Blogging, the series: The Cost of Blogging

Hello, and welcome back to our little series on blogging, blog tours, and publicity.

Today I wanted to explore the cost of blogging with you. For those of you who have spent any time in the blogging world, you understand that the primary cost of blogging is time. Blogging and reading blogs can be addictive. Not to mention that to maintain readership, you must be somewhat consistent in posting. My friend Craver’s recent post is a prime example of what it takes to be active in the blogosphere.

And staying active is what bloggers expect and require in order for you to remain a part of the community. I have taken links to friends’ blogs down because they rarely post. While we all understand a hiatus for a time (like Charity, who – as you’ll notice – still found time to blog every 1-2 weeks), we quickly tire of returning to a blog only to find the most recent post occurred months ago.

So is the cost of blogging worth it?

The majority of publicists and marketers I interviewed responded favorably, but did recognize it ultimately depended upon the author. Here are their most common responses:

1) Blogging provides readers access to the author and builds the relationship and connection between them. Jeane Wynn of Wynn-Wynn Media explains, “We encourage authors to take advantage of the huge opportunities they have in blogging because it enables an author to connect with their readers and peers with immediacy.”

2) Blogging and blog tours can create a viral buzz, which is particularly useful in building excitement about upcoming releases. Kelly Blewett (WaterBrook Press) and Liz Johnson (Multnomah Books) shared, “Even if an author blogs just a couple times a week, fans will appreciate the time, and the author gets the chance to begin building excitement over upcoming projects.”

3) Blogging and blog tours typically cost less than other forms of marketing and PR. Jeane Wynn points out that previously authors had to invest a lot of money in mailing lists and direct mailing campaigns in order to receive the same kind of contact blogging offers. Running ads, writing and distributing press releases, traveling or calling long distance for interviews can also add up to greater expenses than running a blog tour.

I must add, however, that these benefits must be weighed against the cost for the author. Blogging detracts from time that could be spent writing or editing your manuscript, proposal or article; time that might be too valuable, especially when you’re up against deadlines. Additionally, I’ve found as I’ve consulted with people interested in blog tours that they consider a blog tour to be the main (if not only) component of their marketing strategy. As I’ve shared with them, blog tours are not proven to be predictably effective when it comes to book sales. Just because the benefits of a tour are attractive does not mean that the tour is an adequate substitute for all other publicity efforts.

So let me stop here and ask you – do you find that blogging is worth the cost?

Hear from bloggers (Randy Ingermanson, Mary DeMuth, Camy Tang, Dillon Burroughs, LL Barkat, and Marcus Goodyear) about their experiences with blogging, blog tours, and publicity. The first publicist interview is also up (Jeane Wynn, Wynn-Wynn Media). To read the interviews in this series, click here.

To read all of the posts in this series, click here.

Rob Eager of Wildfire Marketing has also written a post worth considering here.

Blogging, the series: The Big Mistakes

In my interviews with publicists, marketing experts, blog alliance coordinators, and bloggers, one of the questions I asked was “What do you think are the Big Mistakes writers make when blogging for promotion?” (actually, Marcus and LL requested I include that question to help with their session). Here are the top answers, based upon how many times the same answer was mentioned.

5) Content is wrong and/or poor. Author Dillon Burroughs wrote, “(some authors) write for people who will never read their blogs.” Kathy Carlton Willis also points out that when you don’t blog on the topic of your blog you might lose the readers who only want to read that niche. And, of course, if the quality of the posts are poor, don’t expect to maintain readership.

4) Author is unrelatable. As we discussed in the previous post, blogging is ultimately about creating relationships. If the blogger refuses to be transparent and genuine, then readers quickly tire and move on.

3) Blog is too self and promotion-focused. Readers are turned off by making the blog all about the author. You don’t want your blog to feel like one big advertisement, or – even worse – a used car lot, where the salesman is only interested in making a sale. LL Barkat notes, “Bloggers generally want authentic connection, so the promotion of self is inappropriate to the medium.”

2) Author expects too much from blogs. WaterBrook Multnomah publicists Liz Johnson and Kelly Blewett said, “From a publicity standpoint, we’ve found that it can become easy for authors to think blogging is the only promotion they need to do.” Reaching the masses through blogging is the exception, rather than the rule. Rob Eager of Wildfire Marketing suggests, “. . . focus on providing your target audience with real value” in order to gain awareness that translates into sales rather than believing just putting up new posts will push your book to the bestseller list.

