UPDATE: Find out the path I chose on the follow-up post featuring Lindsay Buroker, Should Writers Blog About Writing? Some Answers
I’m a fairly new writer.
And whenever I’m new at something, I tend to read everything I can about the subject. I watch videos, I check out books, I Google things. I’ve done the same with writing.
Doing your research on any topic is a smart thing to do (in moderation).
An even smarter thing to do is to question what you come across.
One thing that has been bothering me is why so many writers blog about writing.
Don’t get me wrong. I know we’re supposed to blog about something we’re passionate about. We wouldn’t be writers if we weren’t passionate about writing.
But at the same time, aren’t we told to build our platform to reach our target readers? Doesn’t this mean blogging about something our readers would be interested in so that they also read our books?
When I first took the plunge and became a writer, I also started a blog. At first, I thought it would just be to hold myself accountable to my writing goals.
Then, I began to read about author platform and the importance of building one early.
I decided to use blogging and social media to build my platform so that when I finally self-published my novels, that part of the process would be done. People would already know who I was.
So I, like many other writers, started blogging about writing.
Yet, the more I learn about blogging and platform, the more I realize I should be blogging with my target readers in mind. I need to reach them and write about what they care about.
But if I am blogging about writing and my platform is based on helping writers, this doesn’t really have anything to do with my target readers. I’m not reaching them through my platform.
Most writers probably aren’t my target market. Yet I’m blogging about what they care about. Why?
If I want to reach out to my target readers and lead them to my work, the best thing for me as a writer is blog about something they care about.
Who are my target readers, anyway?
Here are my target readers (based on the novel I’ve written and the novel I’m writing now):
- Latinos or anyone else interested in Latino culture
- young adults or people who like to read young adult fiction
- have gone through tough stuff because of their Latino culture.
- proud of their culture and want to read more about Latino culture
- want to read about Latino characters
- mature readers
In this case, what should I be blogging about?
Maybe I should be blogging about the issues that typical young adult Latinos go through.
In other words, stuff that I have experienced and am experiencing right now.
Things like:
- immigration
- deportation
- speaking Spanish
- speaking Spanglish
- being called White
- being called wetback
- my mom’s enchiladas
- being told not to speak Spanish at school or work
- peer pressure
- learning to be responsible beyond my years
- translating for my parents
- students learning English as a second language
- not being ashamed of my culture.
I’m sure other writers must deal with this issue.
I read several writing blogs by people who actually write fiction novels. The majority of their audiences probably aren’t their target market.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for a writer who writes police procedural thrillers to blog about, say, similar television shows or movies? Or give extra information about inspiration, research, characters, or settings?
At the same time there are people who blog about their target market and to their target market. Take Rachelle Gardner. She blogs about writing, but this totally makes sense for her. She is a literary agent who seeks out writers.
Same thing with Krissy from Krissy Media Ink. She also blogs about writing, but she writes eBooks aimed at writers.
Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn (an excellent blog) is an example of a writer who actually has two blogs, one geared at writers and one at her readers. She built her platform aimed at writers first. This helped her get exposure, although even she admits most of this audience isn’t part of her target market. Her second, more recent blog is aimed at readers, and her blog posts give more information on what inspired her stories as well as the settings in her books.
But it must be a lot of work to manage two blogs, even writing full-time.
So now I face a dilemma.
Should I switch to blogging towards my target market? Should I create another blog just for my target market?
My culture is definitely something I’m passionate about and something I would love to blog about. This definitely seems like a smart step.
What would you do?
What is your target market? What is your typical target reader like? Are you blogging, tweeting, Facebook/Google+ posting with them in mind? Why or why not?
UPDATE: Find out the path I chose on the follow-up post featuring Lindsay Buroker, Should Writers Blog About Writing? Some Answers
Excellent post! And one I’ve struggled with many times before. My blog is directed toward writers since in truth I feel that I need their support. I seek out other writing blogs because this is my job and I want to stay abreast of all the issues and suggestions with self-publishing as well as improving my own writing. I’ve actually started to work on a website specifically for my series which I hope to discuss the history behind my books, discussions, reincarnation stories, and giveaways. I think it’s a great idea to have two blogs and I’ve seen many blogs where the posts keep a healthy following with a post once or every other week. I would love to hear more about the struggles you face as a Latino in this country
Thanks, Lauren! I feel the same way about needing the support of other writers and staying updated on the issues we face. And building a platform aimed at writers seems to work for some.
