Jessica at Racy Romance Reviews has a great post up entitled Do You Blog For Yourself or Your Readers? This was my response:
I write what I want to read. If other people are interested in what I have to say, all the better. I’d kill my motivation to blog if I felt I was writing primarily to please others.
That said, my blog does have a certain focus and this is partly dictated by the knowledge that anyone can read what I post. My blog is about me as a reader and I try to avoid too many references to my family and other aspects of my personal life. So, yes, there are certain topics I find interesting or amusing which I wouldn’t use as blog fodder.
On reflection, I have to tweak my answer a bit. Anyone who blogs does so in order to reach an audience. Blogging is a fun but time-consuming hobby. If I had no visitors, I probably wouldn’t still be doing it. Furthermore, I wouldn’t avoid spoilers in the reviews I write if they were for my eyes alone.
I’ve also noticed that ending opinion pieces with a question encourages more people to comment. The couple of times I’ve written a rant/reflective piece and failed to include a question at the end, I had approximately the same number of people reading it but far fewer comments. This makes sense. To my mind, ending a post with a question invites readers to respond, and also conveys the message that it’s alright to disagree with the poster. So in that sense, yes, I do write to please an audience.
To quote Jessica at RRR:
Someone will comment “It’s your blog, you can say whatever I want.”
But, “It’s your blog, you can say whatever you want”, while true, doesn’t really help, if I want two things that are sometimes inconsistent: both to keep a personal record at RRR of my thoughts about certain books and controversies in Romanceland, andto maintain and grow an audience.
I see where she’s coming from. At Monkey Bear Reviews, I write my thoughts on the books I read and I occasionally comment on current discussions/controversies on other blogs or in the publishing industry. By stating my opinion on certain topics, revealing my political and (non) religious leanings is inevitable, even if I’d rather avoid doing so. You leave yourself wide open to be either loved or loathed.
What I absolutely will not do is write about topics which don’t appeal to me simply because they’re popular and might attract more visitors to my blog. I’m also not interested in being deliberately controversial or provocative. However, if I feel strongly about an issue, I’ll say it, and I’m not too concerned if my opinion is of the dissenting minority. That’s probably not the attitude to have if I wanted to court the masses!
Ultimately, every blogger should remain true to herself. I don’t want to fall into the habit of writing to please others as that would take the joy out of blogging. Maintaining and growing an audience can take care of itself – or not.
Some questions to ponder:
- If you blog, do you aim to please an audience, or do you write primarily for yourself?
- As a visitor to blogs, are you more inclined to respond to opinion pieces which end with a question? Does this make you feel more confident to express your honest opinion, even if it goes against that of the host blogger?
{ 20 comments }
I read Jessica’s post yesterday and it was very interesting. My initial reaction is to say I write for myself..but when I really think about it..I look through my google analytics regularly and I do lean towards repeating some of the topics that have the most hits. I think each blog builds up a certain audience and as a blogger it is your responsibility to know who that audience is. However, the style in which I started my blog, even when I had no visitors, is still the same today. It still reflects me as a writer and person.
I think the question helps:) And I think it is fine to go against the host opinion, only done respectively of course.
Well, I think I have learned in my life you can’t please everyone and when you try you end up tending to not like yourself very much.
I try to do things on my blog that I have liked about other blogs…
I want to look at something in a new way and refine or form my own opinion.
I want to learn something new about something I already have.
I want to be shown something I might want or might be helpful to me.
I think those things are important the rest is too much marketing for my blood.
Hey,
No, I don’t blog to gain an audience. No one reads my graphic novels reviews but I do them. Hardly anyone reads my mystery reviews, but I do them. Opinion pieces I’ve been writing lately, uh, that’s just because I want to talk about them. I try to follow this advice and that is: write what you know. I know many things that affect me as a consumer, a reader, customer, etc. I still do read romances and those *sometimes* get a lot more comments than my mystery reviews but I do like having visitors but I don’t change my content to gain a wider, broader audience. I intended to *exclusive for you* to write even more mystery reviews highlighting those that have a nice romance in them. I’ll still read romances but not as much as mystery. Honestly, I don’t know who my audience is and I am surprised at what posts generate more comments than others.
