Tip of the Day: if you haven't done so already, go congratulate our dear friend Lisa Schroeder on the sale of her latest book. Yay, Lisa!!!!!!
A few weeks ago, all of us at Author2Author started emailing about blogs and Facebook in general and how it seems to be constantly changing, both in good ways and bad. This has really gotten me thinking about blogs in general.
I used to read a ton of them. I'd check my LJ feed several times a day and then Google Reader even more. I also used to religiously check Facebook.
But somewhere along the lines, I got burned out. And now I've cut back tremendously on what I read. And I rarely look for new blogs to read now, unless I hear about a post through a friend or other trusted blog.
If I'm that way, then I guarantee lots of other people have cut back on the blogs they read as well.
When there wasn't as much competition it didn't seem you had to work as hard at creating a unique topic. Blogging to me used to be more about community and meeting other writers. I've loved all the connections I've made online with other writers, both through blogs and online communities. Some of the connections have become lasting friendships and I'm so grateful to writing friends to chat with and share critiques with.
And I would be incredibly sad to loose that if all blogs started going in the route of too much publicity or they'd become so over saturated it would be hard to connect with people. For me it's always been about the relationships. That tends to happen when you are still in the pre-published state.
And as the blogosphere gets even more saturated with blogs, I still hope people new to blogging can make those same connections. I'd hate for it to become all promotion, all the time. And for people to feel increased pressure (myself included) to keep having to work at bigger and better topics. Work is great, but there's a place for fun in writing too.
I love the ideas mentioned yesterday to keep a balance of work-specific blogs, those you read for fun, and those people you like to just connect with. And as blog writers it's always good to keep in mind variety is key. Not only for readers, but for yourself as well.
Not sure this has a point. Just to say blogging is great, in all it's forms. And I hope people remember connections are just as important as communicating about new books and what you are working on.
--Emily
2 comments:
Aw, thanks for the shout-out, Emily!
Something changed at some point, didn't it? Livejournal started to feel more like a billboard than a community. I actually think it's swung back the other way, to where it is feeling more like a community again, although comments are way down. I don't know if that's because less people are reading or what.
First, congratulations Lisa! How wonderful and exciting! Let us know the title when you get one so we can look for the book - it sounds terrific :)
About blogs, I'm new to blogging and joined precisely for that sense of community you mentioned. I read more most days than I have time for and still don't get to read everything that looks interesting. I just can't keep up - there aren't enough hours in the day... But it takes even longer to comment than it does to read, and I don't want to comment just for the sake of commenting. I only comment if I have something to say. My point being, for example, that I read this blog every day even if I rarely comment. Sometimes I also get a little intimidated by other people's comments - if they've said something really intelligent and thought-provoking, I don't want to follow with something less so... I do feel pressure to have a presence in the blogosphere, but that's kind of keeping up with the Joneses. Ultimately I'm a writer and I need time to write, and I think, because my original intent was to feel like part of a community and interact with other writers and the kids, parents, teachers and librarians who read my books, I will pretty much stick with the smaller group of blogs I really love to read and only click over to others if something is mentioned that looks really interesting. That said, I assume the same is true of other readers, so I guess I can't expect my new blog to garner a huge following :)
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