When you make the decision to create a blog to showcase your romance writing, there are many more details than simply what platform to use, and how often to post. While these two details are quite important to consider, you also want to insure your blog is as successful as possible. The more people who are aware of you as a writer, the more books you may sell. And if you’re yet to be published, then when you do publish, you’ll have a built in audience. Publishers take notice of romance writers who already have a following.
In that vein, I thought it could be beneficial to you if we ran through some of the factors which can assist in that success.
First and foremost, please keep in mind that these are just steps. They are the first planning points, which are always alterable. What feels right today may not provide you with the same feelings in a week or two, and that’s the joy of the Internet! You can switch things up quite easily if you decide what you started with isn’t what works.
Write out these steps in your notebook, or some other location where you can go back and read them regularly. I find it’s often helpful to clear up any writer’s block or bumps in the road if I can go back to see exactly where I’m headed. With all of your romance writing ideas, your blog plans, personal schedules and other life-related things going on it’s easy to sometimes become overwhelmed by the whole process. Having simple, distinguishable goals to go back and look upon is a great way to get both feet firmly planted back on the ground, enabling you to focus on things more clearly again.
Before you even think about which platform you’re going to use for your blog, take some time to consider the following points.
- What is the goal of your blog? Will it be used to sell your romance books, gain readers, share tips with other writers or some other purpose entirely? Be specific with any point related to each goal. Instead of vaguely saying, “I’d like to gain new readers,” specify what your goal is by stating something along the lines of, “I’d like to gain one new reader every week.”
If your main goal is to sell your romance novels, make sure you use logical and achievable goals. I’m sure all of us would love to sell 100 books a week; however is that really a feasible goal to set? You don’t want to set yourself up for disappointment from day one.
- Sit and think about who your perfect visitor to this new blog would be. Is it someone who is the occasional visitor looking for tips to get their own writing business going? Or is it someone who’s going to comment on your posts regularly, buys everything you could ever want to sell, and reads with voracity every post you make? By answering some, if not all of these types of questions you may find it easier to get a clear picture of who you’re writing for, and the best way to accomplish that.
- What are you going to write about on your blog? Keeping in mind your perfect reader, do you simply want to write posts about your own romance works in progress? Or would you like to help others by giving tips and advice on romance writing in general?
- Have a brainstorming session frequently to build up your stock of potential blog post titles and topics. These don’t necessarily need to be done at a particular time every week or month. As you probably already know, ideas can hit writers at some of the most interesting times. Be sure you always have a notebook and pen with you for these impromptu ideas. The worst thing that can happen is you have this wonderful idea for a future blog post and you have nowhere to write it. Can you imagine writing ideas on your arm in the checkout line at the grocery store so you don’t forget it? I recommend you always keep a small notepad with you so this doesn’t happen.
- Prepare your first post. You might want this to be an introduction of yourself, including an explanation of what your blog’s purpose will be and what people can expect to find there. You may wish to include a posting schedule as well, especially if you plan on covering different topics or ideas on different days of the week. If you do set some sort of schedule, remember to keep it yourself. Long live the post-it note.
- Prepare your posts ahead of time when possible. You may find, especially at the beginning of your blogging experience, you simply can’t come up with something when you need it. Or you could have the opposite happen and end up with too many topics at one time. By preparing your posts ahead of time you’re always sure to have something to post on your scheduled day, just in case something unplanned comes up, or simply if you don’t feel like writing that day at all.
- Choose your perfect platform. This is going to take some research on your part. There are many possibilities out there for bloggers, and each one has their benefits and drawbacks. It doesn’t really matter which platform you choose, as long as it’s one you are comfortable with now and also see yourself happy with in the future. Some options are Blogger, WordPress.com, or perhaps even your own website.
- Add visual aspects to your posts. This can range anywhere from graphics and images to headers for breaking up sections to using font attributes such as bold or italics. Your blog posts are not the same as your novels. Add some flair you wouldn’t normally consider in your writing ventures.
Last but definitely not least, it’s time to post that first entry to your blog. Take some time going over it in your mind and aloud to make sure it has the tone you want to portray to the world. Take one more chance to spell-check it and you’re ready. You can confidently hit Publish and invite the world into your world. Congratulations, and welcome to the world of promoting your romance writing through blogging!