1) Author does not blog consistently. Publicists and bloggers alike repeatedly cited consistency as a major mistake. Burroughs cautions, ” If your blog hasn’t been updated at least within the past two weeks, shut it down or update it. Blogs work because they are personal and instant.”

So how about you? Do you fall into any of these traps? What mistakes do you make about blogging?

Hear from bloggers about their experiences with blogging, blog tours, and publicity. To read the interviews in this series, click here. (Randy Ingermanson, Mary DeMuth, Camy Tang, Dillon Burroughs, LL Barkat, and Marcus Goodyear are up.)

To read all of the posts in this series, click here.

Blogging, the series: Why we blog

In a 2004 paper entitled, “I’m Blogging This: A Closer Look at Why People Blog,” Bonnie A. Nardi, Diane J. Schiano, Michelle Gumbrecht, and Luke Swart suggested that only five reasons to blog exist. A blogger may blog for only one reason exclusively, or for a combination of any of those reasons. In no particular order, they are . . .

1. To document the blogger’s life
2. To share commentary or opinion
3. To express deeply felt emotion
4. To work out ideas through writing
5. To form and maintain communities and forums

From just a gut feeling, I’d say those reasons still exist. When I think about the reasons I blog, I can relate to each of those five reasons. Randy Ingermanson began blogging to “have a more interactive forum for discussion.” When you visit his site, or someone like LL Barkat’s, you can see the active discussions within their comments as well as through blog posts on other sites written in response. Part of the beauty of blogs is this ability to be accessible and create community. I’ve made friends with several people through blogging whom I might not otherwise have ever met.

The one additional reason we, as writers (myself included), often enter into blogging is because we think it will be the way to build our platform so a publisher will notice us. While in some ways blogging provides an avenue to reach people outside of our normal spheres of influence, viewing blogging in such a way is ultimately short-sighted and shallow. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think you are shallow. The perspective is shallow because it misses the depth of what blogging can offer.

On the whole, blogging is better for building relationships (which may eventually turn into sales) than it is for straight selling. If you only want to sell, set up a website or an Etsy shop . . . or put it on eBay. As Camy Tang points out, “. . . if (you) try blogging and don’t like it, then don’t do it. People can tell if you’re not enjoying blogging . . .”

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the Big Mistakes writers make when blogging for promotion and the cost of blogging.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this.

Hear from bloggers about their experiences with blogging, blog tours, and publicity. To read the interviews in this series, click here. (Randy Ingermanson, Mary DeMuth, Camy Tang, and Dillon Burroughs are up.)

To read all of the posts in this series, click here.

Blogging, the series: On blogging

Welcome to the first week of our series on Blogging, Blog Tours, and Publicity! Our focus this week will be on blogging: blogging history, why people blog, and the cost of blogging. You can read all of the interviews associated with this series on my blog, Blog Tour Spot. Today I’m featuring an interview with Randy Ingermanson of Advanced Fiction Writing fame.

To kick off our discussion here, let’s talk a little bit about the history of blogging.

Wikipedia defines social media as “the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings.”

The increasing role of social media is seen everywhere: news sites like CNN.com allow reader comments or link blogs to nearly every article; television broadcast companies are experimenting with additional layers of interaction through blogs, extra content, and even creating websites of the fictional companies from the shows; major magazines also link to blogs or allow readers to email articles to others. And of course, blogging is gaining more and more exposure. Technorati alone claims to track 112.8 million blogs and estimates 175,000 new blogs are created every day.

Blogging (derived from the words web – log) is thought to have begun around 1994. A guy named Justin Hall creates what is generally considered to be the first blog, while a student at Swathmore University. In 1999, blogging really began to take off with the creation of a few blogging tools like livejournal, open diary, and blogger and the coining of the phrase “blog” as both a noun and a verb. (Check out NY Magazine for a timeline of the history of blogging.)

It’s crazy to me to see how this entire medium has exploded in the last 14 years (was 1994 really FOURTEEN years ago??). Do you remember when blogging started?

This concludes our little history lesson today. In anticipation of our next discussion, I’d love to hear about the reasons why you blog.

Hear from bloggers about their experiences with blogging, blog tours, and publicity. To read the interviews in this series, click here. (Randy Ingermanson is up today.)

To read all of the posts in this series, click here.