Someone asked me recently why I haven’t blogged in a while, to which I replied, “You read my blog???”
…Which is why I don’t blog more.
A few years ago, while I was investigating other author’s websites to emulate, I was surprised to see very few regularly blogged, and most only did so in conjunction with a new release or event promo. I remember thinking this was lame.
But now I know why. You see, there are only so many hours in the day. When you work a full-time job, are contractually obligated to stay ingood shape, need to spend time with the kids/spouse so they don’t leave you cats-in-the-cradle-style, plus friends, plus eating/sleeping/hygiene, etc. …you get the picture…then you need to be ruthless about how you spend that tiny sliver of writing time. So every day I ask myself—what’s value-added? What’s a positive return-on-investment of my time, and what’s not?
Writing your next book is always the most value-added think you can do as an author. Your stories are your actual product; the more you produce, the more chance you have to find an audience. After that, in terms of descending order of value, there’s reading/craft improvement, marketing, social media, and then blogging.
So unless your blog is a major part of your appeal—which is less and less often the case since everyone and their mother has a blog these days…or a pod cast, or a YouTube channel—then writing blogs has a very low return-on-investment. It’s on par with screaming into an empty room, and hoping the people having a party in the room next door will hear you. I used to blog at least once a week—with captioned pictures and everything!—until I realized howpointless it was. Nobody buys an author’s books cuz they like the author’s blog; they read an author’s book, like the book, and then check out the blog. Ditto for social media.
So that’s why I don’t blog much anymore—because I’m busy writing my next book.
About that—I’m about ¾ of the way through the first draft of my next novel! It’s called The Colonel and the Sergeant (or, alternately, The Colonel and Her Sergeant…I haven’t decided which title I prefer yet), and it’s about a female Air Force colonel who has an affair with a male staff sergeant. It’s not a romance, though; it’s loosely based on the Russian classic Anna Karenina, so you know that book then you know it doesn’t end well.
That’s right—this book is high-brow! It’s real literature. I’m looking forward to breaking into the snob club of people who publish serious books!
