I love blogging. I’ve found a way to meet other writers without leaving the house (I like leaving the house, but Sebastian sometimes makes that a challenge) and to motivate myself to write more, and more widely, than I ever have before. It’s a Good Thing.
And, so various books-on-publishing would tell you, it’s Building A Platform, with which to one day publicise and maybe even sell my Great Work. Although those or other books-on-publishing will also tell you that blog /twitter / facebook followers do not convert very well to sales figures. Not very well at all.
A friend recently pointed out that the blogosphere is mainly made up of bloggers. You might think, well of course, but actually, that’s not what we want, is it? What if only chocolatiers bought chocolate? Or only train drivers rode trains? As writers, we want to reach READERS, and although some of them might be other writers, most (we hope) aren’t. #
I’m delighted to have so many followers – 512, so WordPress tells me – and I take nothing away from them in saying this. Thanks to anyone who reads this blog, regularly, occasionally or even just this once. I value you!
But followers don’t convert to sales – they don’t even convert to views. If I follow a blog, it’s because I want to see what that person has to say, on a regular basis, but I seem to be in the minority. Many people seem to hit follow in the hopes that “If I follow her, she’ll follow me” or something. They hit follow, but do they ever come back?
So, my fellow bloggers – as most of you are – how do we get the rest of the world to join us in the ‘sphere? Or do we have to burst out and find new (or perhaps old) ways to reach them?
elmowrites 