Many children's authors have websites these days.
But not all of them have a blog.
Yet, whether you're a world-famous children's author, or you're just starting to write for kids, you gotta have a blog.
Why?
Because a blog will:
1. Help you get in the habit of writing regularly.
And even the posts to your blog should be well-written with a little pizazz—which will be excellent writing practice and help you become a more disciplined writer since you'll want to post to your blog at least once a week or preferably 3 to 5 times a week.
2. Help you establish an online readership.
You'll be providing readers with helpful and/or interesting information each time you post to your blog.
Information people will begin to look forward to reading on a regular basis.
If you're an established children's book author, children and adults who read your books will look to your blog to find out what's new with you.
They'll want to know your current writing project(s), new books you have coming out soon, and information about author visits you might offer to schools, libraries, etc.
And, if you use your blog to build a mailing list, you will be able to contact people on your list, so they can preorder an upcoming book, or be the first to know where you will be doing a book signing or other event.
It's too difficult to keep a website updated on a daily basis with this kind of information, but it's easy to update your blog.
3. Help you establish yourself as expert in the world of children's writing and publishing.
Even before you are published, you can interview more experienced children's writers and post these interviews to your blog or write reviews of new children's books.
This information will tell readers you know "what's what" in the world of children's publishing, and it will make you more credible to editors and agents, too.
These are just a few of the many reasons to start blogging if you're a children's writer.
Try it!
For more writing tips and resources, get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com.
Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a writing coach.
Learn more about her products and services at www.writebythesea.com.
3 comments:
Suzanne,
Thank you for these insightful reasons for children's writers to blog and reach their readers. With an estimated over 600 million blogs, it's an important tool for them to build their online presence.
Terry
author of Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success (Revised Edition) [Follow the Link for a FREE copy]
Suzanne, your article confirms what I tell authors of children's literature who read my "The Frugal Book Promoter" and tell me that it doesn't include their genre. It is not a genre-by-genre book. Everything in it comes from first-hand experience and, though there are tons on specific does and don'ts, all the general marketing information is for all authors to look at and evaluate for themselves depending on their titles (that would include titles for children), their personality (some people are more suited to one kind of promotion than another) and their pocketbooks. That is made pretty clear. Everything you list here could be used for any genre I can think of. Each author--even within the broad children's literature range--must still adapt the concepts to their own needs, but they are all spot on! Thank you. Super thank you!
Best,
Carolyn
Follow me at my Amazon profile page, bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.
Suzanne, thanks for these helpful tips on why children's writers should have a blog. At one time, I wrote three posts per week. But it was too much. Now I have it to down to once a week which is good. It's important to be consistent with your blogging whether it's two times a week, once, or every other week. Posting more is better, but being consistent is just as important.
We've seemed to have lost our share buttons - as least I don't have them at the moment. I'm looking into it. In the meantime, I'll share manually!
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