Blogging and how it can catapult your book sales and you has an author

Self Publishing

Blogging and how it can catapult your book sales and you has an author.

Blogging is becoming huge and there are hundreds of blogs on the Net. Although to start your own blog you need many hours of time a week to be successful, and most of us don’t have that kind of time.

All is not lost; there is an easier way than spending hours on your own blog: writing guest posts for other people’s blogs. This is a great way to help new readers find you and promote yourself as well as your book for free. Free is good, and as you are already a writer, there should be no problem.

Writing for blogs can help grow your fan base and can help you connect with book readers. There are heaps of book, literary, and industry blogs out there, many of which accept guest content, in fact looking for it. But finding a blog whose audience mirrors your own, and successfully pitching articles can take a lot of time and effort, if you don’t know where to go.

To make things easier, here are a few tips on how to successfully guest write for blogs.

Identify which blogs reach your target audience e.g. your genre’.

Start by finding blogs whose audiences match your desired audience who read your kind of books. You can find blogs that focus on your genre’ and area of expertise, or audiences demographic, even blogs that produce content covering a wider range of genres and categories. Don’t pitch your romantic novel to a crime novel site, it will not work, be congruent.

Choosing a blog or outlet that promotes your genre is always a great way to begin. Odds are, if the blog owner or editor who runs the blog already likes the genre, chances are they will take the time to look at your book. Again do your research.

OK where to look?

To find some blogs that are relevant to you, use a search engine, check to see if any authors or bookstagrammers who cover genres relevant to you have a blog, and explore some of the many online book blog directories. Start a list of a few book blogs that fit your work.

Here are a few directories to help you start, just type into Google:

Word of caution:

Before pitching content, it’s important to familiarise yourself with a blog’s content types, its audience, and its style. Being familiar with its content and audience can help you decide if the blog is a smart fit for you, determine what type of post would be useful for them, and write a more thoughtful and tailored pitch. Being familiar with their style can allow you to match it appropriately when you write yours.

Check out the blog’s articles, comments, and social media following. Look through their headlines and by reading some of their posts can help you get to know their content and style, and to better understand who makes up their audience. Seeing who is commenting and who is following them on social media can give you a better idea of who reads it, and what they are looking for.

Then simply contact the organiser of the blog and offer them some helpful articles. Explain who you are, about your writing and books. As said it takes many hours a week to do your own blog, so for the organiser it is no different.
Chances are if they like your writing they will jump at the chance to get new content. After all content is King on the Internet.