Building Your Author Platform: Starting Your Author Blog

As the final post in my three-part blog series on building your author platform, the following lists contain invaluable resources that I used when creating the blog component of my author website. Not every writer needs an author blog, but, as many of the resources I listed in the first post of this series explains, it is a great way to engage your target audience.

Getting Your Blog Started:

• “How to Start Blogging: A Definitive Guide for Authors” by Jane Friedman – This article is a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about blogging. From how often to blog and how long blog posts should be to best practices for what to include in your posts, you’ll get an overview of everything you need to know about starting your author blog.
• “Beginner’s Guide to Blogging Best Practices” – Although this article is not specific for author blogs, it provides great tips on how to maximize your blog posts’ searchability. It gives you a list of blog dos and don’ts and offers great advice on how to appeal to your target audience.
• “SEO Starter Guide: 10 Blogging Best Practices” by Stephanie Ling – Again, not specific to author blogs, but it explains some great tactics on how to boost your blog’s SEO (search engine optimization). You’ll learn what SEO is, how to cater to it, and how it can improve traffic to your blog.

Other Helpful Resources:

• “Blogging for Authors – How to Grow Your Own Traffic Goldmine (Even If You Write Fiction)”
• “Blogging for Authors: Increase Reader Engagement and Sell More Books”

Blog Post Ideas:

• “Blog Post Ideas for Writers: Solving the ‘What Do I Blog About?’ Conundrum” by Kimberley Grabas – In addition to describing 54 unique blog post ideas, this article takes you through a series of questions to help you figure out what types of content you should blog. It also helps you determine what your goals are for your blog and gives you tips on how to find new post ideas.
• “10 Things to Blog About When You’re a Brand-New Author” by Amrita Chowdhury – Perfect for not-yet-published authors, this article describes 10 unique blog post ideas that don’t require having a published book but will still engage your potential readers. It also offers advice on how best to utilize your author blog and social media to reach your target audience.
• “What to Write About in Your Author Blog” by Caitlin Berve – This article gives you some ideas on what to blog about and offers basic blogging tips and advice. It also helps you determine how often to post, when to plan your posts, and how to keep your blog content consistent for your readers.

Other Helpful Resources:

• “100 NEW Blog Topics for Fiction Writers”
• “365 Blog Post Ideas for Authors and Writers”
• “101 Fabulous Blog Topic Ideas”
• “101 Blog Post Ideas for Writers – Part 1”
• “101 Blog Post Ideas for Writers – Part 2”

Don’t miss the other two posts in this blog series, “Creating Your Author Website” and “Setting Up Social Media.” Let me know in the comments below if these resources helped you build your author platform!