Monday, March 4, 2013

Everything I Don't Know About Blogging Could Fill a Book


I've been blogging for about four years now, and I am bad at it. For four years, I've been trying to make extra money writing online on Hubpages, Squidoo, Zujava and other sites.

To put it really bluntly, I suck at this. I've been thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it, and I've finally come to the conclusion that I need to really set some blogging goals and start sticking to them instead of slacking off and writing just whenever the mood strikes me. I mean, I'm really bad at this

My problem is that I don't know what readers want from me. I write book reviews, which I share on Hubpages. I list the books that I've read (for sale, with quotes) on Squidoo. I update my Tumblr several times a day with news about what I'm reading, quotes, thoughts on the book, movie stills (if there's a movie based on the book, or if the book is based on a movie). I tweet about what I'm reading, I post to Facebook about what I'm reading, and I generally talk books

Have you noticed the real issue here? None of this actually involves sitting down to write a blog post. And when you factor in the time that I actually spend reading the books that I talk about, I'm a busy beaver. 

I want to reach out to you. Right now there isn't much of a following for this blog, but my previous book blog did pretty well, overall. Obviously I have some potential here and there are people out there paying attention to the RSS feeds I've provided in relevant locations. So tell me, please: What do you want to read about here in my blog? 

Bear in mind that I don't want to post reviews here. I have better platforms for that and I know that as a blog reader I tend to skip over the reviews because they aren't conversational enough; I'd rather talk to you, my readers, like a human being, a friend, somebody who you can be actively involved with. Reviews are too static to make that work, which is why I've put mine on a different platform. 

So, I'm putting this out there for discussion; What do you want from me, as a blogger? What can I give you that will keep you coming back for more? Whatever it is, I'll do my best to provide it. In the meantime, I'm making it a goal to post daily!     

Photo Courtesy of Sue Richards.

2 comments:

  1. The kind of personal discursive post like this appeals to me but I always read good reviews from reviewers I trust, for me that is the cornerstone of good content. I am not a big fan of memes and generally don't participate or read them, having said that I have recently joined a meme, I will see how long I can keep that up. Mostly I think they are boring and lazy, nothing beats original quality content. I like the idea of a blog about blogging and as long as the content is interesting and relevant I will keep reading. Although for me book reviews are cornerstone but that is just me. The blogging world now seems full of people who just want followers for the sake of having followers, they don’t seem to care about having actual readers and there is a difference. Make readers want your content, a blog about blogging has huge potential. Because I am a reader it is books and reading that get my attention and a person’s personal response and stories.

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    Replies
    1. For me, it's about building a community, not just about writing, being followed, or even being read. I want the ability to actually communicate with readers in a personal way, and I personally feel like reviews on the blog take away from that aspect of the art of blogging.

      That being said, I do write reviews, of every book that I read. I put them on Hubpages, which I feel is a slightly better platform for reviews because of its features. I can write longer reviews than the little snippets that are advised on Amazon or social sites. When I review a book, I have a lot to say about the book I'm reviewing (good, bad, or ugly).

      There's nothing wrong with quick, readable reviews, really. But honestly, bloggers I trust only have to recommend a book and I'm off looking to buy and read it. But that's where establishing trust comes in ;)

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