Blogging Ideas for Sex Bloggers and Erotic Authors

Last week, I mentioned creating some version of a publishing calendar – from simple to complex (somehow, mine is actually becoming more complex as time goes on) – and I promised to discuss the “what” of blogging.

Why does it matter what you blog about? Because the world is inundated with media, content, and websites to view, read, watch, and absorb. If you want people to spend time on your site and discover who you are as a writer or blogger, you better give them a damn good reason to spend their time with you.

So this week, let’s talk content.

First, a note for sex bloggers and erotic authors:

I am not going to tell you specifically what I think you should blog about. For sex bloggers, most of us begin by writing about our own sexuality, whether fantasy or real. That’s just too personal for someone like me (who doesn’t have to live with the content you create) to try and tell you what to write about.

For erotic authors, I don’t have a “best practices” of topics you should touch on, other than to say that you should most definitely do more than post just excerpts from your books. Unless you see sales each and every time you publish a blog post of an excerpt – which means you must be doing something right and you probably don’t need my help.

What I hope to do for everyone is give you ideas of what to try and where to turn when your writing well runs dry and you’re not sure what to publish on your blog.

(For sex bloggers who aren’t trying to do the erotic author thing, you can skip this next section.)

What to Blog About as an Erotic Author

Let me start first by saying I think every erotic author should have a blog. You need a central hub for all of your information. Think about it, as an author, you’re in a million and one places:

• Amazon
• Smashwords
• Barnes & Noble
• Goodreads
• Facebook
• Twitter

And those are just a few places you can be. Those should be the spokes of the wheel with your website as the hub. After people buy your book or while they’re deciding, they should be able to get to you (meaning your website) from one of those sites if they want.

A blog gives people a chance to get to know you and your writing style before committing their money to you. Best of all, it gives them a chance to go from being a casual reader to a loyal one, because they have one central place to interact with you. A loyal reader is worth their weight in goal because a loyal reader will tell others why they think you’re so great. Give your readers a chance to become loyal. Your blog is a great way to do that.

Plus (but wait, there’s more!) with a blog, you can update nearly all of those other places you’re in with blog posts – without having to do much else. I get hits from my Amazon and Goodreads page at least a few times a week because I linked my blog to those sites. But first, you have to blog.

For y’all, the sky is kind of the limit:

• Excerpts of your work (which many of you are already doing plenty of)
• Your writing process
• What you learned when you researched a topic for your book
• Background information on your characters that you couldn’t put into your book
• Flash fiction – this is my favorite because these can be the seeds for new book ideas, give your readers proof that you can write (without another sales pitch), and can touch on topics you might not normally publish in your books
• Your personal life – as little or as much as you’d like to share
• Other author’s new release/blog tour info

Why am I so down on the whole excerpt thing?

Well, I’m not really. I do think, however, that you should post more than excerpts. People don’t want to follow a walking, talking, breathing commercial. They want to follow a person. Unless you’re the type of person who walks up to total strangers in person and recites 500 words of a book excerpt when they ask, “How are you?” maybe you shouldn’t do that for every blog post, either.

Blog posts are conversations you start and have with strangers, friends, and acquaintances. When the conversation is interesting, people come back for more. When you bore them, they leave, and you may never get their attention again.

Food for thought: If you’re not ready to get personal on your blog (and not everyone is), try this: start a flash fiction series building a story (500 -1000 words at a time) over the course of several weeks or months. When you’re done, and you feel like you’ve told a complete story, take all of those blog posts and compile and edit them into a book. Ta-da, you’ve already built an audience for the story and you’ve got a finished book.

(Okay, sex bloggers, you can come back now!)

To Get Your Creative Blogging Juices Flowing Try Weekly Memes or Blog Hops

As the organizer of the Masturbation Monday meme, you had to know I’d mention these, right? Let me put something out there, first.

Temporary blog hops, those scheduled for a specific book promotion with a set start and end date, are a different breed than what we’re discussing here. I’ve only participated in a few and had such poor visits to my own site (mostly from other authors) that I’m very particular when deciding if I’ll join in or not. The memes and blog hops I’m referring to  in this post are held on a weekly or monthly basis on the same day every time. The idea is to build a readership that knows to anticipate the meme or blog hop with bloggers and writers participating each week, ideally growing both the readers and the participants over time.

Other than my own meme, what else is out there? (Here, I’m going to mention those that I know are friendly to either authors or bloggers. You’ll need to check each meme’s specific rules – some don’t allow excerpts and some don’t care.)

Sinful Sunday

Masturbation Monday

TMI Tuesday

Wicked Wednesday

Kink of the Week

Friday Flash

Boobday

Sexy Searching

I know this isn’t all of them, but these are the ones I know about – even if I don’t participate in all of them. Memes and hops come and go, depending on their success and the organizer’s ability to keep it going (It takes a lot of time, so don’t frown on anyone who has to let one go because other things in their life come up.)

What I love about these memes is that when you get involved, you become part of the community. You’ll meet new people, hear about more blogging or writing opportunities, and build your audience. The bonus is that when you’re stuck, these memes can help you choose a topic for a specific day or week. Hell, some of them aren’t even about words, they’re about the image.

When you think you have nothing else to blog about, think again.