Also writing a bunch of articles on your topic and submitting them to the top Free Articles web sites (e.g., Ezines Articles) can get you a lot of visitors.

But these techniques work (for me at least) and I get gratification by going into Google Analytics ever day to check out the traffic..

It all comes down to incoming links (links from other sites to yours). And, the more links coming in, the higher the number of subscribers grows. It’s also the quality of links: ProBlogger is a great one, a well-established high ranking site. That’s why it’s important to start posting on other sites immediately, at least those who let you add your URL to your name (like ProBlogger).

I’m in the travel industry. I joined with a bunch of colleagues who have travel blogs and we collectively add each other’s postings to Stumble, Digg, Reditt and Twitter. I get a huge amount of traffic form Stumble.

Also writing a bunch of articles on your topic and submitting them to the top Free Articles web sites (e.g., Ezines Articles) can get you a lot of visitors.

But these techniques work (for me at least) and I get gratification by going into Google Analytics ever day to check out the traffic..

Also, it’s important to post at least one article per day. You keep people’s attention that way. And, be funny, goofy, irreverant.

It’s a good idea to note how many postings I get from Darren: several daily. There’s a lot of work behind that.

At least, we have a real scenario to consider, which paints a more detailed picture of what a blogger can expect as realistic income with regards to writing/selling books via their blog.

I read in The New York Times that only 3% of published authors make enough from royalties to support themselves from writing alone. My advice: don’t view it as a get-rich-quick scheme. And, writing a book is very, very difficult because of the days, weeks, months spent in isolation. In my case, I made nothing on my books (non-fiction, travel) but did very well later from the web sites.

I’ve been offered the chance to write books since then but I can see much better ways of making money than writing a book.

Ruled out by the word “book”, perhaps.

But instead of going through a standard publisher (and we were actually approached by a book agent), we opted to self publish and see how it goes.

You can see the result of this effort here. We certainly are open to any advice.

The Beauty Brains

I have been touched very directly by this trend — Penguin/Portfolio will be publishing my book, Escape from Cubicle Nation, based on my blog. They contacted me with interest, so it made the whole process a lot less intimidating.

From what agents have told me, due to the increasing competitiveness of the book industry in general, a HUGE factor in signing a book contract with a new author is their current platform. So if you already have lots of interested readers, have been featured in the press, have good numbers of ezine subscribers, etc. this could get you a publishing deal even over someone who writes a little better or has more “professional” credentials. I am not saying your writing can suck, but do not underestimate the power of blogs to build platform.

I am going to do my very best to write a useful book. I am extremely thankful to my blog readers for paving the way for a good deal. Mind you, it wasn’t 300k, but enough to pay the babysitter and rent while I write. :)

I also know Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist came from her blog.