Blogging Resources for
Book Authors and Publishers
This page features blogging services, blog hosts, blog search engines, etc. If you'd like to nominate a site for this page, email John Kremer. I know that I have missed some sites I truly would like to add to this list. Your site might be one of those. — John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
57 million Americans (out of 147 million Internet users) read blogs. 1.4 million new blog posts are created every day. 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs. Technorati currently tracks more than 70 million blogs. Blogs are hot!
For blog tour and virtual author touring information, click here.
Blog Hosting Websites and Services
Here are some websites you can use to create your blog . . .
Blogsome: http://www.blogsome.com.
Blogspot: https://www.blogger.com/start The host for my Book Marketing Bestsellers blog.
Clear Blogs: http://www.clearblogs.com.
Community Server: http://www.communityserver.org Offers corporate blogging platforms as well as platforms for creating social networks, forums, and other communities online. For one, they power the MySpace forums.
Expression Engine: http://www.pmachine.com.
Live Journals: http://www.LiveJournals.com A little more advanced, from the people at Six Apart.
Meebo: http://www.meebo.com Instant messaging website. 500,000 users.
Our Story: http://www.ourstory.com Blogging or social networking site for sharing stories. A service of Yahoo!
Six Apart: http://www.sixapart.com Their Movable Type software allows you to host your blog on your site.
SOS Blogs: http://www.sosblog.com Create a blog or a free multi blog. A multi blog is a blog where many blogs can be created. John Kremer's blog: http://marketingresources.sosblog.com.
Square Space: http://www.squarespace.com Blogging and website hosting service. But it seems to be in some trouble. Not responsive. No affiliate program tab though they say they have one. No way to communicate with them if you are not a member.
Suite Two: http://www.spikesource.com A blogging and wiki platform for corporations.
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com A free blogging platform for 140-character posts, especially designed for text messaging via cellphone and instant messaging.
TypePad: http://www.typepad.com The most professional of Six Apart's blogging hosted sites.
Vignette: http://www.vignette.com Offers business blogging and social networking websites.
Vox: http://www.vox.com A simple to use blogging site, from the people at Six Apart.
Windows Live Spaces: http://spaces.live.com The blogging pages from Microsoft.
WordPress: http://www.wordpress.com. Offers hosted websites as well as blogging software.
Yahoo! 360: http://360.yahoo.com The blogging and social networking service from Yahoo!
Blog Search Engines
Use these search engines to find compatible bloggers, potential blogging partners, blogs to comment upon, and places to list your own blog:
Australian Blogs: http://www.AustralianBlogs.com.au Hosted by BuggerAll.com.
Best of the Web Blog Search: http://blogs.botw.org A selective listing of older and valuable blogs.
Bigger Blogs: http://www.biggerblogger.com A relatively new directory with few listings.
Blog Advance: http://www.blogadvance.com A blog exchange site.
Blogalaxia: http://www.blogalaxia.bom Features Spanish-language blogs.
Blogarama: http://www.blogarama.com Features over 65,000 blogs via various categories.
Blog Catalog: http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory Search for thousands of blogs covering a wide range of topics.
Blog Clicker: http://www.blogclicker.com A blog exchange site.
Blog Digger: http://www.blogdigger.com You can search by date or by relevance. Also offers a local search (to find bloggers in your area) as well as a toolbar to access their search features right from your browser.
Blog Directory: http://www.blog-directory.org
Blog Explosion: http://www.blogexplosion.com A large directory of blogs.
Blog Flux: http://www.blogflux.com Includes a blog directory, button making tools, comment tracking, forums, polls, and more.
Bloggapedia: http://www.bloggapedia.com Features top-rated and recently listed blogs, but also includes a blog search directory, blogging news and forums, tools, and resources.
Bloggeries: http://www.bloggeries.com Features a blog directory, forum, reviews, tutorials, and more. Lots of categories and subcategories for searching blogs.
Bloggernity: http://www.bloggernity.com A directory featuring blogs by categories such as art, books, business, cultural, diet & fitness, education, entertainment, environmental, religious, health, hobby, humor, jobs, news, online dating, science, shopping, sports, technology, teen, travel, writers, and personal blogs. Features 300 to 8,000 blogs in each category.
Blogging Fusion: http://www.bloggingfusion.com This new blog directory offers sixty categories, including photo blogs and family blogs. Includes a creative writing category. Also includes ratings.
Blog Hub: http://www.bloghub.com Offers a drop down category and member blog list. Includes hot topic and new blogger lists.
