If you blog as we do, maybe you wondered whether you should take your blog on hiatus until after the new year. We did…shh.
Then we put our thinking heels on and came up with a list of post ideas we’re going to do to end our amazing year with a bang.
We got to thinking we should share some of our ideas with you! Start writing these blogs now before the holiday tsunami sweeps you away. The cool thing is that many of these ideas are lists, so it shouldn’t take you long. Others might require more research and time. But, your blog followers and future book readers will thank you for it.
One more thing: use your blog to promote your book through the holiday season and/or set the stage for your 2013 book release. Tip: Don’t be afraid to do any of these as video blogs and to incorporate images!
1. Your Top Influencers in 2012
Share a post listing your favorite resources, books, blogs, and authors who impacted you in 2012. Think outside the box for this one and strive to select influencers that would likely be new to your audience.
2. The “Best” (Resource, Advice, Book You Read, Etc.) in 2012
Select the best or top fill-in-the-blank and share a review of it. This post lends itself well to images and video, quotes, and links to the other sites that mention or discussed it.
3. Lessons You Learned
This a favorite of ours. It’s the end of the year and you’ve likely learned a few things. As an author /writer you can target your lessons to your book’s topic (i.e. Five Lessons I Learned About Entrepreneurship in 2012) or reflect on writing lessons, publishing lessons, etc. Here’s an example of a post by Duolit that does this well.
4. New Year’s Resolutions for Your Book/Writing
What do you hope to accomplish in 2013? Are you going to start a new project, finish your book’s sequel, or visit the city where your book takes place? This post is fantastic for setting the stage with your book’s audience for what they can expect next year.
5. A Sneak Peak into 2013
Similar to the New Year’s resolutions post, you can offer a sneak peak of a project you’re currently working on. For this post, you could share a snippet of your first chapter, introduce a few of your main characters, or post a video of yourself discussing the summary/plot of your upcoming book.
6. Your Holiday Wish List
What’s on your holiday list? or What would your holiday recommendations be for your audience? Writing a book for small business owners? Your post could be, “My Holiday Wish List for Small Business Owners.” You could of course post and link to products or make it a motivational post and list valuable resources and tips.
7. Your 2012 Highlights
What were your favorite 2012 moments? This post also works well with images (your book’s cover, launch party pics, signings pics). Be sure to include links to other posts you’ve written that might compliment any of your highlights.
8. A Year-End Giveaway/Promotion Post
The end of the year is a stellar opportunity to promote your book through a giveaway. Tis the season, right? Here’s an example of how we did this for The Indie Author Revolution last week.
This post is a way to drive traffic to your blog, but it also engages your readers. When you send your book(s) to the lucky winners, don’t forget to send a personal note with a reminder to post an Amazon review.
9. A Question & Answer Video Interview with a Reader
After a long year of book promotion, a perfect year-end post is a question & answer video with a reader, blog follower, client, or fellow writer. Take the opportunity to include reflections, lessons, and to set up what 2013 has in store for you and readers.
10. Your 2012 Awards
Another favorite post idea. Who wins best website, “worst” idea, most creative invention, favorite book (second to yours)? Who are the honorable mentions? Have fun with this post. It’s an opportunity to reward and acknowledge your network, industry insiders, and readers.
So let’s chat! What are some other year-end post ideas that didn’t make the list? What ideas are you going to try?
