As an seasoned writer will tell you – novelist, feature writer, poet, etc. –  getting your writing published and having it seen printed is no walk in the park. For many of the best writers out there,  a lot of hard work was put in before their work got noticed and appeared in a magazine, in  a  newspaper and, finally, in book form. Now let's say you've been blogging for so many years now and, all this time,  it's been your desire and fervent wish to have your work published. While there are many other factors that can make this happen – the quality of your work and so on – we're quite  sure that you're not aware that blogging  – yes, your blog – is one way to get the attention of a potential editor or publisher.

Developing your platform

Trevor Young, in his post for Coping with Jane, gives us the lowdown. "It's always been notoriously hard to get a book deal with a publisher," Young writes. "It still is, but today you have an advantage of being able to increase your chances by developing your platform." As he defines it, a platform is a person's combined and integrated presence across the web – a blog coupled with his or her social media presence – along with regular exposure in other media. Going further, Young states that building your platform means building your profile and personal brand, and having an existing blog serves as public proof of your writing abilities. Moreover, it would do you well to know how many readers your blog has (and from where) as well as the number of followers you have, say, on Twitter or Facebook.  

Leveraging your blog

For more useful advice and pointers, Leona Laurie has these to share:

1. Blogging regularly keeps your writing muscles loose. Updating your blog regularly will help in keeping your writing and creative juices flowing and gives you the impetus to keep at it on  a regular basis.

2. A blog is a great place to workshop a book. Through your blog, you get a lot of constructive feedback from your readers, which can then give you a sense of what people may want to read. You may also utilize your blog posts as a foundation for your future book, which will be much easier than having to start from start.

3. A vital, well-trafficked blog gives you an air of authority. When you're pitching to other sites or publications, being able to direct editors to your successful blog is a great attention-getter. Your blog can act as both a writing portfolio and a demonstration of your networking and engagement skills in action, not to mention a showcase for your expertise.

4. Your search-optimized blog can bring editors and reporters to you.  If you've been blogging regularly, ensuring that your posts pop in search results, you'll come up in searches for someone who knows what you know. This can lead to interview requests, offers to republish your work in part or in full, or opportunities to write for other publications.

5. A large audience gives you leverage with publishers and literary agents. With the crowded marketplace for published works, you'll have a much better chance of being picked up by a publisher or literary agent if you already have an established audience of loyal readers.

Author Bio
Mel Panabi has been writing for new media for more than a decade. He is currently the content manager for Performancing.com, which has recently started its own guest posting service.