Blogio: http://www.blogio.net A new blog directory with few listings, but growing.
Bloglines: http://beta.bloglines.com/topfeeds Features the top 1000 blogs, with RSS feeds.
BlogListing: http://www.bloglisting.net Features lots of categories as well as the page ranks of blogs so you create relationships with the most-visited blogs.
Blogmad: http://www.blogmad.net A blog exchange site.
Blog Pulse: http://www.blogpulse.com A service of Nielsen BuzzMetrics. It search the most recent blog entries for any topic you want to follow.
Blog Rankings: http://www.blogrankings.com
Blog Reach: http://www.blogreach.com A blog syndication network. Every time the free BlogReach widget is shown on your blog, you earn an impression credit on the BlogReach network. Your latest blog headline is then shown on someone else's BlogReach widget in the same interest category as your site. This innovative network method of promotion enables you to reach a wider audience.
Blog Rush: http://www.blogrush.com A blog syndication network. Add a free widget and your blog will be automatically promoted on related blogs around the world.
Blog Search Engine: http://www.blogsearchengine.com Powered by Ice Rocket, this is a selective blog directory.
Blog Soldiers: http://www.blogsoldiers.com A blog exchange site.
Blog Universe: http://www.bloguniverse.com Features video and podcast blogs.
Blogs for Small Business: http://blogsforsmallbusiness.com/directory. A directory of small business blogs.
British Blogs: http://www.britblog.com Must be genuinely Britished, i.e., culturally British.
DayPop: http://www.daypop.com A blog search engine.
Eaton Web Blog Directory: http://portal.eatonweb.com Offers a blog rating system.
enQuira: http://www.enquira.org A new directory with 72 categories, including books, literature, poetry, and writing.
Fuel My Blog: http://www.fuelmyblog.com A social network for bloggers.
Globe of Blogs: http://www.globeofblogs.com Features noncommercial blogs by titles, author, or subject.
Google Blog Search: http://www.google.com/blogsearch The Google search for blogs.
Ice Rocket: http://www.icerocket.com Search engine for blogs (by most recent post), MySpace, and more.
India Blog Directory: http://www.indiblogger.in A directory of blogs from India.
Izearanks: http://www.izearanks.com Uses real data to calculate which blogs are getting the most traffic and have the most influence on the web.
The Officials: http://www.the-officials.com A directory of websites as well as blogs.
Pijoo: http://www.pijoo.com Newer blog directory.
Sphere: http://www.sphere.com Motto: Connecting blogs and news. You can narrow your search to the last 24 hours or seven days.
SpillBean: http://www.spillbean.com A new blog directory with the following categories: entertainment, business, computers, daily living, games, health, Internet, news, personal, recreation/sports, regional, and society & culture. Few listings so far, but worth listing your blog here.
Super Blog Directory: http://www.superblogdirectory.com Offers lots of categories. You can search blogs by page rank, hits, or alphabetically. Will not allow you to submit a blog in a category from BlogSpot.com if another blog already exists from that URL.
Technorati: http://www.technorati.com The most comprehensive directory of blogs and blog posts.
The Truth Laid Bear: http://www.truthlaidbear.com Blog tracking and ranking portal.
TopRank: http://www.toprankblog.com/rss-blog-directories This site features a list of the submission urls for RSS and blog directories that you can submit your blog or RSS feed to. Lots more places to submit your blogs and search for others. This is the directory of blog directories (beyond this listing here).
Yahoo! Blog Search: http://dir.yahoo.com/news_and_media/blogs
Zimbio: http://www.zimbio.com Offers a blog directory, wikizines, and user-submitted articles.
Blogging Information Sites
About.com's Guide to Blogs: http://weblogs.about.com
Answers Blogging Info: http://www.answers.com/main/new_blogger.jsp
Bloggers Blog: http://www.bloggersblog.com A blog reviewing other blogs in action, including the launch of new blogs. Written by Greg Knollenberg, CEO of Writers Write. Also hosts ReadersRead.com, a portal of book reviews and excerpts; the Internet Writing Journal, an online magazine for writers and book lovers; and Writers Write, featuring author interviews, articles, and more.
Dosh Dosh: http://www.doshdosh.com A blog about making money online, especially via blogs.
Mint: http://www.haveamint.com Mint is an extensible, self-hosted website analytics program that allows you to track visits, referrers, popular pages, and searches. Cost: $30 one-time registration fee.
My Blog Log: http://www.mybloglog.com This Yahoo service enables you to create blog widgets as well as track what pages on your blog people are visiting. John Kremer's profile here: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/JohnKremer.
