I received an email from one of my ezine subscribers asking if having a blog is a good idea for an aspiring book author.

My response is a resounding, “YES!”

There are increasing opportunities for a blogger to be approached by an agent or publisher to pen a book deal. Here are just a few:

• In 2006, Nick Douglas started collecting and blogging about funny quotes he read on Twitter. In 2009, HarperCollins released his book, Twitter Wit: Brilliance in 140 Characters or Less.

• Pamela Slim started a blog as an assignment for a class about building platform and online businesses. She focused on starting a virtual coaching business and decided to target her blog to speak to corporate employees who wanted to escape their cubicles. Through a friend, Slim connected with an agent about writing a book but the effort did not pay off. She gave up pursuing publication, went back to blogging, and was contacted by Penguin/Portfolio about a year later wanting to turn her blog into a book. In April of 2009, Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, was released by Portfolio Hardcover.

• Stephanie Klein started writing her blog, Greek Tragedy, to simply increase her energy level. She not only attracted a two-book deal, but ABC bought the television rights to her book and she has a chance to write the pilot episode.

I think it’s important to note that these writers didn’t start a blog with the intent to attract a book deal. Yet, the ability to blog about a topic that magnetically attracts people to its pages is a publisher’s dream—the author has an established platform and built-in marketing power, which translates into buyers. And the bottom line is that the publishing industry cannot survive without buyers.

So, by all means, if you’re an aspiring book author start a blog. Write for yourself. Write for your potential readers. Write because you can’t help yourself and you need to share your thoughts, ideas, or characters with an online community. If you focus more on reaching an audience and less on finding a publisher, you increase your chances of attracting both.