Why Do You Blog?

I'll be the first to admit it: Blogging can be hard, tedious, yet somehow invigorating!

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Molly Greene had some great thoughts about the whole blogging process in her recent article: 5 Simple Steps To A Super Blogatude and I'd like to share one of them with you here.

"Know why you’re blogging

Why do you blog? If your answer is “because I think I should,” your reply just may increase the odds that you’ll quit. There are lots of reasons to work at building a successful blog. If you’re an author, blogging is an important tool in your book promotion tool box. Blogging sells you, meaning your unique voice. It teaches you about social media and the online world, it helps you forge alliances with other authors and bloggers, and it brings traffic to your website, which lets people know about your books and enhances your name recognition with readers and search engines."

Did you hear what Molly said? Are all you authors out there listening? Blogging IS important. Forming relationships with your audience IS important. Readers buy more books from authors that they feel a connection to. One way to make that connection is by posting interesting, silly, informative articles on your blog. Engage them. Make them want to know more about you, about your life, and your writing.

But don't stop there, make sure you post links to your latest blog post on twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Now, BUTT IN CHAIR. WRITE. And don't forget to send me a link to your next post. Heck, you can even put that link in the comment area under this post!

TO READ MORE OF MOLLY'S ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

Reviews Sell Books

Six out of 10 consumers refer to online reviews before they decide what to buy.

They trust those reviews almost 12 times more than descriptions written by publishers.

But not all reviews have to be positive. Marketing studies show that when consumers find negative reviews sprinkled among the reviews that are gushing about a product, they're more confident that the good reviews are trustworthy.

If you're publishing a book, ask for reviews from these three groups:

--Consumers. Just ask.

--Bloggers. Many bloggers--even those in narrow niches--have raving, loyal fans. An enthusiastic recommendation from the blogger to "buy this book" can be far more powerful than the slickest sales page.

--Journalists. Capturing a product review from a columnist for Forbes, Fortune or Real Simple magazine can send your sales through the roof.

*Courtesy of Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound. For more tips and information check out her website at: http://publicityhound.com/