Last week, I was on a literary blogging panel for the Washington Independent Writers. Listening to the other bloggers tell stories and the audience members quoting big-name writers who say blogging is nuts made me realize a lot of people out there do not think blogging is worth the time.

Alors!

When I started blogging, I was clueless. One poet (Thanks, Aimee Nez!) kindly welcomed me to the “blogosphere” and I remember thinking, “huh?” I was not hip to the lingo.

Thank goodness the necessary lingo does not go far beyond blogosphere, because I already have enough lingo to handle in my day job — “latent semantic indexing” anyone, anyone?

In this day of shrinking or invisible book marketing budgets, a writer has to take on more of the marketing themselves. A blog is an excellent way to develop a community and a readership. Here’s how else it can be useful:

1. Community:I lived in Iowa for a long time and know first hand how lonely it can be not to have a writing community. Leslie Pietryk, who knew me waaaay back then, remembered my extremely long emails during that time of my life. Um, yeah. I had about 28 free hours a day in Iowa. With blogging, I’ve met writers all over this country and even around the world.
2. Sharing How to Start a Magazine:This was my original idea behind starting the blog. I know, I know. Booorrrring! So many people asked me how to start a literary magazine that I thought it would be a good idea to write about it. That idea remained a good one for exactly 9.5 seconds. Then, I came to my senses.
3. To Try Something New:I love new challenges. While setting up the blog was easy, I then had to come up with content people actually wanted to read, increase visitors, and so on. I have learned a lot and use this blog as my testing grounds for new techniques such as adding plugins (aka nifty gadgets) to backup my blog content or figuring out ways to create categories that easily let readers find what they want.
4. To Improve 32 Poems:One time Oliver de la Paz requested comments from his blog readers on proposed covers for his poetry book. The blog format, with its ability to accept comments from readers, can create a conversation around a topic. I asked for, and received, respectful comments with suggestions how to make 32 Poems better. As a result, our design has improved over the years.
5. To Get News: I find out news faster through reading blogs than through reading anything else. Blogs are up to the minute in a way that print magazines can’t be.
6. To Find Poems: Amanda Auchter posted a poem on her blog that took the top off my head clean off. (It took months to grow back.) I stopped by her blog one day and was blown away by the poem. I immediately asked her if that poem was published and if she would be willing to submit it to 32 Poems. That has, so far, been the one and only poem I’ve solicited from a blog.
7. To Share Ideas: As I meet more people, I get more energy and more ideas for projects, for poems, for books to read, for conferences to attend or not attend.

If blogging is not for you, it’s not as though you will shrivel up. You’ll be just fine — and dandy. If you are interested in blogging and not sure, then take the above into consideration. If you want to be extra dandy, like dandy with some sugar, then blog.

In a future post, I’ll share some blogging tips that will sells millions of copies of your poetry books. Ah, I’m just making sure you’re awake. Okay, maybe 100 copies?