As promised back on Tuesday, we’re looking at the downside to keeping an author blog.
Notice that key word: downside. It’s singular. Because, really, there’s only one downside to speak of – albeit with an addendum – and it comes down to time.
How much of that fleeting element do you really have per day?
Think about it…
More than likely, you’ve got a full-time job, a mom-time jobbed (i.e., always on the clock), some mixture of the two, or you’re in school.
Those pursuits and (hopefully) some sleep are bound to take up the majority of your day, leaving you with maybe… what? Like seven hours per average weekday that’s not taken up by travel, prep and work/education?
Seven hours: That’s a good chunk at first glance, except that you also have to factor in family time, friend time, food prep or purchasing time, cleaning up time, and much-needed trying-not-to-go-crazy time.
Not to mention actually writing your next book time. There’s that too.
Suddenly, those seven hours are looking a whole lot less free.
Here’s the thing. Some writers are more suited to keeping an author blog.
They can manage on less sleep, less social interaction, and free space to shut down and unwind. Who knows. Writing might even be their particular form of staying sane.
If that’s the case for you, wonderful! But there’s no shame in saying otherwise.
Before you definitely decide to keep an author-to-be or author blog, check your schedule.
Do you have the time it takes to keep a blog and make progress on your next book manuscript at the same time? That’s a serious question, not one of those motivational ones meant to inspire a certain answer. So think it over carefully.
Keeping an author blog might come easy to you. Or it might not. So if your life is already full of non-book-writing work, family, friends and other engagements, this particular marketing tactic might not be your best choice.
This brings us right to that little “addendum” we touched on in the beginning…
Here’s logical, fact-based statement #1: There are no guarantees in life.
Here’s logical, fact-based statement #2: If you’re a writer with aspirations of profitable authorship, marketing your books and books-to-be is part of life.
So here’s your logical, fact-based conclusion: There are no guarantees in marketing your books and books-to-be.
There are no guarantees you’ll be able to draw in the audience you’re looking to attract. And there are no guarantees you’ll be able to bring in the money you’re looking to make.
That’s true no matter whether you’re keeping an author blog or testing out some other book-marketing tactics. It’s just that keeping an author blog is one of the more time-consuming options you can go with.
Coming up with topics can be time-consuming.
Writing them out can be time-consuming.
Editing them can be time-consuming.
So if you’re already short on that all-consuming commodity, you might want to try something else out instead.
Either that or consider just keeping an author blog on the weekends. That might be all it takes to see it take off…