by Antonio L. Crawford

There are a number of reasons why authors should start a blog: communicate your book’s marketing message; promote your book to a larger global audience; connect with potential readers; share your thoughts with the universe. These are just a few.

The question most authors ask is how do you get started?

Here’s how:

1. Identify what you want to achieve. Most bloggers fail to maintain an ongoing blog because they don’t have a solid plan. At a minimum, you should write down your goals (what you hope to achieve through blogging). Next, create a basic plan to help you achieve your goal. Your plan should answer questions such as – why you are starting a blog? How many hours will you devote to blogging? What time of the day will you blog? How many people do you want to reach? What type of readers would you like to reach? How long will you keep your blog going? What do you hope to obtain as an end result? These are all valid questions that you should answer before you start blogging.
2. Identify your target audience. In today’s global society, there are billions of people who connect to the Internet. Businesses, banks, libraries, social communities, churches, schools, universities. The Internet provides the opportunity to connect to a global marketplace. People living in Australia, China, Canada, France or Rome could stop in and read your blog. Your blog is accessible to billions of people – twenty four hours a day. Now, think about the global connection for a few seconds. What type of readers will visit your blog? Children, adults, seniors? Who will read your text and post their own comments? LAPD, dentist, doctors? How many people will peruse your blog and then leave immediately? Politicians, parents, friends? There are two ways to identify your target audience (1) observe and get to know the people who visit your blog and leave comments. (2) build an audience by inviting people to read your blog.
3. Write about topics you are passionate about. Some authors find getting started difficult because they don’t know what to write about. Then there are others, who know what write about – but have a difficult time writing it. If you fall into either of these categories, don’t worry. Asking yourself questions will help you get started: What category or genre is your book listed under? If you went to the bookstore, where would you find a copy of your book: finance, sports, self-help, romance novels, urban literature. . .? These are your passion categories. After you have found your topic, read a few trade magazines or news papers that cover the same subject. Make a list of what stories are hot and what stories seem cold. Take notes and form your own opinion about the stories. Communicate your thoughts through your blog. Another idea: blog about your book tour, your book marketing strategies, or blog about the release of your next book. The key is, write down your topics, create your own opinion, plan your approach and then take action. Blog!
4. The next step is to Join a Blog Hosting Service to create and start your own blog. There are several blog hosting services available for you to choose from:

   Free blog services include:
   Blogger.com
   LiveJournal.com
   Blog-City.com
   Windows Live Spaces

   Fee-based services include:
   TypePad.com
   Xanga.com
   SquareSpace.com
   BlogIdentity.com

   I use Blogger.com because Google provides a complete Internet platform that is easy to use and help train others: Gmail account, major search engine, AdSense and free blog hosting services.

   Follow these simple steps to help you get started with Blogger.com:

   Step one: visit http://www.blogger.com
   Step two: follow their easy steps to create a Google account
   Step three: fill in your username, password, display name and e-mail address
   Step four: create a good blog theme or use your brand name for your blog
   Step five: chose a template, or go freestyle (design your blog using html codes)
   Step six: note: think about what you want to accomplish before you (write your header)
   Step seven: write your blog text
   Step eight: post your comments and upload your picture
   Step nine: add additional features or side bars (links, book cover, MP3 files)
   Step ten: publish your blog

5. When you are finished building your blog, it is time to launch into the blogosphere. Join a blog community or join a blog ring. (A blog ring is a blog community or blog forum. Blog rings provide an active audience. The ready-made forum is a fast way to post your blog in the mind of fellow bloggers.) Can’t find a suitable ring? Start your own!

About Antonio L. Crawford

Antonio is an author, publisher, speaker, infopreneur and book coach. He has worked in the publishing and book marketing industry for more than ten years. Antonio works with people who want to expand their ideas and turn their creativity into multiple streams of income. As CEO, Top Book Sales, Founder of National Christian Writers Conference, he has helped writers published their manuscripts using Lean and Kaizen improvement principles. Antonio is the publisher of Henrietta the Hyena; The CX Loan Solution; author of The Quest for Wealth and co author of 101 Ways to Generate Top Book Sales: A Handbook for Authors Ready to Plead Insanity. He is a contributing author in Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul.