105 Author Blog Prompts: Banish Your Blank Blog!

So, you started your author blog. It was so *exciting* at the beginning! Rainbows and sunshine poured down on you and the posts flowed freely from your fingertips. There was no shortage of ideas and you just knew this blogging thing was meant for you.

Fast-forward to a month later. You visit your blog and think, “has it really been *that* long since I’ve posted?” We understand — we’ve had our share of blogging lapses in 2+ years here at Duolit. How do we combat this? Ideas…lots and lots of ideas. We offered up 20 or so author blog ideas awhile back, but thought it was time for something more…dramatic.

Like ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE AUTHOR BLOG PROMPTS! *cue exciting, dramatic music*

Oh yes. We came up with idea after idea until we ran out of juice (read: passed out from exhaustion) — and here’s the results.

Self-Publishing Related Blog Prompts

1. What do you love most about self-publishing?
2. What’s the worst part of self-publishing?
3. How has your impression of self-publishing changed?
4. Would you recommend self-publishing to other authors?
5. What will the self-publishing industry look like in ten years?
6. Review your publisher and publishing experience. What did you like? What would you change?
7. 5 Things you’ve learned about self-publishing.
8. 4 Self-published authors you look up to.
9. 3 Ways indie authors can improve self-publishing.
10. 2 Self-publishing resources every indie author should use.
11. 1 mistake you made while self-publishing your book.

Fun/Introspective Blog Prompts

1. What show from your childhood would you love to bring back?
2. Try a picture prompt for inspiration.
3. What’s the best vacation you ever had?
4. If someone gave you a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
5. What’s your favorite rainy day movie?
6. Write a “day in the life” post.
7. If you could be any age again for a week, which would you choose?
8. Which of the four seasons best suits your personality?
9. Search for a random quote. Respond to it on your blog.
10. Describe (in words or photos) your favorite reading space.
11. Which five characters from novels would you have dinner with?
12. If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen?
13. Who is your favorite literary character of all-time?
14. Create a photo post.
15. Write a post with a “cliffhanger” that you’ll resolve in a later post.
16. Who is your favorite villain?
17. Share a photo from your life for each day in a typical week.
18. Feature a guest post by a friend or family member.
19. Share your 9 favorite books of all time.
20. Your book is a movie! Who’s in your dream cast?
21. 5 Items you would buy with a million dollars.
22. 4 Things you love about your favorite book.
23. 3 Books you’d bring with you to a deserted island.
24. 2 Food items you cannot possibly live without.
25. 1 person who makes your life better.

Reading and Writing Blog Prompts

1. How do you develop your writing ideas?
2. What makes you unique as a writer?
3. A genie grants you three writing-related wishes: what are they and why?
4. Talk about three other writers who inspire you.
5. Describe (in words or photos) your writing space. What do you like? What would you change?
6. Describe your ideal writing space.
7. Where do you find inspiration for your characters?
8. Do you agree with the adage “Write what you know”?
9. What (or who) inspires you to write the most?
10. How has your writing career changed in the past year?
11. What are your writing goals for the next year?
12. Share some resources that help you when you’re writing.
13. Name the five biggest distractions from your writing.
14. Write a post of flash fiction.
15. Post a previously unreleased chapter from one of your books.
16. What are your 5 favorite words?
17. Share a profile of one of your readers. Who are they? How did they find your work?
18. Give an example of a paragraph of your work before and after editing.
19. Interview a fellow author.
20. Choose a character of yours to represent each of the four seasons.
21. Add on to or update an old post with new info.
22. Which author’s career are you most jealous of? Why?
23. From where have your recently drawn writing inspiration?
24. What book are you reading? How did you choose it?
25. Profile one of your characters.
26. Describe yourself, your favorite character and your book, each in 5 words or less.
27. Create a list of favorite posts from your blog (old posts tend to drown in the abyss).
28. Have a weekend writing retreat and detail the experience.
29. What character would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with?
30. Create a dinner menu, drawing inspiration from your work.
31. Do a “running diary” of a writing process (outlining, designing, marketing, etc).

Creative Writing Prompts

1. “Her coffee cup slipped right out of her hand and smashed into a thousand pieces on the kitchen floor…”
2. “A knock on the door in the middle of the night never means good news…”
3. Rewrite a book scene from a different character’s perspective.
4. “They sat shoulder to shoulder on the beach, willing the sunset to last just one second longer…”
5. “She dragged the box out of the attic, put the record on and felt everything from crashing forward from her memory…”
6. “He was sprinting at full speed, briefcase banging against his thigh as he ran, but the bus pulled away, leaving him alone in the rain…”
7. “She never let herself believe in anything so foolish, but this time, something about it—she just couldn’t quite shake the thought that it just might be real….”
8. Write a post from a character’s perspective.
9. “He saw her just as she stepped from the train platform into the car and without a second thought, he abandoned his plans and followed her steps…”
10. “They sat across the table from each other, waiting for the world to come crashing down on both of them…”
11. Rewrite a movie scene from a novel perspective.
12. “She wasn’t sure what might have happened that night if the sprinklers hadn’t come on at the last second—but a part of her wanted to know how it might have turned out…”
13. “His friends told him he was crazy, as did his family and even his girlfriend, but that was only because they didn’t know the whole story…”
14. Rewrite a scene from your book as a different genre.

Marketing/Social Media/Reviews/Blogs/Design Prompts

1. What’s your favorite social media outlet for marketing/promotions?
2. Share 5 ways you use Twitter to promote yourself.
3. Check out the keywords visitors are using to find your site — you might find a post idea!
4. If you had 5 minutes with Mark Zuckerburg what would you tell him to improve on Facebook?
5. On a scale of 1 to Crazy, how addicted are you to Pinterest?
6. Share 3 blogs you love to read.
7. Post a picture of a book cover you liked and talk about what you love about it.
8. Share 10 people on Twitter you’d recommend following and why.
9. What do you hate the most about doing your own marketing?
10. Link to a blog or news article you recently read and share your take on the topic.
11. Give your blog a mission statement.
12. Post a book sales report for the past month.
13. Share 3 marketing ideas that worked for you and 2 that didn’t.
14. Offer companion book club materials for free download.
15. Give ideas for a book party centered around your book! Share activities, recipes, discussion questions, etc.
16. Release a special eBook edition of your book or offer a special limited-time discount.
17. Respond to another blogger’s post, offering additional info or a counterpoint.
18. Respond to criticisms you’ve received of your genre or your work, in particular.
19. Create a soundtrack for your book. Be sure to share links to purchase the songs!
20. Gather links to favorite posts you’ve read this past week.
21. Write a “What’s New” post to share upcoming projects. What are you working on?
22. Interview a reader. What did they like about your book? Would they share it with others?
23. Encourage reader participation by hosting a read-along of your work. Each week, post a new assignment and discussion questions.
24. Feature your favorite reviews of your work.

Sorry folks, no more excuses for lapses in blogging after that mega-list of ideas! The great thing is, even with a list this size, there are still awesome ideas out there. Think up some more? Share them in the comments and we’ll add them (with a link) to the list!

Use one of the above prompts on your blog? Leave a link below so we can check it out!