Your website sounds so interesting and exactly like what I was talking about. I can’t wait until it’s ready! I love learning about history and the inspiration behind a good book.
Now I’m seriously thinking about creating another blog just aimed at my target market, although the one thing holding me back is the time required to keep up another blog. I think it’s a good idea anyway because I don’t think there are many blogs aimed at Latinos. Looks like I’m going to have to sit down and really look at my priorities and time. Thanks for your support!
Great question and one I’ve been testing of late (I believe you’ve noticed). I’ve tried Writing, Reviewing, and of course what got 10x the number of hits was yesterday’s rant about old school publishers (go ahead and comment your thoughts, I got tons of hits and no comments…
. I believe Penn is trying to move from Writer-topics which got her more followers than book sales to her target audience. A change you and I should take to heart since she’s ahead of us in this race.
Your blog appeared to seek an answer, so I will give you my answer with the caveat that the market is changing so rapidly it could be out of date as I type: Your list of target-audience topics answers your question. Buy TweetAdder or something similar. Build a twitter-universe of hundreds. Post controversial discussions (Obama’s Immigration policy) and ask viewers to share stories. (I’m in Arizona, I know lots.) Reader comments breeds followers and distributors (sharing your post with their circle).
Peace, Seeley
I was just about to read that article of yours! It’s so difficult to predict what might work. I agree about Penn. I would love to be where she is now, which is why I’m even considering all of this.
That’s a great idea! That’s the kind of blog I would like to have (in addition to this one). I don’t think that kind of blog really exists: aimed at Latinos, about Latinos’ struggles. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced of starting such a blog. Now I’m wondering whether I should blog anonymously or as myself.
Thanks for your input, Seeley! Great thoughts!
Hi,
I have struggled with the same questions myself. I feel there is no easy answer. To be read in your blog you need both interesting content ans frequent posts. I don´t think I have the time to post every day in two blogs so my solution for now is to write both about my writing and topics related to my fiction. It is certainly not the best solution, but in that way readers as well as other writers can find interesting posts. And I get to write about everything I am passionate about.
I’m glad I’m not the only writer out there struggling with this. Posting for writers and my target readers was what I was going to do initially.
It could certainly work, although I’m not sure I would post every day on even one blog anyway. Right now, I’m comfortable where I am at 2x/week.
Perhaps if I were to post less frequently at each blog, it could work, and it would be roughly the same work of posting much more frequently one blog. Maybe still doing 2 a week here and starting off one a week on the new one?
Awesome input, Eva! You’ve brought me closer to a solution! Thanks!
I wish they’d shut up for a while. Surely, everything that can be said about writing has been said.
LOL. It can get overwhelming at times.
When I started my blog, I planned on dedicating most of it to writing, but it never worked out that way. I write paranormal, and I have an interest in how paranormal characters have developed from folklore, so every Friday this is what I post on. On Mondays, I post on general writing dilemmas I might be facing or ideas I have, and on Wednesdays I do book reviews. That’s how I found my balance between appealing to other writers and my targeted reading audience (however you should also consider that most writers are also avid readers, so there’s not really a solid line between the two). I think that unless you already have a good base in both areas, two websites would split your readership too much.
Just my experience and thoughts. Good luck!
It sounds like you’ve found a balance that truly works for you, Fel. I think I’m still searching for that.
It seems to me that having one website or blog for both target readers and about writing works for some while two separate websites works for others. I think it all depends on whether your target readers overlap with the writers. In my case, I’m not sure they do…
Most young adult Latinos probably don’t want to read about plotting or self-publishing while some writers miiight be interested in reading about Latino issues.
Still not decided, but I think two blogs might be the choice for me.
