The Importance of Blogging in Book Promo

When a writer doesn't take advantage of every book promotion technology available, he or she will find it difficult for the promoted book to succeed in the market. But by wisely using a blog in conjunction with a sales-oriented website, the writer's chances of more sales may increase dramatically.

A blog can be either designed by a professional and then turned over for the writer to use, or the write can "design" it through a free provider such as Wordpress.com or Blogspot.com. Either way will involve a learning curve, but not one deep enough to justify not getting into blogging as part of a book publicity program.

Blogs, generally, perform two functions. Originally – and maybe still primarily – they act as a source of information that some segment of the market will be interested in. Posts are written by someone who (hopefully) knows the subject matter, and readers enjoy seeing what that person regularly has to say. But in the area of book promotion and any other marketing campaigns, blogs are more than information sources.

The important function of blogging in conjunction with book publicity is to attract search engines. The writer still wants to inform (and a writer will be better at that than most), but what the writer really wants is to draw readers who are ideal buyers of the book he or she has written. To do this, the writer will make judicious use within the blog's text of key search words and phrases that people use to find topics related to the topic(s) of the promoted book.

When handled this way, a blog is like an intake valve with the goal of sending the reader from the blog to the website, which tells all about the book. On the website, a well-crafted sales message will be designed to end in the sale of a book. And this is the whole goal of publicizing what you've written.

Some pointers on blogging:

There are firms that will help you find the "hottest" key search words and phrases relating to your book topic. Use them.


Don't overload your posts with these words and phrases, however. A good book publicist can advise you on how to handle this.


Write content that's relevant, not off-topic.


Write regularly – search engines love to see blog sites that always add new content.