Guest post by Matt Haig, author of The Humans and The Radleys.

1. It is fun. I don’t honestly think I would have started blogging if I hadn’t been asked by Booktrust to be their writer-in-residence, and I was a bit reluctant at first. I had no idea what was required of me. But I’ve loved it. It is an easy and quick way to reach people. I’ll definitely carry on doing it.

2. People like lists. My list blogs are always more read than my non-list blogs, so I did more of them, saying the things I was always trying to say, but in list-form.

3. Some people will always miss the point of what you are trying to say.

4. The most popular blog posts are also the most unpopular blog posts.

5. If you really want to make people grumpy, write about book snobs, or grammar Nazis.

6. People want you to reveal things. My blogs sometimes feel like a bit of brain-striptease, like I’m wondering, how far should I go? How much should I give? But I’ve never regretted talking about personal stuff, like depression and things, as the response has always been warm and I think talking about things like that encourages other people to do the same.

7. Reading the comments is inevitable. But it is often a mistake.

8. Blogging has its demands. It’s hard to come up with something new to say every week. When you’re a novelist you only have to come up with something new to say every two years.

9. If you talk about money, people pay attention.

10. It helps your writing. To make an impact in 500 words is hard. It teaches good discipline and is a weekly exercise in brutal editing. I love it.


A big thanks to Matt for stopping by the blog. You can follow @matthaig1 on Twitter and you should definitely buy his latest book, The Humans.