For The Fans/Readers
- Write reviews of books you’ve read for fun
- Write reviews of books you’ve read in the current genre you write in
- Write about what a typical day is like for you
- Talk about tips, tricks, and tools that help keep your life organized
- List story ideas you hope to tackle in the future
- Describe your perfect weekend.
- Talk about past holidays (during a time when that holiday is coming up)
- Share past holiday photos, traditions and stories.
- Talk about your favorite TV shows and what you love about them.
- List your all time favorite actors and why you like them.
- List your all time favorite bands, songs, and/or musicians and why you like them.
- Post excerpts from completed and published books
- Post book blurbs from upcoming books
- Post teasers of upcoming books and WIP’s
- Interview your characters so that your fans get to know them better
- Host an open discussion about the book industry from a readers perspective
- Host an open discussion about what a reader wants from an author, book and/or series.
- List your favorite Author Blogs
- List your Favorite Book Review Blogs
- Talk about what show from your childhood would you love to bring back and why
- Talk about if someone gave you a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why
- Talk about the best vacation you’ve ever had in your entire life, explain why it is and post pictures if you can
- Describe what your favorite rainy day activity
- Talk about if you could be any age again for a day, what age would it be and why
- Post a photo that represents your fantasy _______
- Talk about which of the four seasons you prefer and why
- Talk about if you could witness one moment in history what would it be and why
- Create a dream cast of actors for your books
- List the first 5 things you would do if you suddenly had millions of dollars
- List your favorite foods you just couldn’t live without
- List your least favorite foods and why
- List the people in your life you couldn’t live without and why
- Share your favorite reader resources, websites, and apps
- Post background info on your most popular characters or stories
- Post and interview of some of your blog followers who comment the most.
- Interview a fan about their favorite book of yours
- Feature your favorite reviews of one of your books
- List websites/tools that will help you find your next book to read
- Post a funny cartoon about reading
- Post a funny GIF about reading
- Post a funny song about reading
- Post a funny video about reading
- List your personal goals for the coming year
- A letter from an author (you) to the readers (your fans)
- Have an open discussion about the types of merchandise your fans want
- Hold a competition for your fans on designs for certain merchandises.
- Hold a competition for your fans on who can design the best book cover
- Run a fan contest for free books and/or merchandise
- Try your hand at writing a poem for your fans
- Share your current favorite song of the day and/or week.
- Share a To-Do list for your daily life
- Take some time out to thank your readers/fans/followers
- Make a list of apps for readers and review them
- Make a list of podcasts for readers
- Talk about book clubs and where to find them
- Have an open discussion about what your readers what to see next from you
- List events for readers in your genre
- List events for readers in your niche
- Highlight amazing libraries around the world
- Show pictures of amazing reading nooks and book spaces
- Talk about the worst day in your life so far
- Talk about the best day in your life so far
- Share your most embarrassing experience
- List great magazines for readers
- Talk about your astrological sign and if the description fits you
- Let your fans know what hashtags to follow to get information on your books
- Ask fans to create their own book trailer of one of your books
- Have fans show pictures of who they see as a representation of one of your characters
- List places to find free e-books in your genre
- Ask your readers if they would like to see a continuation or spin off of one of your stories
- Ask your readers to describe a book they are dying to read and haven’t found yet
- Talk about your family background/ancestors and how they have shaped who you are today
- Ask your readers what they love most in a story
- Ask your readers what they hate most when reading a story
- List magazine that pertain to your niche
- Do a blog tour
- List all the different ways your fans can find and buy your books
- List all the different ways your fans can find and buy your merchandise
- How to get your local library to order the books you are interested in
- Ask your fans if they would like to see any of your books turned into movies or tv shows
- Ask your fans which movies or tv shows that came from books they liked or hated and why
- Ask your fans/reader who would like to be a part of your street team
- Run story ideas by your fans/readers and ask their opinions on them
- Create a list of books that are based off of certain holidays, situation, etc…
- Take a poll to see which book cover your fans liked the most
- Remind your fans of what social media platforms they can follow you on.
