Starting a Blog: Final Thoughts

This is the final installment of my article: Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start a Blog.

5. How will I know if blogging is for me?

Blogging takes time and dedication. It can take months, even years, to build a readership. If you already struggle to find time to write, I wouldn’t recommend starting a blog. However, if you’re looking for a way to build a platform and gain a web presence, go ahead and invest the time. An excellent article by Rob Eager—The Dangers of Blogging—might help you decide. Also, Wendy over at All In a Day's Thought wrote a fantastic post, Dissecting the Blog, which might convince you to start one.

If you decide to start a blog, you might notice an unexplainable shift in your attitude after you've posted regularly for a few months. The terror of starting a blog gives way to a feeling of accomplishment. You no longer sweat over every word you write; you trust yourself, especially since you’re writing in advance and allowing time to edit. You also feel terrific about sticking to your schedule. Who doesn’t love to feel confident? I do!

Confidence will prod you to promote yourself. When you reach the point where you feel comfortable blogging, you’ll look for ways to attract readers. You’ll visit other writer’s blogs and leave comments. You’ll want to make your site more visual, and you’ll include more links. You might even add a statistics program to track your visitors.

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat—it made your blog go from amateur to awesome!

Final Thoughts

A blog can be a terrific promotional tool for unpublished authors. Don’t make the mistake of thinking promotion is only for published authors. Everything you release to the public, including a blog, is a promotion of yourself. Whether you want to get published ASAP, or sometime in the distant future, you will have to submit your work to editors or agents to reach that goal.

When nothing you’ve written has been published, having a blog and website can increase your odds of getting an editor or agent to take a chance on you. No, editors aren't trolling the Internet in search of the next great author; they don't have time for that. However, if you make the information available when you submit projects, they may check your blog out. I include my website and my blog address in my letterhead whenever I query.

Even if the editor doesn’t look at my website or blog, she knows I’m web-savvy. If the editor does look at my blog, she’ll see an archive of posts. She’ll know I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and deduce I can handle deadlines and am dedicated to my craft. She’ll also get an idea of my voice, my writing style, and my skill level in regards to writing mechanics. I’m positive these will only help a new author’s career.

If an editor is undecided between two equal projects, I believe the author with promotional tools in place would edge out the other one. Promotion is a big part of the business; make an editor’s job easy and learn about it before you get published. What are you waiting for? Go out there and start a blog!

Enjoy your weekend!

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