Thanks for your input! You’ve been very helpful
Brilliant topic, Yesenia, and something many aspiring writers struggle with. I took a blogging class with Kristen Lamb and she said that it’s ok to write about writing but it should be only one of your topics. If you blog 3 times a week, dedicate one day to writing and the rest two for your target audience.
One blog post by Anne R. Allen really helped me too (see the link below this paragraph). According to her author platforms have stages. It is easier to reach out first to other writers if you have no books out yet. But when you get closer to launching, at latest you need to expand to your core audience. Many of whom will be writers because a lot of us are insanely profilic readers too
http://annerallen.blogspot.fi/2012/02/how-to-blog-part-iii-what-should-you.html
Just read Anne’s blog post. Very helpful! Thanks! Her model makes complete sense. Having just one blog definitely sounds appealing. I’ll have to reconsider it. Thanks for your help, Reeta! I appreciate it.
I only now noticed that you’re considering two blogs. There is no need for that if you follow Kristen Lamb’s model. You can easily combine some writing topics and genre/book topic related stuff. And you can make even your writing posts appealing to your core audience. One way to do that is by using examples from books and movies that are like the one you are writing.
And I loved the ideas you fleshed out for future topics. They are all totally you and relatable to your future readers – and also to anyone else because they’re human and something anyone can understand and symphatize with. Kristen Lamb calls that high concept blogging. The same principle applies to book ideas.
Thanks, Reeta!
I definitely like the idea of steering readers and fellow writers to one site (with my name as the domain name). I think that’s one huge benefit I didn’t see before.
Although another thing to consider would be the website’s design. I believe that it’s definitely geared at writers. I would have to change it to something that appeals to my readers as well. And is maybe more me?
Initially, I looked at Joanna Penn as a good model. She has two blogs, and it seems to work well for her. But I’m also seeing other authors/bloggers who have just one site for readers and writers. Lindsay Buroker is one example. I’m going to have to take a closer look at these kinds of blogs and see how they’re doing it.
Thanks so much, Reeta! Definitely looking at blogging for readers/writers in a new light now
Very interesting topic. I’ve never been convinced blogging sells many books anyway. It might help get a book off the ground and gain a few reviews but then book sales will depend on how good a book is and whatever else you have written. My wife has never read a blog in her life yet she has two ereaders and reads approximately 100 books a year, print and ebooks.
The main problem with blogs is that posting and commenting to gain viewers can become obsessive and wastes valuable writing time. It is becoming more and more apparent that the way to sell more books is to write more books. Obviously quality counts. Some bloggers post so much output that I wonder how they find time to write.
Imagine you have a market stall to sell your one book. A potential customer comes along and picks it up but for whatever reason decides it is not for them. They look at the rest of your stall but you only have one book. You have lost a potential sale. Five years later the same customer returns. This time you have ten different books. When the customer puts one down they may pick up another and they may buy it and if it is the first in a series they may also buy one or two more in the series. And if they like them they may tell their freinds and they may return to buy four and five in the series or to try another series you are writing. Books sell books. They found one of your books because of another book you wrote.
This metaphor is not rocket science. If you want to make more money from writing; stop blogging and write more books.
Wow, Christopher! Nicely said! I think we all needed to hear that.
I’ll admit that sometimes I get a little blog-obsessed and worry more about that then the progress of my writing. Especially lately. I’m starting to see that and not worry about the blog (and blog stats) as much.
I do want to change it up a little and focus more on my potential readers. If anything, I think that could help sell books in the future.
I hear from other authors/bloggers that having their blog did lead to gaining some readers and sales, but ultimately what you said is way more effective. Writing books sells books. So I’m starting to focus more on writing short stories and novels.
Your metaphor is the perfect illustration of the fact that having more books on the virtual shelf sells more books.
Thanks for commenting, Christopher!
I am pleased with your article. I spent a long time trying to come up with a meaningful blog focus that would be sustainable for me. I tried all sorts of ideas and then settled on just writing about something that I knew a lot about.