- Ask your fans what social media outlet they use the most
- Ask your readers which genre they hate to read and why
- Ask your readers what their favorite tv and movie is and why
- Ask your readers what their favorite books were growing up and why
- Ask your readers to post pictures of their ultimate dream reading nooks
- Ask your readers to talk about their favorite book heroes and heroines of all time
- Ask your readers to talk about their favorite book villains of all time
For The Writing Community
- Write about or feature someone who has been influential in your writing career
- Feature writers you network with (Interview them on your blog post, talk about their latest work
- List things that help to inspire your writing
- Write about what a typical writing day is like for you
- Talk about tips, tricks and tools that help keep your writing career organized
- What inspires your story ideas and characters
- Share advice and lessons learned from writing, completing, publishing and marketing your work
- List your long term and short term goals as a writer/author
- List your long term and short term goals for marketing your book
- Highlight your favorite quotes about writing.
- Talk about writing classes
- Review writing classes you have taken
- Review writing products
- Talk about how you can use your favorite TV show as inspiration for characters, plots and scenes.
- Talk about how you use music during your writing process.
- Review books for writers
- List your favorite self help books for writers
- List your favorite websites that help writers
- Explain how you research for a book
- List websites and tools that will help writers research for a book
- Talk about future story ideas and how to turn them into actual books
- Interview leading members of your industry (agents, editors, publishers, marketers, etc…)
- Host an open discussion about the writing industry.
- Spotlight great writing articles from other writers/authors/bloggers.
- Talk about critique groups and review some
- Talk about writing organizations and review some
- List your favorite writer blogs
- Talk about the query process and any personal experience you have with it.
- Explain how you start a new writing project
- Explain your marketing strategy.
- List tools, websites and businesses that can help writers building a marketing plan
- Talk about blog newsletters, their benefits and how to use them.
- List your favorite blogging resources and articles
- Name the 5 biggest writing distractions in your life right now and talk about ways to deal with them
- Talk about flash fiction and how it can help or hinder your writing career.
- Update an older popular article with some new information and/or links.
- Create a post that lists and groups like minded articles you’ve written in the past
- Talk about how to use social media to help promote your books/writing career
- Talk about how to throw book parties online
- Interview a critic about one of your books and have them explain what they would like to see changed and why
- Talk about the art of writing a book blurb
- List the best selling books in your genre and why you think they are succeeding
- List the best selling authors in your genre and why you think they are succeeding
- List the earning potential of authors who use publishers in your genre
- Post a list of websites that list writing jobs
- Talk about the different types of jobs writers could do and how to find them.
- Talk about how to outline a book
- Explain your outlining process
- Talk about how to run a blog when you are an author/writer
- Explain your plans for your blog (current and future plans)
- Talk about writer retreats, why to use them and where to find them
- Post a review of any writers retreat you’ve gone to along with pictures of your time there
- Talk about grants for writers, how to apply for them and where to find them.
- Spotlight fellow writers who support and inspire you
- Talk about creative writing prompts and how to use them for inspiration
- List websites that post creative writing prompts and picture prompts
- Talk about keeping a writers journal and a writers notebook and the difference between the two
- Talk about writers block and how to prevent it or overcome it
- Spotlight helpful writing infographics
- Spotlight helpful blogging infographics
- Spotlight helpful genre infographics
- Talk about mistakes you’ve made with your first MS (unpublished or published)
- Talk about how to plan a book signing event
- Talk about how to handle bad reviews and how to learn from them as a writer.
- Post a funny cartoon about writing
- Post a funny GIF about writing
- Post a funny song about writing
- Post a funny video about writing
- Talk about how to throw a launch party (online or in person)
- Talk about your brainstorming process
- Talk about the benefits of a writing partner and where to find one
- Describe how to speed up the writing process
- Describe how to speed up the blogging process
- Post an encouraging message to writers
- Talk about how you can’t sit down and write unless _______
- Discuss time management tools for writers
- Post a writing schedule
- Interview your significant other about your writing career and how they feel about it
- List your goals as a writer, blogger, author for the year
- Talk about how to find a literary agent and what to look out for
- Talk about how to find a publisher and what to look out for
- Talk about how to find an editor
- Talk about why a writer would need a literary attorney and how to find one
- Make a list of publishers in your genre, what they are looking for and how to submit to them.
