To blog or not to blog?

As I wind up my tenure at Beliefnet and prepare to move my blog next week to the Religion News Service, I’ve been reflecting on the last couple of years and how blogging has helped me to connect with readers. Here are my top five reasons book authors should blog:

1)   Your readers want to know you.

This is, hands down, the most important reason to have a blog and not just a static website. If people have done you the tremendous honor of buying and reading your book, you should get down on your knees and wail “I’m Not Worthy!” three times. Failing that—prostration is admittedly impractical—you should blog. Some readers don’t care about an author’s life or opinions beyond published books, but a surprising number do. Blogging helps readers to feel part of an author’s world.

2)   Your blog readers will make you a better book author.

This is not something I expected to happen when I started blogging regularly in the summer of 2010. I never considered how blogging would affect my book writing; I just knew I had a marketing mandate to “get my name out there,” as publishers like to say. But at the time, I was in the throes of writing Flunking Sainthood, which was (as writing often is) a lonely and discouraging process. One thing that helped me was discovering that my blog readers are rather cool and amazing people.

I hope you find this too. Readers may well blow you away with their insights and experiences. They may point you to books and articles you haven’t read yet or even heard of, prompt you to look at things from another angle, or chide you when you say something stupid, which you certainly will. All of those things happened to me, and I was able to incorporate some of that knowledge of my core audience into Flunking Sainthood as well as the proposal for my next book. (And as a bonus, sometimes readers have just told me that they appreciate what I do or are glad to have discovered my writing. I tell you now that it is better than Christmas to hear that.)

3)   Journalists need to be able to find you.

This is particularly true for non-fiction writers. (One theme of this post is that everything about marketing an author is easier with non-fiction; my sincere apologies to novelists everywhere.) A blog that focuses on your book’s topic can make you a point person for media, especially if you understand that journalists are smart people who are in an enormous hurry. Journalists might have a 24-hour turnaround time—or even less—to become experts on a particular topic, so they are always seeking authors who can explain complex things in digest form. Not only does a blog help journalists to find you, but the discipline of explaining complicated things in that digest form several times a week will help you become the kind of person who can also be helpful to a journalist on a deadline. Blogs teach authors not to blather.

4)   You are helping to build a community of ideas.

A blog isn’t just your own creation, and it’s certainly not a soapbox that exists for the sole purpose of hawking your books. It’s a commentary on what else is going on in the world each day that relates to your topic. That means that a good portion of your posts are going to link to other people’s news stories and blog posts—whatever you think your readers might be interested in. Think of yourself as a portal for ideas and brief analysis about your topic. You are a sort of gatekeeper to help busy readers see what is most interesting, so link away. This has at least three advantages for you as an author:

a.     Linking often is a key to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or how high your book comes up in a search of your topic. Ideally, you want to be listed on the very first page as an expert on your topic, whether it is container gardening or New Monasticism or the history of cheese.

b.    Linking frequently to other people’s work can save you from inevitable blog fatigue. If you are writing several posts a week (and you should—a blog is a community, and a community needs a committed leader), you’re going to get tired. Very tired. People ask me how I can write multiple blog posts each week without burning out. The short answer is that I don’t. I link to news articles; I get guest bloggers and authors to write for me; I point readers to the best of what’s happening elsewhere. I’m the tour guide, not the destination.

c.     Other bloggers appreciate it when you point your readers to their posts. They might even return the favor someday, helping your community of ideas to grow even more.  

5)   “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”: It’s Not Just for Aluminum Cans Anymore.

The most selfish reason for authors to blog—and, let’s face it, one of the most rewarding reasons—is that nothing you write ever has to go to waste anymore! An editor deleted 20,000 words from your latest book about cat adoption? Be über-polite about the edits and then rework them as opinion pieces for your blog posts, 500-700 words at a shot. Not all of that material will work for your blog, but a lot of it will if you massage it for the audience and the format.

P.S. For more on author marketing, check out chapter 13 of The Writer’s Digest Guide to Getting Published.