A blog about plants and landscaping had nothing to do with my novels, but I have been able to write an article a week which, over a three year period has gotten adequate search engine coverage. The hits started out slow but continue to increase. One day, I will be able to use the site to sell books.
I have quite a number of immigrant friends in Georgia and I think that a blog focused on their trials, hardships, and successes would be a most interesting endeavor. A good use of key words and a practice of posting a good article on the same day each week should bring you lots of traffic on such a subject.
Building traffic is a slow process, so be patient
john
Thanks for the support, John!
Blogs about writing are so overdone sometimes I wonder what the point is. I think that I’ll start blogging about/for Latinos to at least experiment and see if I like that topic better. I don’t think there are many people blogging from that perspective either.
I’m definitely learning that building traffic is a slow process. Sure teaches one patience!
I faced this dilemma as well, and I dealt with it in one blog focused mostly on my target audience. I write SF/F, and while I do speak some about writing and publishing, most of my content is focused on science, other people’s SF/F books and movies. I toss in a few general interest bits that hopefully make me look interesting as a person, but that’s less about reaching my target audience as much as it is simply writing something I feel like writing about.
Personally, I think you’re better off with a unified blog. Look at Scalzi’s “Whatever” blog as a good example of this.
It’s encouraging to see I’m not the only writer/blogger going through this big dilemma, Dan!
I took a look at your blog, and I see what you mean! I think your strategy is very smart. Looks like it’s working for you. I think that’s very much what I would like to turn my blog into.
I think I’m seeing that a unified blog is the way to go. I’ll be sure to check out the Whatever blog. Thanks for your input!
Hi Yesenia.
The same question has occurred to me, too. I have a novel in progress, as do all of us, apparently, and the target audience is probably young adult but I guess mature adults might also go for it. I admit it might also appeal more to women than men.
My blog is called Richard’s Ramblings because I started out with the intention of writing about anything that came to mind so there was no specific topic. That was about 18 months ago. Since then I’ve found that many followers of my blog, but especially my Twitter, are female writers or aspiring writers. I’d like to think these may be my target audience except I fear they may be too busy writing to bother to read my work!
I guess blogging about some of the issues faced by characters in the book might be one way to build a relevant audience. What do you think? (I haven’t tried that yet.)
Thanks for the opportunity to reply to this interesting topic!
Cheers,
Richard.
Thank YOU, Richard!
A lot of writers are readers (of all kinds of stuff) so I think at least some of those writing readers are a part of our target audience.
As far as whether it’s a good idea to blog for writers/about writing, I’m starting to learn that blogging about what you’re passionate about is the most important thing. And even that can change. For example, you could start blogging about writing now but later on start finding that you like blogging about another topic. It’s okay and even good to evolve as a blogger.
Above, Reetta shared this awesome post from Anne R. Allen’s blog that helped me understand more about the issue of what to blog about. She says that there are multiple stages to blogging as a writer. First you can start blogging about writing to get to know other writers because writers help each other. As you grow as a writer (and hopefully get published), you also evolve as a blogger and start to blog for your target readers. Hopefully, by then, you’ll have a better idea of a good topic to blog about that will suit those target readers who will now be coming to your blog to find out more about you (and maybe buy more books!).
So I guess long answer short (LOL): for now, blog about what you want to blog about. See what you like. And what works. You could certainly try blogging about your characters if that’s something you really want to do. And if you don’t, well don’t
Thanks so much for stopping by, Richard! I hope this helps!
Oops! Forgot to share the link!
http://annerallen.blogspot.fi/2012/02/how-to-blog-part-iii-what-should-you.html
Excellent, thank you again!
I’m at this very crossroads too. As I’ve learned about building an author platform, the desire is there to share what I’ve learned by posting about that process of “becoming”. However, so many people are already filling that niche and doing it better than I probably could. The former teacher in me feels compelled to lay out lessons on any knowledge my brain requires, but I’ve decided that’s just no for me. I need to focus on what I love, and that’s books, so I’m trying to come up with posting categories that are fairly unique for a book blogger.
