Why I Don’t Blog About Writing

One of the many reasons I started a blog was so I could promote my writing. I also wanted to talk about video games, which is why my first blog post was about Resident Evil.

As time went on, two things happened. First, I learned that keeping a blog is an important part of building an author platform. This made me blog more frequently (until I achieved the regular schedule I use today). Second, I became worried that I slipped into blogging about videos games too often, and that I needed to focus on writing topics instead.

Then, in my search for strategies to help me with my blog, I read Why Writers Blogging About Writing is Bad.

I’d never thought about it before, but it’s true–a blog about the craft of writing will appeal to other writers, but if you want to find an audience for your books, you need to appeal to readers. The majority of readers aren’t writers.

Another article (which I’ve been unable to find again, so if you know what it is, please let me know!) made similar points, but went on to mention that authors looking at writing blogs probably know a lot of other authors. The average blog reader interested in video games/knitting/gardening/etc., however, probably does not–which means the non-writers are more likely to be excited to meet an author and check out that person’s books.

Granted, the majority of readers probably aren’t gamers, either, and I’m not crazy enough to think that everyone who comes here wondering what Professor Layton game to play first or if Bayonetta is anti-Christian is going to read my fiction. (Not that I’d complain if they did.) But for those of you who like my style and my taste in games, I hope it encourages you to check out the stories I’ve written.

If I tried to blog about the craft of writing, I’d have run out of ideas a long time ago. So I picked something else I’m passionate about, something I can talk about often, and made it my primary focus.

Today, I have over twice as many posts about video games as about writing. Most of my writing posts are announcements, such as when I revised The Accidental Zombie, rather than discussions of writing itself. I think that’s the right direction for my blog to take.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Should writers blog about writing?