part of the story, and I am happy to say they are.
The bottom line is that you're a writer—stop pushing your book and bathtub cleaning schedule, and start giving your readers something they can use and something that makes you unique.
