Why Are You Blogging?

Are you blogging because you enjoy it? Good. Carry on, my wayward son.

Are you blogging because you think you "have" to? Quit blogging.

Are you blogging because you think publishers or agents consider it a requirement? Quit blogging.

Are you blogging because you think it will sell your books? Quit blogging.

Are you blogging because you feel like you owe it to your readers to blog? Quit blogging.

My point? Blogs don't sell books. Blogs don't get you a book deal. You should only be blogging if you enjoy blogging. Yes, it can be a marketing tool. But there is a lot of other ways you can get your name out into the world without blogging. I recently had a conversation with a friend who told me she spent a considerable amount of time working on blogs...to the detriment of working on her book. And she didn't enjoy blogging. It was a task, a choice.

My advice? Quit blogging. If you don't enjoy it, you won't make good content (which is true of nearly everything--if you have no passion for what you're doing, typically, you will not do it well). If you go into blogging expecting to sell books, then you're like that person on Twitter who only tweets about her own books. That's not respectful of your readers or yourself.

There is advice on the internet and sometimes from real people that is along the lines of If you want a book deal, you have to have a platform. Blogs are a great platform! 

This is b.s. You know what sells a book? A good book. That's it. Blogging is an easy answer. That doesn't make it the right one. If someone tells you that you need a blog to sell a book, kick that person in the shins. They're lying to you.

Just write. Write the best book you can. Quit worrying so much. Just write.