My blog buzz URL: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/bookmarketingbestsellers.
My website buzz URL: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/bookmarketing.
Performancing: http://pmetrics.performancing.com pMetrics gives you unprecedented detail on every visitor to your website. You can try it out via a free demo.
Get Paid to Blog. Get More Exposure via Blogs by Advertising.
Group Blogs or Blogs with Visibility
If you don't want to create a blog on your own, you might want to join a group blog where you don't have to post as much and can draw on the combined audience of the other bloggers in the network.
Blogcritics Magazine: http://www.blogcritics.org Eric Olson, Publisher, 605 W Acadia Pount, Aurora OH 44202; 330-562-4692. Email: ecolsen2003@cs.com. Eric Berlin, Executive Producer; 626-372-0778. Email: dumpsterbust@gmail.com. Motto: A sinister cabal of superior writers. Features the writings of 1,500 writers offering news, reviews, and opinion. Blog entries on TV, culture, books, music, sports, film, science, technology, gaming, food, theater, politics, comics, and more.
Blogging Authors: http://www.bloggingauthors.com Founded by Nancy Hendrickson, author of four books and hundreds of magazine articles, BloggingAuthors is now an arm of CyberBookBuzz.com, a communication strategies company. You pay $99 on up to blog here.
BlogHer: http://www.blogher.org. A blogging network of 10,000 women now known as the world's largest new media network. Its ad network: http://www.blogherads.com.
The Carnival Christian Writers: http://ginaconroy.com/groupblog/wordpress/?page_id=243 Christian writers share in the craft of writing fiction, non-fiction, publishing, and anything else related to writing, including their faith. Post must address the craft, call, process, struggle, etc. of writing. Submission deadline is noon on Saturday before the fourth Monday of the month. Carnival posts on the fourth Monday. If you would like to submit to the Carnival, email Carla Gade, the Carnival Coordinator, at carnivalcw@gmail.com.
Disney Family Bloggers: http://family.go.com/blog Blogs include Cookies to Caviar, Where's My Manual?, Hugs and Kisses, Fit Mama, Mommy Style, Do-Dad, Balancing Act, The Mom Street Journal, Cirque du Mommy, Seek the Unique, and Breakfast for the Sleep Deprived.
Disney Family Parenting Team Advisors: http://family.go.com/blog/pta_index.html Blogs include Phat Mommy, Celebrity Baby Blog, Mom-101, This Full House, Mommies with Style, MommyCast, Baby on Board, Dad Gone Mad, Girls Gone Child, Rookie Moms, Tribeca House, Queen of Spain, Peachhead, SoCal Mom, Silicon Valley Moms, Mom Writes, Crazed Parent, City Mama, Hot Moms Club, Daddy Types, Savvy Mommy, and MommaSaid.net.
Duct Tape Marketing: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com John Jantsch, Editor. Includes about 20 other blog channel members for much wider exposure (Business Life, The Idea Department, Customers Count, Design Matters, Word Wealth, Selling to Big Companies, The Buzz Saw, Ethics in Business, People Management, The Small Biz Wiz, Referrals for Life, Internet Innovations, etc.).
451 Press: http://www.451press.com Hosts more than 300 daily blogs with 10 million daily visitors. The site features a blog aggregator, allowing readers to view multiple blogs. This network is ad-supported, so it pays bloggers for their work.
Gawker Media: http://www.gawker.com You can audition to be a commentaer on their main blog. This is a network of blogs.
Glam Media: http://www.glammedia.com Samir Arora, Founder. Operates a dozen women's fashion sites as well as a showcase and ad platform for 380 small publishers (affiliates, primarily bloggers). 20 million monthly visitors. To join the Glam publisher ad network, check out details here: http://glammedia.com/publishers/glam_publisher_network/index.php.
Guerrilla News Network: http://www.guerrillanews.com You can create your own blog on this guerrilla news network. Like CNN but GNN, so it's created by users. A great place to blog if your topic is news.
The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com Arianna Huffington, Publisher. News tips email: scoop@huffingtonpost.com. General info email: info@huffingtonpost.com. A wide variety of blogs from various liberal and progressive politicians, newspeople, celebrities, authors, and experts. They have some 1,600 invited bloggers, including John Cusack, Deepak Chopra, Nora Ephron, Bill Moyers, Al Franken, Bill Maher, Bill Richardson, and John Kerry. They get 3.6 million unique visitors per month and 250,000 comments posted each month. One of the top 5 blogs as identified by Time Magazine.
