Book Review:
The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors https://amzn.to/465WlZo
by: Anne R. Allen
I love this excerpt:
The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors by Anne R. AllenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was enjoyable to me as an author with a blog because it reaffirmed that I'm doing something right and gave me a bit of inspiration for an upcoming post. I'm glad to see that Anne R. Allen is still blogging. While there are other reference books on blogging, this one is specific to authors, which matters because we need to offer content to readers, rather than monetized commercial blogs that hope to get something from visitors. I had this book on my TBR pile for some time and am glad I finally made time to read it. I do enjoy a good writer's reference book. The author seems to be an authority on the subject.
Alexa has been shut down. Twitter is now X. These minor points are the annoyances of every reference writer in modern times who hopes to educate on any topic related to the ever-evolving Internet.
I was pleased to find the Insecure Writer's Support Group mentioned. I have been part of that group for years. And I adore that Chapter 21 mentions blog hops.
Blogs need to interest people who you don't already know - that's a great tip in this book. Telling people to use the "alt" attributes in images is such a kind and smart tip given in the book. (When the Photobucket site changed, so many old posts lost images. Without the "alt," it simply shows an empty box, instead of words describing what image was once there. It's also used for vision-impaired readers.) I'd add a note about pasting from a program, such as Word, into a webpage or blog —use Ctrl+Shift+C or "Paste as plain text" to solve the pesky formatting problems mentioned in Chapter 16.
I agree that pop-ups are evil and make enemies. I despise the latest trend where one comments on a blog post, then a pop-up asks to subscribe or something, and in hidden text there's a "continue reading" icon to click to finish submitting your comment.
Chapter 18 is my hero! I'm subscribed to dozens of author newsletters. Google conveniently dumps them into a folder I usually ignore. I'd rather read an actual book than spend six hours reading emails about whatever an author has cobbled together for a newsletter. I only open three on a rare basis.
Having moved from WordPress self-hosted to Blogger, I miss Tumblr's ability to back up my blog to their site. Granted, that's not what Tumblr is supposed to be for, but that automatic backup feature was nice. This book reminded me that I haven't updated that in over a year.
A social-media executor in the event you pass away- that's a brilliant idea near the end of this book. This book is definitely beneficial to authors who are publishing, or writing to publish, in today's Internet Age.
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As the book suggested, I'm reviewing my author blogging stats:
Some odd referral sites. A real estate site, the BBC, four retail shops... Well, whatever gets you here, I guess!
Yes, the first 10 pages of a Google search resulted in hits for me.
Back to my area of expertise! Blog hops. The A to Z Challenge is an INTERNATIONAL blog hop that has been successful for over a decade.
The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors https://amzn.to/465WlZo by: Anne R. Allen
I recommend it.
📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge
https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social My current favorite social media site.
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner I'm grateful for follows! https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
#AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:
March 23- April 4 Sign-up
April The International April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog Hop
May 4 -9 Reflections (bonus blog hop)
She mentioned the IWSG - how awesome! Anne has certainly maintained a very successful blog for years.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought that was pretty cool, being part of the IWSG and all. 😊
DeleteFunny, prompted by another Danish blogger, I looked at my stats, and Singapore is top on my list, as it was on hers as well :D Make of it what you want. I'm confounded.
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to add that the hidden "continue reading" icon is most probably a bug in some themes. I have agonised over it as well. But as I consistently see it on some blogs and not on others' I think it migth be a bug indeed.
DeleteHi! Thanks for coming to check on me. I have not been blogging. I don't know why. Lost the urge? Feel like nothing I have to say is of interest? I am going to give the A to Z another shot this year. My MIL passed away last May so I don't need to be with her constantly as I was last year. I will probably use the same topic? Your review of this book is a good one. Thanks! Have a great month. Hope to see you next month.
ReplyDeletealas no, you are probably not popular in Singapore, or to tell the truth many of us book bloggers have been recently super popular in Singapore, China, and Hong Kong. But unfortunately, this is all bots, not real visits, and we can no longer trust these stats. Starting last summer, I was getting days with 20 thousand visits, yes, per day! Definitely more than my usual stats. Then I identified a post with MrLinky that was getting crazy stats. I got rid of a MrLinky widget on that post, and now my stats are more reasonable
ReplyDelete