Why are guest posts important to indie authors?

Writing a book is just a part of your job as an indie author. Marketing your indie books is a huge task that begins after you finish your manuscript and get it published. As an indie writer, it is entirely up to you to get the word out there and get everyone to hear about how awesome it is. 

Spreading word through the social media about your book is just breaking the surface. Ask any author and they will tell you it needs more than a couple of tweets and likes.

It is upon us to reach out to the book bloggers and readers community through every open avenue and guest blogging opportunities are just an extra tool to do that. 

What is guest blogging?

I love writing on my blog and when some other blogger offers me a chance to do that on their blog, it is just more than an opportunity to write that I receive. It means the blogger trusts me enough to let me take over their personal space, which is a huge thing for me. 

I am always looking for book sites to guest post, if you are a book blogger looking for a guest blogger, do reach out to me! I recently wrote on Dani’s Perspective of a Writer on Bookstagram and how it affected my reading habits. 

But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about right now. I want to tell you that I am currently accepting guest posts from indie authors on Elgee Writes. More about that later, but let us talk about why you, as an indie author should be spending time on writing guest posts on other blogs. 

Why are guest posts important to indie authors?

I know how busy all of you are – writing plots, rewriting plots, editing your manuscript, thinking of miserable ways to kill my favorite characters, seeking out publishers, emptying the wine bottle and ordering Chinese takeout – yes yes, important things! 

But I am just trying to make my case on why you should add guest posts on that list of to do things. Here we go!

Putting your name out there!

There is it. I don’t even have to sugar coat this, do I? Every author, indie or otherwise, is looking for new avenues to put their name and their book’s in front of new audience everyday, and guest post in your favorite book blogger’s site or any other book site would do that easily.

I mean a book blogger will definitely share a similar but new audience as you (AKA bookworms AKA your readers) and what better way to put yourself on a blast than to address them via their favorite blogger?

Reviews are not all that you need

Of course book reviews are critical to your sales and marketing. But they are not all, are they?

Even if you can afford to send a free copy to every book blogger you know, there is no guarantee that they are gonna review your book on their site nor that is going be a positive one. 

But you get to control where and when you are gonna write a guest article and you could schedule it to suit your promotional plans. It is even a win-win for you and the book blogger in that way.

Choose what you talk about

That brings us to my next point – you can decide on what you are writing about. 

Initially the book blogger discusses with you on what sorta content they expect from you, but other than they usually do not interfere in your writing process. Depending on the topic you choose, you can be as informal and friendly as you want. 

Many authors I know choose to talk about their books and their characters and some even discuss about their writing craft. It depends entirely on you to write whatever you want to talk about. 

Lead them to your author website

In the age of social media, having an author website is kinda indispensable. It acts as a hub to your online presence and all your social accounts. 

Linking your guest posts to your website and your articles will increase the number of page visits to your site and thus improved online presence. Of course, higher page hits means more revenue, if you are into monetization. 

Pitch in your guest post ideas!

That brings me to the end of the post, almost. As I mentioned earlier, Elgee Writes is currently open for accepting articles from authors, artists and anyone who is related to the self or independent publishing world. If that is you and you are interested to write a guest post on related topics, drop me a message here.

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Let’s chat

Do you do guest articles? What are you favorite sites that accept guest posts from bloggers? If you have any author friends that are looking for sites to contribute, do share this post with them. And as always, let us talk.