@Mandi I like your point about your blog still reflecting you as a writer and person. I hope that’s also the case with me.
@Teddypig Trying to please everyone is a futile endeavour…so why bother? You make an excellent point about looking at something in a new way. I forgot to mention that it my post. If I have nothing fresh to add to a discussion, I don’t blog about it, even when I find the topic interesting.
@Keishon I’m also surprised sometimes at the posts which prove the most popular. They’re usually the ones I’ve put the least time and effort into writing! BTW, I read your mystery reviews! I’ve never read a comic or graphic novel, but I generally check those out, too.
I’m pondering here. Most of the things I do on my blog are the things I love to do, if it finds a resonance with others I am thrilled, if not, at least my opinion/feelings are out there. And it is my free time that goes in to those posts so if I would do it simply to please an audience a part of that pleasure would disappear for me. An average post can take up to an hour to post and the large one’s even up to 2,5 hours. I like to world with images, extra’s, links and such and that takes time.
Now to gain an audience takes time. I try to reach out to my visitors with each blogpost and I always aim for interaction but it is not always guaranteed.
Three minutes later…I was so pondering on what I wanted to say and how I just re-read your post again and this just pretty much sums it up for regarding the question if I blog for audience:
Quote Sarah; What I absolutely will not do is write about topics which don’t appeal to me simply because they’re popular and might attract more visitors to my blog.
I am not good in taking a discussion topic and relay my opinion in a new blog post at my personal blog, that is why I will react at other peeps post and hope my opinion comes across with a clear voice.
As to your questions Sarah: Primarily I need to enjoy writing up the blogpost but when I edit it I always will have a final look at it and if possible insert something that will provoke response.
And I will react to a blogpost whether or not a question is posted in the end if it interests me.
I started my blog as way to keep track of my reading- but I also use it as a way to keep my online friends updated on me as well, though not as often as I’ve done in the past because life is just busy right now.
Mostly though my attitude is more, if people read my blog great, but I’m doing it because I just like blogging!
@Keishon
I just don’t comment on them. As a general rule, I rarely comment on reviews unless I’ve already read the book – and I’m woefully behind in my mystery reading. Thank the good Lord for audio books.
Well….I read your mystery reviews Keishon
I pretty much already had my say over at Jessica’s, but feel like I sort of have a unique perspective on this topic since I’ve been blogging for almost 7 years. Back when I started? Yeah, Blogger didn’t even have a commenting feature! It was really, really bare bones. As blogging has exploded, and taken off, that’s when people have gotten fixated on things like traffic, their “audience” and their “agendas.”
So yeah – I can safely say I started blogging to amuse myself. But I did want to connect with other readers and did hope that other people would find my blog amusing. Some people do, and some people don’t. Which is fine. That is the way of the Interwebs. You can’t please everybody, nor should you try. Otherwise you just come off as desperate and that’s just ick.
@Keishon
I read your mystery and even graphic reviews!! I just don’t comment on everything I read. I’ve marked some stuff as “books to look into”
Anyway, in regards to this post – I find myself agreeing with Sarah’s points.
@SarahT, @janicu and @Wendy – thanks guys. Didn’t mean to dismiss you all in one stroke there so sorry! I rarely leave comments on reviews of books I haven’t read either. I was more or less referring to my stats, which I know aren’t always accurate(another evil time suck, too), as it will break down what people are reading (romance gets more hits than mystery)which is to say that my audience is more or less romance readers? Or romance readers who read mysteries? Or who knows.
@Leontine If you don’t like writing opinion pieces, you shouldn’t bother. I’ve surprised myself by the number I write as I didn’t intend to have so many. Basically, I went through a phase of having no time to read. No books = no reviews. I had to think of something to put on my still very new blog which wasn’t just filler. Now I enjoy writing them and actually find them faster than the reviews.
@zeek I also find the blog a great way to keep track of my reading. Plus, I get a ton of recommendations for more books from the comments here and from other blogs.
@Wendy Seven years? Wow! Have you been blogging even longer than KristieJ?
