I found this post (via Godin) in which MJ Rose debunks the premise that a blog is a sure-fire way for authors to market themselves. She has several arguments why this is the case, but this seems to be the crux of it:

The very last thing every author should be doing is starting a blog.

Not just because the very act of writing the blog draws on the creativity [sic] energy that it takes to write our books but because only a small percentage of us have something to write about three or four times a week, week after week, that readers crave - other than our books.

If you're a writer and you're skeptical about starting a blog, then MJ's article gives you some great excuses why you should stay away from them: It takes too much time, it might turn people off, it's too hard and takes 'creativity' and 'passion' - things you should spend on your real writing. After all, while blogging may be a lot of things, it is not real writing.

What the hell? This from a writer? A writer who blogs?

First of all, let me say that I do agree with MJ on one point: If a writer doesn't get blogging, and doesn't really want to invest time in blogging well, then they shouldn't try to do it simply on the premise that it will help them sell their books. Their lack of interest will come across in their blog and it probably won't lead to much success. (Success from a financial or marketing sense, that is.)

But since when does a writer start a blog to be a success? Probably since blog celebrities have made it seem easy. But most people who started blogging years ago, did not do it to be 'successful.' They did it because they had something to say. And most every writer has something to say, I hope.

Unlike MJ, I wholeheartedly think writers should be blogging. Especially good writers. I think the medium is calling out to them, but a lot of writers are late to the party, or are staying home altogether. The reason is that 'serious' writers, especially fiction writers, seem to have a high-brow attitude about blogs. They've seen some crap online (and there's a lot of it) and so they've written blogs off (so to speak). They balk, in part, because of some ingrained prejudice that blogging and writing fiction are intrinsically at odds with one another. That what they do online and what they do in print, by definition, must be different. But already, this notion is beginning to crumble. People are discovering the fictional blog. And while I have yet to see a really compelling execution of the idea, I'm confident one will present itself soon enough. I have seen some pretty interesting attempts. It's new. It will take time. But it will happen.

More and more we're going to see a blurring between the terms 'blogger' and 'writer.' More than that, we're going to see a blurring between the term 'book' and 'blog.' In that respect, what we're witnessing here is a new literary medium. Those don't come along all that often. It seems downright counterintuitive that a writer would not want to get in on that. How does a writer, especially a 'serious' one, not appreciate this kind of medium? How does he not want to do something important with it?

Writers of books who have no online voice are going to become relics before the time where it will become 'fashionable' for them to be one. What I mean, is the literary community loves their relics: John Updike, Tom Wolfe, Philip Roth. Most authors would love to have their kind of 'relic status.' And if you're a relic, then you do not blog. It's not what you do, and it's okay. But if you're a young author today and you disregard the importance of having an online voice, you may not have a chance to become that kind of relic. Instead, you'll be a relic in your own time.

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