Is blogging still a valid way to create a platform?
Maybe you’ve seen headline titles: “It’s Time for Authors to Stop Blogging” or “Why You Shouldn’t Blog Your Book.”
And then there’s the definitive opposite: “Start Blogging Now and Watch Your Career Soar!”
Blogging is not a magic shortcut to bestseller lists. But for authors, it’s still one of the most undervalued tools for reaching out and finding readers, if you approach it as a craft rather than a billboard.
Blogging is practice, not a promotion hack
Blogs can be less formal, easier to skim, and shareable in ways print never could be—but it requires the same attention, skill, and dedication as writing a novel. Many authors give up before they’ve put in enough hours to understand the medium.
I’ve been blogging since 2011, years before my first book.
I started out with a basic WordPress website and blog. In 2015, I hired a web designer to update it for my first novel. A few months ago, I contacted her for a refresh for my newest novel. She was impressed with how active my blog readership has remained over the years, and how my blog still gets hits from outside sources.
I credit that to regular, consistent content, and to sharing my blog content across other social media, such as Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. Pinterest, in particular has become a big source of traffic for me.
Remember every post is a searchable doorway for readers to enter your world. Not only that, search engines favor:
- regularly updated sites
- longer-form thoughtful content
- internal linking between posts
Your blog keeps your website “alive” in Google’s eyes.
Enjoyment is Essential
To stick with blogging long enough for it to matter, you have to genuinely enjoy it.
Understanding the medium makes the difference between a post that disappears and one that builds traction. If you can’t find some pleasure in the play of it, the blog becomes a chore, not a practice ground for skill.
What Blogging Actually Does for Fiction Writers
- Increases visibility – Each post is a searchable doorway for new readers to discover you.
- Builds credibility – Editors, book clubs, and podcast hosts notice authors who are active, thoughtful, and engaged.
- Strengthens your author brand– Your voice online becomes a companion to your fiction, a way for readers to know you before they commit to a book.
- Gives content longevity – social media disappears in hours; blogs live for years.
- Supports newsletters & community – Readers convert to subscribers because they’ve already invested in your voice.
What’s the difference between a website blog and Substack?
- A website blog gives you full control, SEO benefits, and long-term presence. You can build a newsletter from repeat readers.
- Substack offers a built-in newsletter audience, so it reaches people directly. There’s also connection and community.
My Substack is an echo of my blog. I usually write first here on the blog and then publish the same basic post with a few tweaks on Substack.
I genuinely enjoy being on Substack. I’ve met generous, thoughtful writers there and made connections I likely wouldn’t have found on my own. There’s an energy to it, a sense of conversation, that a standalone blog can’t always replicate.
But remember that distinction: Substack is a shared space.
There, I’m part of a wider ecosystem—one that includes incredible voices, but also ones I don’t align with, which the nature of any large platform. Tools such as blocking and curation help shape my experience, but they don’t change the fact that I’m participating in something I don’t fully control.
With my blog, I do.
So it isn’t that one is better than the other. It’s about what I need from each: connection in one place, and complete ownership in another.
That said, the skill is the same
Whether you call it blogging, Substacking, newsletter writing, or content creation, the skill remains the same: write regularly, write well, write for your readers. You can repurpose content across platforms without losing value. The medium changes, the principles don’t.
Blogging isn’t dead. It’s evolving, and it’s still relevant—especially for writers willing to treat it as a craft rather than a marketing shortcut. It’s a valid way to reach readers, build trust, and sharpen your skills.
Thank you for visiting!
Linda K. Sienkiewicz’s upcoming novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, is about an anxious overthinker whose fixation on a stranger pulls her straight into chaos, heartbreak, and the inconvenient unraveling of her carefully constructed life.
Preorder Love and Other Incurable Ailments, and she’ll be forever grateful. Preorders help books get noticed. They signal demand to publishers and bookstores, which leads to wider distribution and more visibility. You’re essentially helping the book reach more readers!
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