Thursday Thoughts: Is Blogging Dead?

 

Back when I first started in this industry -- more than a decade ago -- blogging was just becoming popular. And all the experts shouted that you couldn't be a successful author without a blog. I mean, blogs were all the rage. Everyone was doing guest posts, interviews, book reviews, blog hops, monetization... You needed information, you'd Google it and a billion and one blogs would pop up! 

And then, somewhere along the way, blogs began to fade. 

I'm not exactly sure when or why, but I've seen a lot of successful bloggers step away. Blogs that were once "the spot" to be are no longer active. Nowadays, everyone is saying you need to be on YouTube, or TikTok, or doing a podcast if you want to be successful. 

But... is that really true? 

I'm not so sure. Yes, if video content is your thing, then go do it and have fun! But if you're anything like me, you prefer the safety of the keyboard rather than spotlight of the camera. Surely, there's still a place for us bloggers, right?

Recently, I participated in the Back-to-School Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt, which was a blog hop in which readers would hop from one blog to the next, gathering clues to complete a phrase that would then enter them into a drawing for several prizes. I'll admit that when I joined, it was out of nostalgia for the good ole days when these were so popular, but I really didn't expect a lot. 

I've never been happier to be wrong!

That single post had upward of 500 views, 50-ish comments, and I gained quite a few new newsletter subscribers, too. I also so an uptick in downloads of my first book, Eternal Curse, that's perma-free. For me, this was extremely successful and very reminiscent of years ago when these types of promotions were so popular. 

This has given me hope that maybe blogs and blogging as a creative art form isn't as dead as I thought (and as everyone says). I'm definitely going to be testing my theory for the remainder of the year with some fun new blog promotions. 

So, what do you think? Is blogging dead? Is it possibly making a comeback? Share your thoughts in the comments!