Why An Author Should Blog

Bestselling Author Shares 3 Tips for Building Your Blog Audience.

The link above leads to a great read for the author who hasn’t yet started a blog. It explains how a blog can help you develop an audience for your work.

In my opinion, blogging does something else. It teaches you how to interact with your readers and let’s you practice and develop those skills.

As a closet introvert, it is work for me to “act” extroverted.  I like interacting with people. That is genuine. But it takes a toll on me, whereas the real extrovert gets energized by interaction. Give and take with readers is part of being a commercially successful author.

The work of the author continues long after the book has been written and published. The role includes marketing the book. That means public speaking, book signings, and promotion, promotion, promotion. Blogging can help prepare an author for the public relations aspect of writing.

Here’s a list of interesting statistics:

1. The average independently published author sells 45 copies per book title in a lifetime.
2. The average traditionally published author sells 4,500 copies per book title in a lifetime.
3. Nora Roberts sells 81 books per minute.

The explanation of the Roberts Success Formula, according to Fay, follows:

Nora Roberts writes and markets every business day from 9 to 5. She treats writing as her job, not her passion or avocation or hobby. She understands that successful selling is part of her role. Her results demonstrate that.

Successful writing is work. It is creation, re-writing, publication, marketing, and sales.

Whew. I am tired just thinking about it. Where’s my vitamin bottle? I am in training, and I’ve already got my running shoes on.