Blog Recommendation: A Writer's Journey

Eriador Press, founded by author Nat Russo, runs a blog called "A Writer's Journey". In addition to being where Nat talks up his books, he writes a hell of a lot on what it takes to succeed as an independent author these days. From this post, he talks up the necessity of an author platform towards success.

I had to slap myself. This couldn’t continue. So I took stock of what led me to writing and blogging to begin with: helping people improve their craft. Not selling books! It was never about selling books for me! As soon as I realized this, I went back to what I had been doing for two years: I went back to being a content provider, first and foremost. I slashed the number of book ads I was tweeting and went back to blogging and mentoring.

Sales rocketed. And by rocketed, I mean they leaped from 3/day to over 70/day, where they’ve remained ever since. Necromancer Awakening climbed onto three different Amazon bestseller lists and raced up to the top 10 on each.

All with minimal advertising.

That's the big reason for a platform. It's a one-stop destination for people to find you, find what you produce on the daily, and then follow links for them to buy your stuff. You are what they're buying. This is why advertising, in this game, isn't worthwhile; you succeed by making a connection to your audience, not by shilling.

This one is worth adding to your blogroll, especially if you're like mean and seeking to learn this business by making use of what others learned the hard way.