OK, I admit it. I have a Google Alert on the title Flunking Sainthood, so that the search engine lets me know when there are new reviews or discussions about the book. In the last few weeks it has been exciting — and humbling — to see the many different kinds of people who are reading and talking about the memoir and about spiritual practice. What’s astonishing to me is that the book is finding its ways into churches and book groups I’ve never even heard of:

* In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Baptist church is spending an entire year on the book, undertaking different spiritual practices each month according to the book’s schedule.

*  In Princeton, Indiana, a Methodist congregation is using the book for a short-term study group on spiritual practice.

*  The bishop of an Anglican diocese in England recommended the book to his flock a few weeks ago, and last weekend an Episcopal priest in Oregon preached a sermon that talked about it.

*  And then there are liberal Mormon women–my peeps!–who are thinking about what the book says about prayer.

Yeah, I’m aware that there’s an element of massive hubris to these Google alerts. In fact, I am giving them up for Lent, as well as reading book reviews, checking sales figures, etc. But until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21, I am going to enjoy all these updates! And I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the readers who are recommending FS to others and getting copies for their friends.

From the feedback I receive I can tell that it’s not the book itself that is winning people over — not the writing per se, or even the humor. It’s the honesty. And that’s something I never could have predicted when I was writing the darn thing.

“First Mitt won Iowa, then he lost Iowa? That’s a classic Romney flip-flop.”

–Stephen Colbert

Working with the theory that there hasn’t been nearly enough attention to Mormonism and politics this year, what with it being in the news every single day and all, Randy Balmer and I are co-organizing a scholarly conference on the topic next weekend at Columbia University. Here is a brief description:

With two Mormon candidates for the presidency and the recent unprecedented media attention given to Mormons recently, this conference  will take a broad view of the history of Mormon participation in American political life, from Joseph Smith’s 1844 run for the presidency to the Reed Smoot trials of the early 20th century and to the rise of Ezra Taft Benson during the Eisenhower administration, which ushered in a new era of Mormon identification with the Republican Party.

Speakers include Randall Balmer, Philip Barlow, Richard Bushman, Claudia Bushman, Joanna Brooks, Matthew Bowman, Sarah Barringer Gordon, Jan Shipps, Trevor Hill, Meredith LeSueur, David Campbell, Russell Arben Fox, Max Perry Mueller, and Peggy Fletcher Stack. The Religious Test, a documentary about American voters’ perceptions of Mormons, will also be screened.

The conference will take place February 3 and 4 in the university’s International Affairs Building, Room 1501 (420 W 118th St.). It is free and open to the public, but we have limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis, so get there early if you’re planning to come for all or part of it. Below is the schedule of speakers. Every session is in plenary format with two 20- to 25-minute papers.

Friday

I.             9:00-10:15           Richard Lyman Bushman and Sarah Barringer Gordon

II.            10:45 -12:00        Jan Shipps and Max Mueller

LUNCH

III.            1:00-2:15            Phil Barlow and David Campbell

IV.             2:45-4:00           Claudia Bushman and Joanna Brooks

Saturday

V.             9:00-10:00  Film screening, “The Religious Test”

VI.            10:30 to noon Russell Arben Fox, Peggy Fletcher Stack, and Matthew Bowman

P.S. Any media inquiries or interview requests should be directed to chriscdtr@gmail.com.

Sometimes peace can only be obtained when we set firm boundaries.

Friends, I will be offline until January 23 for a writing retreat. I’m bringing my computer, but the place where I am going doesn’t have email access, which is one of the reasons I love it. So if you are of a praying mind, please pray that this week is both productive and restful. I am hoping to tear through two writing assignments, make a dent in the stack of books by my desk (which now actually reaches the desk), and get some sleep in the bargain.

It’s a strange feeling, stepping back from constant communication. It’s both thrilling and scary to be unreachable for a week. My inner social media guru whispers that I might miss something important.

My better self answers back that making a retreat is doing something important. And that I am not so important that the world can’t get along just fine without me for a while.