I love how you can break down your target audience so well. I’m not quite there yet since I’ve always fancied myself as a literary fiction writer, but now a ghost story is jumping out of my fingers and onto the screen! Like many indie authors, I think it’s natural to start a blog that’s writer based, but eventually find ways to make it more reader based.
Glad I found your blog!
Hi Jeri! Who knew so many people were struggling with this same issue?
I feel the same way. There’s already so many writing blogs out there, I almost cringe at the thought that mine addresses the topic as well. However, I am brainstorming ways to try to stand out in the writing niche and blog about topics that attract my target readers.
I think the best anyone can do is try to blog about the unique aspects of their writing journey and/or try to present these ideas and insights in new ways. Like trying a new angle or format. Being different in some way.
I can relate with you on being multigenre. I think that makes being a writer even more difficult than it already is! My first novel is a thriller and my second is a YA. I also have a paranormal short story. So I seem to be all over the place but the one thing they have in common is that they all have Hispanic main characters. There’s not much mainstream literature aimed at Latinos so that’s my aim and focus. We’ll see how it goes!
Thanks so much for your input!
Interesting post. I think what you should do is create another blog. Yes balancing two blogs can be a handful but if Joanna Penn can do it so can you. Remember you don’t have to post every day so starting off with once or twice a week until you find a balance will be a good idea. Also, writing and planning your post a couple weeks ahead could save you time.
Don’t be timid of what two blogs can bring you. In the end you can market your book to both !
Unfortunately, I’ not a full-time writer like Joanna Penn so finding the time for two blogs is a big challenge for me. I definitely see the advantages of having two blogs, but I think I’ll be sticking to just one for now. If I see that it doesn’t work out for me, then I’ll switch to two.
Hi. Spotted this on Twitter (via Bubblecow) and couldn’t resist looking at it as I have two writing-only blogs. My main one (WordPress) has a daily guest interview at 7am (UK time, tomorrow’s will be the 457th!), 5pm fiction (my daily flash fiction so it gets me writing something every day), a 7pm guest item and sometimes a 5am flash (something I’ve spotted that interests me). Then on a Blogspot blog I’ve been replay the interviews (currently no.214). As you can imagine, it’s become a full-time job (I don’t charge for any of it – I have two lodgers instead!) and I do it because there are so many authors out there who need help (as I do) and because I live and breathe writing. Writing is such a varied topic that despite asking the same interview questions 95% of the time, the answers differ so much that (I hope) they keep the regular readers interested. Whether it works or not (I do get 200-500 hits a day) I guess you’ll have to ask them.
Two writing blogs? Wow! How awesome of you to help other writers so much.
I struggle to post twice a week, let alone several times a day! I’m guessing you write tons of posts ahead of time (something I should have done in the beginning).
Do you use the same social media accounts for both? Thanks for stopping by, Morgen!
That’s the great thing about having guests, they do all the work for you.
The most time-consuming aspects are the emails (100+ a day) and the interviews. I don’t just post them as Q&As but interject my comments to their replies, as if we’re sitting, chatting. It’s a LOT of work (just the interviews take an hour+ a day) but I think it’s worth it (and reader feedback is great) and in the past 18 months (just under) have had 77,000 hits, ‘met’ over 500 authors, agents, publishers and editors (not everyone does the interview), have another 200 booked in, and 800+ others who have enquired but yet to return their replies so it certainly helps get my (“Morgen with an E”) ‘brand’ out there.
The WordPress blog feeds automatically (Dashboard / Settings / Sharing) to Facebook (1,000+ writing friends), Twitter (2,600+ followers), LinkedIn, Yahoo and Tumblr. I’m also a member of Triberr who retweet for me, so like most things it’s the networking (and having over 1,200 posts with plenty of keywords as a lot of my traffic comes from keyword searches) to hopefully getting out what you put in.
Again, wow! I’ll have to look at that sharing feature on WordPress for sure! I had no idea!
I think the biggest thing helping you is that you do everything ahead of time plus your network, which just takes time. I wish I had known to have several blog posts ready when I first started blogging. My life is so busy right now that it’s a challenge to do everything I want to do.