Lauren Rich Fine, a publishing analyst at Merrill Lynch, met Huffington at a conference and was invited to contribute to the site's new business section. After her first post, she was amazed at how many people noticed her posts.
MetaFilter: http://www.metafilter.com This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members. They get 11.5 million page views per month from 3.5 million unique users. They use an Amazon Honor System link to solicit donations. One of the top 5 blogs as identified by Time Magazine.
Seattle Post-Intelligence: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com They are currently looking for someone to blog about pets and other topics. See info at: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/solicit.asp. Does your best friend have four legs? Do you know a lot about dogs, cats, birds or snakes as pets? Are you a caregiver for our animal friends? If so, we're looking for people like you to write about pets. Caring for them. Living with them. Helping them to live around us ... and other pets. ... We want you to blog about anything you're passionate about: Hobbies, neighborhoods, sports, news, leisure activities . . . the list goes on. We can give your blog a home on one of the top-20 news sites in America (Nielsen ratings, 2007), and we'll give you the independence to say what you mean. E-mail us at blog@seattlepi.com with your idea, your resume, a writing sample, and a link to your current blog (if you have one). We respond to every request, so contact us today.
Current reader blogs include Room 4 Design (decorating), Entrepreneur's Journey, Popcorn Review (movies), Ear Candy (local music scene), and Better Than Rehab (pop culture blog).
Blogging for an established website is a great way to start a blog or grow a blog. If you are interested in blogging about your book topic, SPI offers a great opportunity. If you want to learn more about using blogging and other online resources to market your book, subscribe to John Kremer's Create Amazing Friends Course (see info below).
Splashpress Media: http://www.splashpress.com Offers more than 100 blogs under one umbrella, including Blogging Pro, Forever Geek, Filmsy, and Celebrific.
Seven Powerful Ways to
Find New Readers for Your BlogIt's one thing to have a blog, it's quite another to get readers. If you have a blog and have been blogging for a while you know what I mean. I was thrilled the first time someone commented on a blog post I made. A la Sally Field I wanted to jump off my chair and yell: "Yes, you like me, you really like me."
It can be a lonely journey to start a blog but once you do, you'll find that blogging can bring great value to whatever you're promoting. Your book, message or product can be greatly enhanced by the platform you create online. Now, it's just a question of finding readers and (of course) keeping them. Here are a few tips to get you started.
1) Write good blog headings: stay away from mysterious, nebulous blog titles. No one will read them and search engines can't spider them effectively. Be specific, tell what your blog is about in the title. Surprises aren't a good thing when it comes to blog titles.
2) Keep blogging - even if you don't think people are reading keep writing, eventually if you blog right readers will beat a path to your door.
3) Give away stuff: yes, it's ok to promote free stuff on your blog. Don't do it all the time but every now and again free stuff is a good thing!
4) Add your blog to your email signature line: this is a pretty simple way to gain exposure. Every time an email goes out you're promoting your blog, what could be easier!
5) Comment on other blogs: a great way to network with other bloggers is to comment on what they're doing/saying on their own blogs. Make cyber-friends, lots of them.
6) Invite people to guest blog or interview them: they'll promote the interview on their blog and this will help you get readers and expand your network. These interviews also make for great content.
7) Don't be afraid to state your opinion: your blog is your opportunity to get center stage with something that's important to you. State your opinion, you may be surprised at how many people agree with you.
There are, of course, dozens more ways to get readers to your blog and keep them there. These seven will get you started and keep the momentum going. Remember that while blogging may seem like a lonely way to promote yourself, blogs get picked up by search engines, and sometimes even media sites (like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times) so the benefits to starting and keeping a blog are enormous. If you feel like no one's reading you might be surprised. One day you'll get a notice that someone liked a post enough to comment on it. When that happens, you have my permission to be thrilled. Yes, they really like you.
The above 7 points are reprinted from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter, a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. Find out more here: http://www.amarketingexpert.com.
John Kremer's Create Amazing Friends Course
Learn how to create amazing friends real and lasting friendships with top media, key book-selling contacts, and other people who matter. If you know anything about marketing, you know that the key lies in building relationships that count.
The Create Amazing Friends course includes a teleseminar, three incredible reports, and an additional webinar where you will learn the secrets on how to become a friend not just a name in the news with top media people as well as other essential contacts (booksellers, wholesalers, catalog directors, movie producers, bloggers, website owners, or whomever else you want to know).
You will be amazed at how easy it can be to create friends in all the right places in as little as a few hours.
To sign up for this course, click here: Create Amazing Friends Course
Copyright © 2008 by John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571