is blogging a waste of time?

Whenever an author talks at a chapter meeting or conference about blogging, he/she is often asked the question "does it bring you more sales, or is it a waste of time?"

IMHO, blogging is not a waste of time if you get something out ot it. For me, it's a way of keeping track of my progress and motivating me to write every day, whether I have a new release or not, whether I'm between projects or in the middle of a doozy. Even if I don't have comments pouring at me, it's a way for me to keep myself interested.

I don't know if by blogging I've made more book sales. I know I get more hits on my website (which is www.jennifersromances.com btw :-) ). There's no way of tracking that figure. But blogging does make blog readers aware of you and what you write, and perhaps will interest them to try a book.

Also, I'm amazed at the number of people who tell me they read my blog. Readers, family members, friends, and people I don't know. I hope I give them something halfway interesting to read.

So it's only a waste of time if you let it be. If you hate posting entries every couple of days, or posting comments on other author sites, or reading blogs, then don't do it. It's a trend, too. One day, another new cool thing will come along (say, podcasting), and blogging will be history. We'll all look at each other and say, "remember when we used to blog?"

Just thoughts.

Jennifer
(oh, did 5100 words today and 5000 yesterday.)