A Fiction Author’s Dilemma: What Should You Blog About?

You’ve been toying with the idea of putting up a blog.

Your engagement with your subscribers over e-mail is great. You’re already seeking resources on where to get themes and hosting for your potential blog.

But there’s something that’s stopping you.

You don’t know what you should blog about.

And you know it’s awful. You can think of countless story ideas and write about them, but when it comes to blog topic ideas, you’re all out of creative juice.

It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way

You know your characters and your stories all too well. Your readers love and devour your stories, so clearly writing isn’t the problem.

And it isn’t motivation, either. You already have a compelling reason to blog: to introduce your writing to new readers and promote your stories.

Trouble finding blog topic ideas to promote your writing shouldn’t stop you from starting a blog.

But before we dive into what you should blog about, let me refresh your memory on the benefits of blogging.

Blogging is Key to Reader Engagement

Blogging is great for many reasons, but the most important is engagement.

Email Marketing, when done right, is a great way to build engagement. But with emails you’re only interacting with subscribers. With a blog, you can invite other people to join your email list.

Sure, you can create a Twitter handle or an author page on Facebook. But social media is noisy. You’re competing for attention on your fans’ newsfeeds.

But on your blog, your content is there, ready to be consumed by your readers. And you’ll be sure they saw it, instead of it getting lost in a social media mewsfeed. Blogging also encourages your readers to interact with each other, which is ultimately beneficial for you. You’re building a tribe!

Blogging is Great for Promotion

One of the other great benefits of blogging is free promotion. Whenever a new person visits your blog, you can entice them to become one of your subscribers. And that’s not even the best part. You can also submit guest posts to other blogs and invite their readers to visit your blog. When they do, offer your visitor a reward.

If they like they reward, which they probably will because your guest post was clearly targeted to them, boom! You have a new reader. Read this article for more on effective guest posting.

What Should a Creative Writer Blog About?

So now that we’re clear how blogging can be promote your marketing goals, let’s dive into most fiction authors’ dilemma. What should you blog about?

“Behind the Scenes”

Notice how Hollywood promotes movies? They make a lot of movie trailers and teasers. You can do that through your blog. Here are a few ideas.

1. Where do you write your novels?

Readers love to find out how their favorite authors write. Do you go to a special place to write? Or do you have a special corner in the house? How do you manage writing despite running a business and have kids?

2. What inspired you of the characters’ names? Places?

How did you come up with your character’s names and places? Or better yet, why not run a blog contest where readers can suggest names for your characters or places?

3. Updates about your novel

When you invite your readers into the creation process of your works, they’ll bond not only with you but with your works. Share with them updates about your novel or a particular character arc.

4. Excerpts

The purpose of creating posts like this is to intrigue your audience and make them want to grab a copy of your story. But be careful not to give away spoilers.

Share Something About Yourself

You can also share your personal ideas and opinions. Hugh Howey does this very well on his blog.

Blog about your experiences as an author and your journey in writing. This gives your readers the opportunity to know you as a person. This connects you more to them, rather than a celebrity that they can’t reach. By blogging about your writing life, you invite your readers into your life.

Just be careful in dishing out details about your life. You might want to set some boundaries on what you share. 🙂

Share the Work of Others By Writing a Book Review

Share the limelight by writing a book review from another author. It doesn’t have to be 50 Shades of Grey or other well-known works. It can be from another indie author that you enjoyed reading.

Let Your Readers Into Your Story

People are protective of what they have helped build. Through blogging, you let your readers share your work. They have not only witnessed how you created it, but they’ll also feel as they are a part of it, because you invited them in.

Ready to Start Blogging?

Once you sit down and gather your ideas, figuring out what to blog about shouldn’t be difficult. The suggestions I made here can get you started. Use these suggestions as a jumping-off point for your own blog topic ideas.

Over To You

By reading the ideas I gave above, did an idea spark in you? Do you finally see yourself blogging your thoughts away and starting to build a community of readers? Share your ideas with me in the comments below!