@janicu Keishon is the go-to person for mystery reviews. She introduced me to Julia Spencer-Fleming, among others.
@Sarah
Short answer – yes. It’ll be 7 years in February. I started in 2003. Kristie started blogging in 2005.
I can’t say I’m speaking with complete authority, but at the time I started I only know of 2 others that were actively blogging in the romance community. One has since quit blogging, but the other is still going strong. Rosario http://rosario.blogspot.com/ and she’s been blogging since 2002!
I blog for myself. Blogging is an outlet for me. I also like to post about news or opinions I think people will want to read about. I used to lurk and would never post on a blog or site because I thought my voice didn’t matter. As I became more vocal, I found a great community of support.
Without blogs I would be lost on what books to read, news and other fun facts. I really enjoy all the different voices, personalities and opinions, even if I don’t always agree with them.
I think whether or not to leave a question at the end of a blog post depends on the post. Sometimes it is very effective at inviting commentary–in this post, for example
–but sometimes I think they’re redundant, or they stop me from commenting because I didn’t really want to discuss that topic. I usually just follow my instincts on whether to include a question or not.
I wouldn’t say I write just for myself–I do write with the expectation and hope that other people will read my words and find them interesting/entertaining. But when you’re blogging, you never really know who exactly your audience will be. So I always try to write with myself in mind as my audience–if that makes sense–so in another way I am sort of blogging for myself.
I can quite safely say that I don’t blog for an audience. I don’t have one. But then you could also say that I don’t blog. Not as such. I write the odd blog post. When I do that, it’s generally about something which I found interesting (and which I want to have written down somewhere for future reference; I’m getting old. I’m starting to forget things
)
@katiebabs Blogging and bloggers are responsible for my frightening TBR pile. As I have to buy most of the books I want to read, I’m grateful for recommendations as it lessens the chance of me wasting my time and money on duds.
@heidenkind Your point about questions sometimes stifling discussion is an interesting one. I suppose it depends on the subject of the post. The downside of posing a question is that visitors might feel obliged to focus on that alone, even if they’d rather talk about something else. Plus, it runs the risk of the blogger feeling frustrated because the comments are not focusing on what she wants to discuss and going off on a tangent.
@Christian I still find it shocking how many people stop by your blog when you put no time and effort into it. Huh. What’s your secret?
Well I am currently only a blog reader, aim to get one up and running under the business name, but it will be generally directed at customers, for contests etc, though one of the aims is to get them interacting with other readers IYKWIM
And I comment on blogs, cos I like to talk beep? Regardless of whether that was a Q or not, but you may have noticed that!
Though I probably over comment, as most of my friends are not big readers, and there is only one who reads romance and she will rarely admit it. I want to talk books!!
As to being completely honest, I try to filter a fair bit, cos I have noticed that I am often coming at things from a different angle than the majority, but I manage to cram enough nonsense and honesty in my comments I think.
@Edie I was thrilled to find fellow romance readers online. I’m in a similar situation as you in that not many of my friends are readers and those who do don’t read romance (or won’t admit to it).
I loved this topic over at RRR but didn’t have a chance to comment. I definitely feel conflicted in the “why do i blog?” blogger-existentialism issue as well.
Mostly to make the voices in my head stop talking! I mean sometimes a book, publishing industry news, a story, a character, an author, any idea will just grab my brain and not let it go till I get it out of my system. The online world is the best way for me to connect with other readers and purge my thoughts since I don’t have many IRL friends who read, or read romance.
I can sleep easier once I write it down and share it, whether two people read my post, or 200 do, its still connecting with a similar community.
In terms of my audience I have actually met a number of 20something bloggers in my area (DC) but I started blogging because i loved romancelandia. So since I know “Regular” bloggers (about relationships, living in the city, life in general) AND “romancelandia” bloggers both visit my site I have been making it a little more personal that I originally intended.
@Lusty Reader I would love the opportunity to meet up with fellow romance bloggers some day. I’m hoping to make it to the RWA conference one year. I think it’s being held in New York in a couple of years, which might be feasible for me. BTW, great blog name!