diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/package.json b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/package.json
index b3443bb34b3b..70c698ab9f08 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/package.json
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/package.json
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     "@docusaurus/utils-common": "3.9.2",
     "@docusaurus/utils-validation": "3.9.2",
     "cheerio": "1.0.0-rc.12",
+    "combine-promises": "^1.1.0",
     "feed": "^4.2.2",
     "fs-extra": "^11.1.1",
     "lodash": "^4.17.21",
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/__tests__/feed.test.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/__tests__/feed.test.ts
index b4f26041b365..9085b4a89365 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/__tests__/feed.test.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/__tests__/feed.test.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ import {
   DEFAULT_VCS_CONFIG,
 } from '@docusaurus/utils';
 import {fromPartial} from '@total-typescript/shoehorn';
-import {normalizePluginOptions} from '@docusaurus/utils-validation';
+import {
+  normalizePluginOptions,
+  getTagsFile,
+} from '@docusaurus/utils-validation';
 import tree from 'tree-node-cli';
 import {DEFAULT_OPTIONS, validateOptions} from '../options';
 import {generateBlogPosts} from '../blogUtils';
@@ -84,10 +87,13 @@ async function testGenerateFeeds(
     baseUrl: '/',
   });
 
+  const tagsFile = await getTagsFile({contentPaths, tags: options.tags});
+
   const blogPosts = await generateBlogPosts(
     contentPaths,
     context,
     options,
+    tagsFile,
     authorsMap,
   );
 
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/blogUtils.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/blogUtils.ts
index 8ebb7b928820..4c9b4c46e908 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/blogUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/blogUtils.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import {
   normalizeTags,
   aliasedSitePathToRelativePath,
 } from '@docusaurus/utils';
-import {getTagsFile} from '@docusaurus/utils-validation';
+
 import {validateBlogPostFrontMatter} from './frontMatter';
 import {getBlogPostAuthors} from './authors';
 import {reportAuthorsProblems} from './authorsProblems';
@@ -388,6 +388,7 @@ export async function generateBlogPosts(
   contentPaths: BlogContentPaths,
   context: LoadContext,
   options: PluginOptions,
+  tagsFile: TagsFile | null,
   authorsMap?: AuthorsMap,
 ): Promise<BlogPost[]> {
   const {include, exclude} = options;
@@ -401,10 +402,6 @@ export async function generateBlogPosts(
     ignore: exclude,
   });
 
-  // TODO this should be done outside of this function
-  //  directly in plugin loadContent()
-  const tagsFile = await getTagsFile({contentPaths, tags: options.tags});
-
   async function doProcessBlogSourceFile(blogSourceFile: string) {
     try {
       return await processBlogSourceFile(
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/index.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/index.ts
index 7037731add1f..53fe1a5a05f0 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-blog/src/index.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 
 import path from 'path';
 import logger from '@docusaurus/logger';
+import combinePromises from 'combine-promises';
+
 import {
   normalizeUrl,
   docuHash,
@@ -20,7 +22,10 @@ import {
   resolveMarkdownLinkPathname,
   getLocaleConfig,
 } from '@docusaurus/utils';
-import {getTagsFilePathsToWatch} from '@docusaurus/utils-validation';
+import {
+  getTagsFilePathsToWatch,
+  getTagsFile,
+} from '@docusaurus/utils-validation';
 import {createMDXLoaderItem} from '@docusaurus/mdx-loader';
 import {
   getBlogTags,
@@ -227,22 +232,32 @@ export default async function pluginContentBlog(
       const baseBlogUrl = normalizeUrl([baseUrl, routeBasePath]);
       const blogTagsListPath = normalizeUrl([baseBlogUrl, tagsBasePath]);
 
-      const authorsMap = await getAuthorsMap({
-        contentPaths,
-        authorsMapPath,
-        authorsBaseRoutePath: normalizeUrl([
+      async function getAuthorsMapChecked() {
+        const result = await getAuthorsMap({
+          contentPaths,
+          authorsMapPath,
+          authorsBaseRoutePath: normalizeUrl([
+            baseUrl,
+            routeBasePath,
+            authorsBasePath,
+          ]),
           baseUrl,
-          routeBasePath,
-          authorsBasePath,
-        ]),
-        baseUrl,
+        });
+        checkAuthorsMapPermalinkCollisions(result);
+        return result;
+      }
+
+      // Read all the input files in parallel
+      const {authorsMap, tagsFile} = await combinePromises({
+        authorsMap: getAuthorsMapChecked(),
+        tagsFile: getTagsFile({contentPaths, tags: options.tags}),
       });
-      checkAuthorsMapPermalinkCollisions(authorsMap);
 
       let blogPosts = await generateBlogPosts(
         contentPaths,
         context,
         options,
+        tagsFile,
         authorsMap,
       );
       blogPosts = await applyProcessBlogPosts({