by Anne R. Allen

Most people who choose a career in writing first imagine ourselves as novelists or memoirists, not nonfiction writers.

But these days, writers, even novelists, can’t just write books. We need to start “A Multi-Media Author Business.” And that involves writing a lot of nonfiction. Especially on blogs.

Some of the “multi-media” advice is over the top, in my opinion–writers need to eat and sleep and have friends like other people–but I do think starting a blog is a good choice for most authors, even novelists. (Although I don’t think novelists need to blog more than once a week. I’m a big fan of Slow Blogging.)

Since I started blogging nearly eight years ago, I’ve watched a lot of author-bloggers succeed as writers. They may not have had huge success as novelists (although some have). But for all of them, the blog was the first step to a…