I’m not new to blogging. I’ve had a WordPress blog since 2005, prompted by an incident that took place at my local Starbucks that I’ll discuss in a subsequent post titled, “A Room of One’s Own.” But my blog is one of those where I write about my pregnancies and kids, and only my friends and family read it, except for the occasional post like one I wrote about Milla Jovovich that got a thousand hits.
But now I’m blogging for a different reason. I’m a writer. I’ve written a book, and I want to sell that book. And every agent and marketing expert who blogs emphasizes how important it is to have a PLATFORM, to prove to the publisher that you have readers and that you can sell your book so they won’t have to do it for you. It’s amazing how much is expected of an author today. Just read the story of The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, and then check out her trailer. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, a website, a blog, book trailers, you name it, you’re expected to do it … BEFORE you get published. It’s not enough anymore to be a good (or even great) writer. You have to BE someone. In fact, that’s the hard part about selling a memoir today. If you aren’t already famous, people aren’t that interested. And yet my memoir is about modeling, something I began 21 year ago and quit 12 years ago and have little interest in blogging about today (although I’m happy to answer questions). What DOES interest me is the writing process, social media and marketing, book publishing, books in general (reading recommendations, for example) and the topic of my next book: atheist spirituality. It’s a wide range of topics, but that’s what I plan to blog about. And if I build a platform in the process—great! If not, no harm done. I love to write, and doing that every day makes me happy.