I’ve been revising my business plan lately, codifying a lot of things I’ve tried over the past year into a coherent, unified strategy. It feels like I have all the pieces now for a successful writing career, but I just need to figure out how they all fit together. That’s the goal.
One of those pieces is this blog, which has unfortunately fallen into a state of chronic neglect. I haven’t abandoned it entirely, of course, but I haven’t been focused as much on it as perhaps I should have. Instead of using it to support all the other things I’m doing, I’ve treated it more as a thing unto itself, which makes it a distraction instead of an essential part of what I do.
That’s going to change soon, because I think I’ve figured out how this blog fits in with everything else. But that also means that I’m going to make quite a few changes.
First, I’m going to post a lot more book reviews. Ideally, I’d like to post one every week. I’ve read a bunch of really good books over the last month, so once I sit down to review them I should have enough content for the next several weeks. In this way, my blog can reinforce my reading goal (50 novels per year) while also sharing something of immediate value to my readers.
Second, I’m going to experiment with pop-ups on my blog pages to get more email subscribers. I know, I know, everyone hates those things, but they do work, believe it or not. My email list is the centerpiece of my marketing plan, and if this blog is going to be more than a thing unto itself, I have to integrate it into that plan.
I’ll do my best to keep the subscription forms from being too intrusive, like having them only pop-up after you’ve scrolled to the bottom of the page, or only have them pop up on the first page you visit.
Third, I’m going to be a lot better about posting whenever I have a sale, a new release, or a featured book. I already have book pages for all of my titles, and it’s not difficult to post the links in the sidebar, or embed them in a blog post.
Fourth, I’m going to be a lot better about posting updates on WIPs, publishing projects, and other things that I’ve been up to. I already include those updates in my newsletter, but I could do a lot better at putting them here.
I want this blog to be both a platform for connecting with my existing fanbase as well as a vehicle for gaining new fans. So that’s what the content here is going to be geared toward. I’ll still include my personal reflections on various subjects from time to time, and I’ll probably put a few more blog series together, but I’m going to be more careful about keeping my readers in mind.
This isn’t a writing blog anymore—indeed, it hasn’t been a writing blog for the past several years—but I’m not going to put too many restrictions on what I blog about either. We’ll just have to see how it unfolds. As for the more controversial stuff like politics, I’m not going to hide from it, but I’m not going to wear it on my sleeve either. As much as you love it when authors of escapist fiction rant at you like your batshit crazy uncle on Facebook, it would seem that niche has already been filled many times over. </ snark>
There’s a bunch of other stuff I’d like to try out, but let’s stick to this for now. Book reviews, more frequent updates, and better integration with the email list. It’s going to be a great new year!