- Talk about mistakes to avoid in your manuscript
- Talk about synopsis and mistakes to avoid with them
- Talk about elevator pitches
- Talk about how to speak/read in public
- Talk about how to come up with character names
- List blogging content generators and how to use them
- Talk about how to make book trailers
- Talk about Web/Blog design tips
- Talk about inspiration boards/bulletin boards and how they can help with the writing process
- Talk about how to choose a setting for your story
- List some exercises/stretches for writers
- Talk about the benefits of business cards, where to get them and how to design them
- Talk about merchandise and how to design it and where to get it
- Talk about author platforms and how to build one
- Talk about how to choose a title for your book
- Talk about the importance of book covers and how to design one
- Talk about writing contests and how they can help your career
- Review writing contests
- Talk about how to run contests for your fans to drum up business
- Share a To-Do list for your daily writing life
- Research your genre and talk about what you found
- Research the readers in your genre and talk about what you found
- Talk about finding niches in your genre and how to use it to gather more readers
- Make a list of apps for writers and review them
- Talk about podcasts and how to use them/do them
- Make a list of pobcasts for writers
- Talk about how to come up with idea for blogs
- Post a list of blog post ideas 🙂
- Talk about book clubs and how they can help your career
- Discuss ideas on how to engage your readers/followers/fans
- Make a list of authors/writers that have won awards in your genre
- Talk about ghostwriting
- Post “How To” articles pertaining to writing
- Discuss writing/publishing scams and how to avoid them
- Talk about the best ways to save, organize and access your favorite articles from the internet
- Talk about writing magazines, whether you should invest money into them and how to get deals on them
- List great magazines for writers/authors
- Discuss how to use astrological signs to create deeper characters
- Talk about social media groups, how to find them and how to use them.
- Research each popular social media sight and how best to use them for your writing career
- Talk about how to promote your books locally
- Talk about the importance of using keywords and which ones to use
- Talk about different methods to promote a book
- Talk about how to write an “About Me” page
- List key items every writer/author should have on their page
- Explain SEO for bloggers
- Explain analytics
- Talk about Google Authorship
- Discuss what a book launch team is and how to create and use one
- How to host a twitter chat or hangout on
- Talk about hashtags and how to create ones for your books
- Talk about facebook campaigns
- Talk about Google campaigns
- Talk about the benefits and disadvantages of creating social media pages for your most popular characters
- Talk about street teams, how to form them and how to use them.
- Discuss how to make an e-book out of your old blog post articles
- Talk about how to get local newspapers, tv programs and radio shows to interview you
- What are press releases and media kits and how to make them.
- Talk about the benefits of partnering with a brand that is in your niche
- The advantages of renting a billboard to advertise your book\
- Create a viral video that depicts a scene in your book
- Talk about where and how to host a book reading
- Talk about places to donate your book and how that will help earn new readers
- Talk about the difference between a reader and a fan and who to invest the most money and time in
- Talk about book plots and how to build strong ones
- Talk about how to build a scene
- Talk about how to revise and edit and the difference between the two
- Talk about how to write dialogue between characters
- Talk about how to write the opposite sex
- Talk about the e-book market and how it could benefit your career
- Talk about how to write sequels
- Talk about how to treat your writing career as a business
- Talk about tax deductions available to writers
- Talk about legal matters that writers need to be aware of
- Talk about how to format a MS
- How to craft a perfect hero/heroine
- How to craft the perfect villain
- Talk about how to identify and connect with your audience
- Build a budget and a timeline for marketing your books
- Talk about how to present your marketing plans to your publisher
- List free sites that will help your promote your book
- List websites/programs cost $ but will help your promote your book
- Talk about the importance of professional headshots
- Learn how to pitch articles
- Talk about social media roundup sites and how to use them for your blog and social media platforms
- Talk about the different tools amazon has for writers
- Talk about how to create your own online writing class
- Discuss what blog tours are and how to create one
- Talk about travel writing and how to become a travel writer
- Discuss how to handle a webcam for the best outcomes
- Talk about freelance writing and how to have a career as a freelance writer
- What are the different methods of review books and what a professional book review looks like
- Talk about how to make money reviewing books
- Talk about audio book and whether or not you should invest money into making one for your books
- How to make an audio book
- Discuss whether or not you should do the reading for your audio book
- List of words to use in your writing
- List of words to avoid in your writing
- How to use your local library to further your writing career
- How to become a full time writer
- How to juggle a writing career and a full time job
- How to juggle a writing career and part time job
- How to make money from your website/blog
- How to stay on Google search engine’s good side
- How to plan everything in your writing career
- How to plan everything in your marketing career
- How to plan everything in your blogging career
- Create a blogging schedule
- Create a submitting schedule
- Discuss the option of seeking help from your biggest fans to help spread the word of upcoming books
For All Your Followers
- Share meaningful moments and photos from past vacations
- List things that help inspire your life
- Talk about your first ever completed manuscript, how you felt about it then and now, and if it was published.
