What is it all good for
all this reading
all this writing
whom do I want to reach
and whom do I reach
Obviously nobody
Friends took a look just once
Authors read what's about their books
if they do
Some searching machine
allways at night
allways at the same time
A guestbook with no entries at all
Discouraging
Asking myself why, what's wrong with my
blog, I have a look at successful blogs. What do I find?
Ok, some of them have a lot of
interviews with authors, but I guess successful authors will talk
only to successful bloggers.
Some are offering beta-reading.
Thinking about that one. Yes, I'd like to do that, but I suppose on
goodreads I'll reach more authors than here.
But most bloggers just post the same
reviews they post on amazon and goodreads. So what? Why should this
draw readers on my site? I don't get it. For them it seems to work.
Discussing the topic on goodreads I
learn that a review will only be listed by google if it is over 600
words. Mine never are. Seriously, who reads these reviews? I don't
want to know that much about a book before reading it myself. When I
want to know whether a book is worth reading I'll read the blurb and
3-4 short reviews, preferably a 5-stars and a 2-stars. Instead of
reading such long reviews they'd better read the book itself.
There's the concept of blog tours. I
haven't really understood how it works and what it's good for.
So, my reviews are too short, my view
too personal, the choice of books not “mainstream”, no bestseller
authors answering my questions (they've already answered elsewhere).
Why am I doing this?
Is there anybody out there reading
this? Is anybody willing to encourage me?
OK, I tried commenting before and it seemed to go into the bit bucket, I'll try again...
ReplyDeleteI blog because it entertains me (shameless plug: http://sol-biotech.com/wordpress/), the same reason why I write stories/novels. Google Analytics says I get just 2-3 visitors a day on average with 'spikes' up to 10 from time to time. I investigated blogging as a way to make money years ago when there was less competition and found that it was as much or more work than doing what I do now (professional programmer). You have to promote your blog everywhere, all the time and for all that effort the financial reward seemed to be between $1-2K (US), except for a few outliers. I follow a guy who reviews movies and does it largely compulsively (meaning he would probably do it if no one read his reviews; http://www.reelviews.net/ if you think you might be curious). He has his own Wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Berardinelli) and is recognized as a professional critic by Hollywood. Despite that he keeps his regular job (he is an engineer) because of the little money his site brings in (I believe he once mentioned he gets thousands of hits on a bad day). He says it barely pays for itself, but he does it because he loves it. If you love blogging, then do it, if you don't, put your energy somewhere else.
I fantasize that one day my son might read my blog and have a few entries for him. Most of the stuff I write is probably so topical that in a year it is meaningless and in a decade just noise, but perhaps in the flood of verbiage there might be a few nuggets of gold. I long ago gave up the hope that any friends or family might read my stuff. If you are already famous people will assume you are somehow smarter than they are (instead of simply lucky) and will read your blog and you will get thousands of hits. Of course, being already famous, you don't need the attention any longer so you should only be blogging because you enjoy it, no different than when you are a nobody.
Hi Barbara! I read your comment over at Faith Simone and followed the link over here...I've been blogging for five years. And I've never made a dime directly from my blog. But, I do it to for two reasons. First, because writing is a gift I feel God has given me and I want to be obedient. I see families and relationships as my mission field. Second, sometimes I write really personal things i.e. fear, rejection, etc. and when I look back over those posts...it is SO apparent to me how God saw me through the tough times. Just like your Saddleback post above. Blessings my sister...I hope you'll keep sharing what God is doing in your life.
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