What is a Blog?

A blog is a “web log.” Think of it as a diary of sorts, except instead of being private, you share it with the world via online daily or weekly posts—and the world shares back with you via comments.

A blog may be written by an individual (such as, an author), or may have multiple contributors (such as, a publisher who invites authors to participate or a group of authors who have something in common).

Blogs consist of regular entries called “posts”—which may contain commentaries, editorials, reviews, announcements, musings, or whatever you want. You may also include images and videos. Posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, meaning your newest posts display at the top of the blog.

Blogs are interactive, allowing others to add comments to your posts. You can also use your blog to run contests with your books as prizes (a sneaky way to advertise that costs very little). You may also add fun gadgets, link your blog to Facebook and Twitter, and do all sorts of things to get your name and your books noticed.

The important thing to remember is that a blog becomes a conversation between you and your readers. To be most effective, that conversation needs to be regular, inviting, friendly, informative—in short, it must be worth the time it takes to read it.

Blogs are as different as the personalities of their writers. They may center on a specific topic or be a “slice of life” series of postings. As an author, you want your blog to have a healthy dose of both your work (book information) and your personality.

*Image "borrowed" from smbmarketingguide.com

Why do you need a blog?

Today’s technologically savvy readers will Google you before they buy your book. They want to find you online and get a sense of you and your writing style first. If done well, a blog can close the sale for you.

A blog is a marketing tool. Never forget that. It connects you with your readers. If a reader likes your blog and your personality, they are more likely to purchase your books.

As an author, it is critical that you include complete information on each of your titles— cover image, release date, publisher information, ISBN number, links to where it can be purchased online, and excerpts. We will teach you how to do that in a future post.

What do I blog about?

In addition to book information and straightforward marketing and promotion, visitors to your blog will also want to get a sense of who you are—both as a writer and as a person.

• Who are you?
• What do you like?
• What are your hobbies?
• What causes are important to you?
• What are you reading?
• Where are you traveling?
• Where are you in your writing journey?
• How did you get published?
• What’s coming next?

These are all things you can post about on your blog.

As an author, you have two main groups of visitors to your blog: readers and writers. Include a mix of posts that will be of interest to both groups.

One last word on blogging: Think about what you post before you post it. Your image as a professional writer is priceless. Once something hits the internet, it’s out there forever and you can’t call it back. Make sure that the topics you post about and the attitudes you display reflect the image you want to portray.

It shouldn’t need saying here (but it does)—always, always check your spelling and grammar!

How much time does it take to blog?

This depends on you. It needs to take enough of your time to be an effective marketing tool, but not so much time that it interferes with new writing projects or other forms of promotion.

A good blog needs, at minimum, a weekly post; three to five posts a week is recommended. A blog needs regular, quality content to capture readers and keep them coming back.

Posts don’t need to be long or complex—in fact, short and simple is better for most readers. We’ll go over some ideas and suggestions later, but a rule of thumb is that it should take no more than 30 minutes for you to write a post. If it takes you more than that, you’re making it too hard.

Many authors will write an entire week of posts at one sitting and then set them up to auto-post on specific dates. (Yes, we'll teach you how to do this.)

Making the commitment

A neglected blog is worse than no blog at all. If you can’t commit to a minimum of one post a week, it would be better for you to go with a static website, which only needs updating when you release a new title.

If you’re worried about coming up with things to blog about, there are a million and one ideas out there on the Internet. Here are just a few:

• 101 Great Posting Ideas
• 100 Blog Topics
• 12 Ideas for Blog Posts
• Places to Get Ideas for Blog Posts

You can also Google your favorite authors and see what they’re doing.

If you’ve decided that you’re ready to commit (or re-commit), click on the OLDER POST link at the bottom to get started.

*Image borrowed from leadershipfreak.wordpress.com

Creating a Blogger Account

This begins the instructions for setting up a Blogger blog. There are other companies that provide free blogging services. We like Blogger because, in our opinion, it's the easiest to use. If you decide to go with a different company, these instructions will not help.


Before you create your new author blog, think about the URL you want. You may want to have a list of several possibilities in case your first choice is taken. Skip ahead to this post if you need help thinking of URL addresses, then come back here.


If you already have a Blogger blog:
You can use the same Google ID/Blogger sign-in when you create your author blog.

• Go to www.blogger.com.
• Sign in to get to your Dashboard.

Click image to enlarge.

• Click on the Create a Blog link (circled in red) to go to the Name Your Blog page.
• Click on the Older Post link at the bottom of this post to continue to the next step.

If you don't already have a Blogger blog:
You will need an email address to get started. If you don't have one, go create a free email account at hotmail or gmail or another email program. When you're done, come back here.

• Go to www.blogger.com.

Click image to enlarge.

• Click on the big orange button that says CREATE A BLOG.

Click image to enlarge.

At the "Create a Google Account" page, type in the following information in the screen as pictured above :

1. In the "Email Address" field, type in your email address.
   


2. In the "Retype email address" field, retype the same email address.
   


3. In the "Enter a password" field, type a password. Make a note of it somewhere safe so you don't forget it.
   
   Passwords should be at least 8 characters long. We suggest that you use a combination of both letters and numbers. For best protection, do not use words that can be found in the dictionary. When you enter your password, there is a password strength bar that will turn green when you have a password that will be difficult to hack.
   


4. In the "Retype password" field, retype the same password.
   


5. In the "Display name" field, type your name. This name will display at the bottom of every post. For example, on this blog it says, "Posted by LibrisPro". LibrisPro was the name I entered in this field.
   
   If you're an author, use your own first name; if a publisher, use your company name.
   


6. In the "Email notifications" box, click to check this box if you want to get regular emails from Blogger. I suggest you do this in the beginning.
   


7. In the "Birthday" field, enter your birthdate in MM/DD/YYYY format. Blogger uses this to make sure you fit their age requirements. It is not displayed anywhere.
   


8. In the "Word Verification" field, type the word that you see in green. Blogger uses word art to make sure you're a real person setting up the blog.
   


9. In the "Acceptance of Terms" box, click to check this box to accept the Terms of Service. You can click the Terms of Service link to read them.
   


10. Double check to make sure you spelled everything correctly.
    


11. Click the bright orange CONTINUE arrow at the bottom. This will take you to the Name Your Blog page.

Naming Your Blog

In this step, you’ll give your blog a name (title) and create the URL (the internet address). Sometimes, the title and the URL will be the same. Sometimes, it may be different. This is a personal choice.

Click image to enlarge.

1. On the "Name your blog" page, type a name for your blog in the Blog Title field. The Title displays at the very top of your blog page. You can change this later if you want.
   
   
2. In the Blog address (URL) field, type a name for your blog address. This cannot be changed.

For an author site, your best bet is to go with your name, if it’s available. That is what readers will type into the Google search field when they are looking for you.

Use your name as it appears on your book cover as your URL, if it’s available. For example, if you were J.K. Rowling, you’d want the URL jkrowling.blogspot.com. If you were Stephenie Meyer, you’d want stepheniemeyer.blogspot.com.

After typing in the URL that you want, click the “Check Availability” link. If the address is available, you’re good to go. If it is not, you may need to be a little creative—just don't get too silly. This is a professional author blog, after all.

When you are satisfied with your URL, click the big orange Continue arrow.