- Talk about your first book that was published, how you felt about it then and now and how well it sold.
- Talk about when, how and why you decided to write stories to be published.
- Talk about your current WIP’s
- List your favorite bookish gifts
- Highlight your favorite inspirational quotes
- Explain why you have chosen to write in the genre you have written in and whether or not you plan to write in other genres
- Talk about the latest news in your industry and genre and give your opinion on it.
- Post a philosophical question and your answer to it.
- Review movies that were based off of books and talk about whether or not it did the book justice.
- Review TV shows that were based off of books and talk about whether or not it did the book justice.
- Talk about how you like to write (where you write, when you write, what you wear, if it’s planned or not…)
- Talk about your favorite causes (charities) and why they are important to you.
- List your favorite books from when you were a child and talk about how you see them as an adult.
- List your favorite books this year and why you like them.
- List upcoming books you can’t wait to read.
- List your favorite book heroes, heroines and villains and why you like them.
- Talk about rejection and disappointment and how to handle them.
- Describe your ideal writing space.
- Describe your ideal home library.
- Talk about your favorite kind of character to write about
- Talk about your least favorite kind of character to write about
- Share your fears and anxieties about your writing career.
- Share your hopes and aspirations about your writing career.
- Write a short story/flash fiction piece for your blog followers (Break it up into two blog posts)
- Take a photo of your work/writing space and talk about it.
- talk about a genie grants you 3 wishes to use towards your writing career. What are they and why?
- Talk about flash fiction and highlight some of your favorite flash fiction writers
- Talk about which authors careers you want the most and why
- List the books that are waiting to be read on your kindle
- List the books you’ve bought that are sitting on a bookshelf waiting to be read
- Talk about your favorite social media outlets and why you like them
- Create a list of people from each social media outlet you would recommend other people follow
- Throw a book party online with one of your most popular books or with a book that is about to be released
- Describe how to throw a themed party from one of your books
- Describe how to throw a themed book party in general
- Post a soundtrack for your book
- Talk about the songs you used while writing a certain book
- Pick a trending twitter topic and discuss it on your blog
- Post about any events, appearance, or guest blogs you will be doing
- Describe your dream launch party
- Write about the time you almost gave up on your writing career and what saved it
- Talk about the book idea you wish you had thought of first
- Talk about a book you wish you could rewrite to make better (yours or someone elses)
- Talk about how writing has affected other areas in your life
- List some of your favorite book trailers.
- Make a list of great first lines from books
- Make a list of great endings from books
- Take a picture of your inspiration/bulletin board and explain how it helps you
- Post a funny video or vine about your work
- Talk about your #1 favorite author and what books you like of theirs and why
- Write a “Did You Know?” article (post a weird random fact or a fact about your genre or industry)
- Share your bucket list
- Talk about the types of books you like to read vs the types of books you life to write and explain why
- Post something specific to your niche
- Make a list of inspirational videos/talks (like TED talks)
- Shocking news about your genre
- Shocking news about your niche
- Highlight past interviews you have done (online, radio, tv)
- Make a list of fiction books written by ghostwriters
- Talk about how you handle being a parent and a writer (if it pertains to you) or interview someone who is
- Talk about controversial topics in your genre
- Talk about controversial topics in your niche
- Post about an upcoming twitter chat or hangout you are hosting
- List author hangouts and interviews found on Google
- Post pictures that inspired scenes in one of your books
- Write an article highlighting one of your Pinterest boards and explain how and why you use it
- Post quote from famous authors, agents, publishers
- Post about any upcoming book news you have for your books
- Talk about social media roundup sites
- The advantages of reading books in your genre
- The disadvantages of reading books in your genre
- Ask if anyone listens to audio books and what they like or dislike about them
- Talk about programs you can suggest to your local library that fit into the genre your write or read in
- Interview your kids (or other family members) and ask them how they feel about your writing career
- Talk about a genre you secretly want to write in but fear you aren’t able to.
