When I began the writing of my Young Adult book, To be Maria in the spring of 2010, I intended to turn this story into a book blog. I posted the story on my personal blog, breaking down each chapter into two to three parts. I didn’t actively promote my blog, but I did manage to gain a very small albeit loyal following of readers. However, after posting twelve chapters, I began to think twice about this book blog idea. A few people even strongly urged me to delete my then work-in-progress from my blog which I did. I deleted it on my own terms because I was afraid that my story idea could be stolen.
Could another writer really steal a story idea from a fellow writer? If my blog received hundreds or even thousands of views a day, it is very possible that someone could have stolen my idea and turned it into their own masterpiece. On the other hand, it may not have happened. Some experts say that nothing of the sort will ever happen. However, there is no way of knowing if or when copyright infringement will happen until it happens. When you post a book–fiction or non-fiction–on your own personal blog you run the risk of having your copyright infringed upon, especially if your book is well written and has huge selling potential.
The biggest downside to posting a book on a blog is that you give away important information–your creativity–for free. Anyone can visit your blog, read your story, share it with friends, family, co-workers and not pay you a cent for it. The only good thing about posting a book on your blog is that it enables you to keep your blog updated on a regular basis which is necessary for drawing readers to your blog. Posting an entire book on your personal blog is not a bad thing. There is no written law forbidding the creation of a book blog. However, if you aspire to get your book published, it is best that you share only a short excerpt, enough to whet people’s literary appetites, but not too much where you give the story away.
If you are worried about how you are going to generate buzz about your book, write articles based on important themes that appear throughout your book then submit them for publication in magazines and/or blogs that accept articles in the niche that you are writing about. Editors do allow you to include a one-two sentence byline at the end of each article. There, you can mention your book along with the title of your blog and/or website.
Deanna Proach is the author of two fiction novels, Day of Revenge (Inkwater Press) and To be Maria (not yet published). She is also a freelance writer for discounts.ca, a website that offers laptop sales.