Listen,…is this you? You write beautiful stories for the books in your author business with an eye for details and choosing the right words. You are proud of your work and you want to share your books with readers who will appreciate the stories. I bet that is you.
The intention is to sell what you put into the world… after all, you are in business. A blog is a great way to engage with just the right people, your people… YOUR readers. Let’s explore why your author business needs a blog, shall we?
Ways to engage with your audience
There are a few things every business needs to get in front of an audience. And a few ways to engage with that audience.
Social media engagement
First, let’s look at social media. You are a smart business owner and you know you need to be present on social media. So you’ve set up an account on for example Instagram and Facebook. There you can share your work, your books, and your creative ideas. It is a nice and quick way to engage with people who may (or may not) be YOUR people.
Have you ever thought about what would happen if Instagram or Facebook shut down? Or because of algorithm changes, your engagement is decreasing? Sometimes accounts get flagged and it’s hard to figure out why… let alone how to fix it. It also becomes harder to be found by your audience in a jungle of accounts. Plus you need to constantly be active on these platforms to stay visible.
Don’t rely on social media to connect with your audience. You are building your author business on borrowed ground and that is never a good thing.
Building an email list
A better way to engage with your readers is by writing them newsletters on what is happening in your business. In every bio on your social media accounts, you can link to your email provider so people can sign up to receive your newsletter. An email list is a great way to write to the people that are willing to hear more from you.
Thing is, people aren’t always very generous with their email addresses. It takes trust. Nobody wants to just hand out their email address to come back to an ever so overflowing inbox.
To get people to trust you with their email address, they first want to engage with you from a distance. You probably heard of the know – like – trust factor. A great option to like and trust you is through your blog.
Therefore I believe blogging for authors is important. The best way to engage with your readers is through your own blog.
The number 1 reason why your author business needs a blog
Your author blog is a fantastic marketing tool to sell your books.
Not only that but also to showcase other relevant (affiliate) products that can make you money as well. Think about e-readers, reading lights, book bags, reading journals, or bookmarks.
In your blog posts, you talk about your books, you tell the stories of how your characters came to life, and you get people enthusiastic about your work.
When you engage in comments, you get to know your audience, and even better, they get to know you! There is nothing more precious than connecting with your readers on a deeper level. You learn what they are after, what they want to read next, how your story affected them, and even their lives. This will give you the inspiration for new stories you can create, exactly what your readers are looking for.
Getting discovered on Google
Imagine you have a question. You’ll hop on Google to get some answers. Chances are you are led to an article or blog post to get your question answered. It’s not common that you’ll find that answer searching Facebook or Instagram. Which is logical because those platforms are for social engagement, those are not a search engine, like Google is.
Your readers are also turning to Google with their questions. Questions you can answer in your articles on your blog.
Think about articles about your background, how you became an author. Or the inspiration for your newest book (or older series). Or your process of getting the story out of your head and onto paper for any aspiring new author out there.
Writing good blog posts and using SEO (search engine optimization) will get you among the top posts on Google so people find your articles with the answer to their questions for years to come. And the more blog posts you write and publish on your blog, the more likely Google finds your posts and shows them to your audience.
Be intentional with your content
You don’t want to treat your author blog as purely a diary. Those days are long gone, because your blog is not about you. Your blog is intended to generate book sales and it is geared toward your reader.
As I mentioned before, your author blog is a marketing tool. You need to figure out what your reader (for your blog and books) wants to know from you as an author and business owner. From there you can put together a proper strategy to use your blog as the best marketing tool ever.
A great way to figure out what your reader is interested in, is to look at your Google Analytics for your website. Here you can see which blog posts get the most visits. Comments are a nice measuring tool on how well a post is doing as well. And if you’re just starting out writing for your blog you can always figure out what content does well on other platforms like social media.
That doesn’t mean you can’t share your trip to Italy, but bring it as research for your upcoming book. Try to connect your blog post writing to your book writing. In fact, sharing that trip to Italy can be excellent as a way to prime people and get them to sign up for your newsletter where you share the upcoming launch of that fantastic new book of yours.
If you find it difficult to come up with content for your blog on a regular basis, join my Visibility Membership. Each month you will get a topic for your blog including a title, keywords, and ideas on how to put the post together. It also includes a swipe file for your monthly newsletter and templates for social media posts.
Your website, your blog, your home
Once I had a teacher who said you can look at your website as your home where you invite your people to hang out with you. The social media platforms are the parties and social gatherings where you meet people… YOUR people. Not everybody wants, or needs for that matter, to come to your place. And that’s ok.
You invite only the people who you want to talk to on a deeper level, people who take an interest in you as a writer, people you share something with. Via the comment section, you can get answers to the questions you ask in your blog posts.
So even when the parties end, you always have a home to get back to, where you invite your friends, your readers to talk and catch up. You build your home on your own ground to keep in touch with YOUR audience.
It’s easier to communicate your values and beliefs on your author blog. You don’t have to remember and to abide by the rules of different platforms. You set the rules for your blog. You decide what you want to write about, what you want to tell your audience.
On your own author blog, you have more room for telling your stories. Stories about you, how you became an author, a business owner, what your craft means to you, and how your books can entertain the reader. People are more willing to spend time reading a blog post, than stopping and reading your long caption on Instagram. They are on Instagram to scroll.
Leading your readers to other places, showing them around your website
Once you lead your people back to your website and blog, you can guide them to other pages on your website. In your articles, you can talk about your newest book and build enthusiasm for older series and your backlist. And you know you are talking to a warm audience because they followed you to your home on the world wide web.
Your author blog is also a perfect place to ask for that email address. Your audience wants to be kept in the loop of things to come, so they are more willing to give you their email address. Especially when you give them a little gift as a thank you for signing up, like the first chapter of one of your books.
Email marketing is a perfect way to sell your books as well. Reward your fans, because that’s who your email subscribers are, by giving them first access to the sales page of your new book, a special discount code, or a bonus content to your published book only made for them.
But also, through your articles on your blog, you can link to the books in your shop on your website (or elsewhere). Guide your readers which books they should start reading first and take them behind the scenes throughout a series.
Conclusion
As you can see, having an author blog, writing articles about your business and your brand has a lot of benefits being a fantastic marketing tool. You don’t want to rely on social media alone.
Are you interested in connecting with your readers through blog posts, but don’t have the expertise or the time? I’m a certified Virtual Writer and Content Creator and I can help you in your author business. Let’s talk.