Thank you for these, definitely bookmarking this! 😀
LikeLike
Your welcome! And thanks for the twitter love 🙂
LikeLike
Agree with Mishka. In fact, the Eight Ladies were just discussing what to do when we have an “I don’t have time to write a post” week. I’ll refer them to this often! Thanks!
LikeLike
What an incredible resource of ideas! Thanks a lot. i’m a blogger who committed to blog daily and struggle sometimes to find a topic that’s valuable for my readers. So that’s exactly what I needed!
LikeLike
Hi Mona, thanks for stopping by and checking out the article. I had the same problem last year. The struggle was so real that I kept putting out off writing a blog post till almost the last minute. So i finally took a few days to jot down some ideas. I decided to make a blog post about it because i knew there were other bloggers out there struggling with the same problem.
LikeLike
As I’m preparing to relaunch my blog as an aspiring children’s author, this post is like gold! Thanks for sharing this!
LikeLike
Your welcome! Feel free to share with all your blogging friends. 🙂 Just let them know where to find it.
LikeLike
Thanks for these helpful tips, to which another writer has just drawn my attention. I often struggle to come up with ideas for posts that I think might interest people, so this is a great resource. Have bookmarked this! 🙂
LikeLike
You’re welcome 🙂 and thank you for taking a moment to let me know. I found that if I had a list to spark an idea for blog posts I never had writers block.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Here's How It Happened and commented:
Darla G. Denton is amazing. She has come up with 365 ideas for blog posts for writers and authors. Perhaps she has had help, but, still, 365? One for each day of the year – except this one, 2016, which is leap year. Maybe I could come up with just ONE for that day on my own. Thanks Darla.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your welcome! I had help for some of the days through suggestions from other writers but it took me almost a week to come with the rest! Lol
LikeLike
Thanks for this list! I’m floundering and my turn is coming up on a team writing site – Writers in Residence – and I’m at a loss to think of what to write. I’ll also try to come up with ONE EXTRA, because this year is Leap Year and there are 366 days.
Jackie
http://writersinresidence.blogspot.com/
LikeLike
I’ll have to check out Writers in Residence to see what you decide to do 🙂
LikeLike
You are my life-saver today!! I’m working on my first book, a romance set in a small (fictitious) town in Texas, working on getting my website (blog) set up, and have been SUFFERING THE AGONIES OF THE DAMNED about “what to blog about.” I read your post and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thanks, thanks, and thanks again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol I’m glad I could be of service in your time of need 😉 I can’t wait to read what you put out!
LikeLike
Darla, this is an excellent list! I have shared it with the authors that are participating in an event coming up. I’m trying to organize a PR tour of sorts for them. It’s called Romancing the Smokies (it’s in TN in March). There’s a free book signing and there’s also a component where you can have lunch and attend some parties with the authors for a fee. I wanted to have some original guest posts from them to share with bloggers so readers could get to know them a little better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Felita and thatnk you for sharing it with your other authors. I’m no longer in TN but your PR tour called Romancing the Smokies sounds fun. When you get dates and such let me know and I’ll pass the information along.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on K. S. Bertram and commented:
This is an awesome list that I will definitely be drawing from when I’m looking for blog ideas for my website! Thank you, Darla!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re Welcome 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Ashley Lovell Author and commented:
I love this blog. It’s helped me out with my own.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Ashley 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your welcome.
LikeLike
Thanks for this. I’m printing them out and beginning next week for my spot on TheWritersInResidence blog.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The above is an amazing an helpful post. You can also consider Craft Film School for the better understanding of creative writing. http://www.craftfilmschool.com/course/creative-writing-screenplay-script-dailogue
LikeLike
Even just skimming through the topics, I am very impressed. Never will I have to struggle for a topic related to writing again, I think. Thank you so much for all these stimulating ideas.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful 🙂
LikeLike
Hi, Darla. I’m new to your site and have to admit it was the 365 Blog ideas that caught my eye. I used to write a blog a week and began to wonder how much more can I write about writing? You have given me a whole new perspective. Thank you for generously sharing these topics. I know I won’t have any more problems wondering what to write.
LikeLike
Great post , ive forwarded this to some of my clients who could use the advice
LikeLike
So helpful content.
LikeLike
Thank you for posting this! I’m running a writing blog for the public library where I work and I can always use some fresh ideas.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and interesting, and let
me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is
something which too few folks are speaking intelligently
about. Now i’m very happy that I found this during my search for something
relating to this.
LikeLike