Blogging your book?
Helps you test your ideas, build and learn your audience, improves your book in the long run. Let’s discuss blogging for non-fiction books vs. fiction. The what, why, how, and where on blogging your book.
Thomas Umstattd Jr.’s article How to Blog your Book on Author Media is a great article for non-fiction books. They suggest The Pros and Cons of Blogging your Novel by Rachelle Gardner for fiction writers.
What?
Blogging your book looks different for non-fiction than it does for fiction novels.
Non-Fiction: you can reach more people with a blog post than you can with a book. You can take a section of your book and translate it into a blog format and see how the feedback comes. Note: don’t worry if you don’t get comments, numbers are still feedback.
Fiction: this is controversial in the writing community and traditional published authors need to consider things that self publish authors don’t. Ask yourself some questions first before you consider it. How do you want to publish this piece? What are you hoping to get out of blogging this piece? Can you handle immediate feedback or no feedback at all? Are you ready for the grey area that is blogging a novel, and it considered published?
Why?
Your goal is to get blogs from the most people as you can. If they like your blog posts from your book, they will want to buy your book for more information in one location. This method can also help you build and learn your audience through comments and interactions with readers. And lastly, it helps you explore sections of your non-fiction book in depth. Concentrating a concept into a blog article can help you get to the heart of what you are trying to convey. If you already have a fan base, they will be increasingly interested in what you have going on for the next story.
How?
Non-fiction: Take the sections of your book that you can translate into a blog format.
If you are unsure of how to write an article. Let’s study at the four main types of an essay.
Argumentative-Forming an opinion via research, building an evidence-based argument.
The introduction provides your topic and thesis statement and SEO description.
The body presents your evidence and arguments
The Conclusion summarizes your argument and emphasizes its importance
Expository-Knowledge of a topic and communicating information clearly.
Tests your familiarity with a topic and conveys information
Narrative-Creative language use presenting an interesting narrative.
Test your skill at building an engaging narrative, by telling a personal story or experience.
Descriptive-Creative language use, describing sensory details, like describing an object.
A sensory heavy description of something.
You want to work by dividing your blog into introduction, body, and conclusion.
Fiction: I recommend that you not blog your entire novel. Instead, do posts about your novel, the process, the hardships, what you’re researching, and what you’ve learned. These are things that are connected to your novel but will keep your novel’s integrity as a published piece and avoid some of the other pitfalls of blogging your novel.
Here are some examples from my blog
Blogging providers
Here are some of the best known blogging providers to start with. If you have an author site through a something like Wix.com or Squarespace see if they offer a blog option.
Now that you know the what, why, how, and places to host your blog. Go forth and blog your book, your experiences using the different types of essays. Find your readership and learn their wants and needs in your field. Ask yourself a few questions and get started on your journey. Speaking of books here what’s coming out this month.
The Bookend Revision Technique is a way to focus on your novel in a non-linear fashion starting with the most important parts of your novel. The end and beginning of the novel, your readers first impression and last memory of your book.
I developed this revision technique after trying and failing at liner revision of my first book. I have dyslexia which makes revision and the edit phases of the publishing process difficult. It also doesn’t help that I dream about my book months, two years before I draft it. If I don’t break it up in a non-linear method, I can’t focus on what’s actually written on the page and, instead focus on the story in my head.
The 2023 Blogging Planner
The 2023 Ultimate Writers Planner
And
The 2023 Pagan Author Planner and Journal
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Sign up to be matched with a writing buddy today! Don’t miss out on making some great friends.
Do you want to hear some of my books and chat with me? Follow me on YouTube and check out Tea Time with S. A. Crow Monday’s at 11 am Central U.S. time.
Currently
Reading: The Women’s War by Jenna Glass our September book club pick. Join us to discuss not only the book but what is feminist fiction, fantasy troupes, and the outcast royal troupe.
Watching: Sandman, I’m not binging I’m taking my time watching an episode every now and again.
Also, I Survived a Crime on Netflix, I’ll tell you right now some of that will end up in a book.
Listening: Unobscured podcast season 4 Rasputin
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