Being a Better Blogger

I’ve been researching how to get more people to read what I write. I need to drive more traffic to my website. I’d like to start publishing my novels online, but to make it worthwhile, I need to make sure people are actually reading it. I’m researching how to make money from writing.

I’ve dabbled in writing short stories for decades. I’ve been writing novels for about seven years. I self-published my first one five years ago. I’ve never been able to make it pay.

I’ve heard nobody makes any money from self-publishing until you have three books published. I tried the self-publishing way, but that didn’t work because, well, I’m not a salesman. I actually took it off Amazon because sales were so anemic if any traditional publisher researched me, they’d pass me over in a heartbeat. I’m not sure I have the time or patience to find a traditional publisher for my book. There is a lot of competition.

Really, I just want people to read it. On the other hand, editors and websites cost money. Then there’s the problem of finding original cover art. That’s another pile of dough. Artists aren’t cheap and I don’t expect them to be.

So I go this idea, how about if I publish my books as a blog, one chapter at a time. I’ll send people to my site so they can READ ONLINE FOR FREE!!!! Then I’ll get lots of ads and get rich and famous and buy an island in the caribb… OK, I’m getting ahead of myself

I started researching how to get ads. Well, it takes about 500 views per day before anyone will even consider putting an ad on your site. Even more if you want to make any money at it. Yesterday I got, let’s see… One visitor. That was me checking to make sure my post got read. I just hope someone’s reading this.

Then I researched how to get more people to visit my site. I only have to DO THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK to get more people to my site: Write More. That’s it? Well, no. There are other things, but that is the most important. Nobody’s going to read this if there’s no reason to visit the site.

My goal is to write at least something every day. At minimum a good, well written post per week. I have been hesitant to write unless it had something important to say. I guess my writing’s not going to change the world or even minds if nobody reads it.

Suffice it to say, I will be writing more, and less weighty analytical pieces from now on. I have a plan for some posts on worldbuilding for writing and role-playing games. I’ve also got ideas for cooking (a perennial favorite), movie and TV reviews, and possibly woodworking and gardening. I also hope to have some posts on old maps and languages. Both of those are tied in to worldbuilding, so expect a lot of that.