Blog writing

[ameliajax]

Hey, all.

I know a lot of you write blogs. Is there any interest in a discussion on successful blog writing? How to promote a blog, especially of an erotic nature? What makes a blog readable? How to keep people coming back for more? I recently started writing one, some of you have read it. I only have 2 posts, (I'm working on a third) and I don't really know where I'm going with it. I'm just writing it because it's a story I want to tell. Obviously there are a lot of different types of blogs out there, that serve many different purposes.

I got this ... um ... feedback ... from someone on this site. It was not at all helpful, and I don't really care, but it made me wonder. Is there something in these comments that I should be thinking about? Like font, for instance? I hate to give this person's post ... validity, mainly because the way he wrote it was asshole-ish, but I also don't like to pass up an opportunity to learn, even if the impetus for learning is from an undesirable source.

If this is a topic just too boring or .. self-promotional to discuss, I totally get it.

Here are the comments I received:



Well, I hate the blog already.

a) It insists to use only 25% of my screen for texts. I don't get paid per line, you don't get paid per line, so why do you insist to wrap the text if there is no need to?

b) Smart people invented something called "serifs" and even smarter people invented fonts for screen / web reading, that make reading longer texts easier, f.e. the Georgia font. But no, you use Arial.

c) A cliffhanger is not automatically inserted where you got tired of writing. You have to create one. "I bet you can't wait." is not a cliffhanger. It's a challenge to prove you wrong.

d) Is there a culture that reads from bottom to top? I know there is right-to-left and left-to-right. So, for which culture do you write if you insist to put part 2 before part 1? Not the one I live in at least. You can't reference things in part 2 that don't make sense if the reader didn't read part 1, if you put part 2 above part 1.

e) Who is your target audience and why would they want to read it? Did you actually think about it?





So all of you experienced bloggers, what do you think? (and I'm not looking for critique for my blog, unless you really feel inspired to. I'm just thinking of blog writing in general.)

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It helps to keep in mind that Jesus was crucified, so what hope is there for the rest of us!

Write what excites you, and screw the rest of us. The bottomline is, peeps who enjoy your stuff will stick around for more, and you cant please everyone. So chill and post what floats your boat.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Primalex is a lit stereotype -- a trollish old man who hates it that younger women don't want him.


Older posts on the bottom,newer ones above them is the convention and has been since the first blogging software was written-- if it still confuses him fifteen years later, that's really not your problem!

I agree that Arial is a problematic font. It's rough on dyslexics. But anyone can set a preferred font in their browser preferences, and most people have figured that out by now too. On the other hand god only knows what he's using for a browser.

What he's talking about with his "25% of the screen" is more legit. For some reason it's become fashionable to design blogging skins at fixed width. I hate it-- even though I do it too for graphical reasons-- but you are mostly doing text, and could choose a variable width skin or else make the one you're using be wider.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree with JBJ on this. I don't write or read blogs, but it's fine with me that they exist.

 

[SamScribble]

Successful blogs are like one-on-one chats – usually multiple one-on-one chats, but not always. Some blogs are first and foremost chats with the person in the mirror. ‘Hey, so that’s what I think. Who would have known?’

Like any successful chat it helps to know something about the person you want to chat with. What do they already know? What do they think? What do they feel and believe? Once you have this in mind, you can (if you want to) tailor your conversation.

Of course, the blogosphere being what it is, there are likely to be quite a few others listening in to your conversation. Chances are that some of them – many of them? – won’t be people who you would have chosen to chat with in the first place. Quite possibly, they think that your thoughts and ideas are just plain wrong. But you’re not talking to them. So just ignore them. Eventually they will wander off and bug someone else.

And if all else fails, maybe take a leaf from Ricky Nelson’s songbook: ‘You see you can't please everyone so / You got to please yourself’ – which is kind of what JBJ said.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Successful blogs are like one-on-one chats – usually multiple one-on-one chats, but not always. Some blogs are first and foremost chats with the person in the mirror. ‘Hey, so that’s what I think. Who would have known?’

Like any successful chat it helps to know something about the person you want to chat with. What do they already know? What do they think? What do they feel and believe? Once you have this in mind, you can (if you want to) tailor your conversation.

Of course, the blogosphere being what it is, there are likely to be quite a few others listening in to your conversation. Chances are that some of them – many of them? – won’t be people who you would have chosen to chat with in the first place. Quite possibly, they think that your thoughts and ideas are just plain wrong. But you’re not talking to them. So just ignore them. Eventually they will wander off and bug someone else.

And if all else fails, maybe take a leaf from Ricky Nelson’s songbook: ‘You see you can't please everyone so / You got to please yourself’ – which is kind of what JBJ said.

Its more about enjoying yourself. Its like, I PLAN ON HAVING A GOOD TIME, YOURE WELCOME TO JOIN ME.

 

[lovecraft68]

I set up a blog because everyone says its useful to do for marketing, but I just can;t get myself to keep updating the thing and I'm well aware that I am far two non politically correct to have any success at it.

So beyond, "Hey look, here is my latest work available here!" I got nothin'

 

[nomoretears00]

I blog a lot. Mine is more than pushing my books that are for sale though.

I host other authors' often, do giveaways for their books, talk about my youngest who's heading off to college soon, the cat that showed up Halloween before last and never left lol, the hunt for the perfect prom dress, issues I see going on in the field I write in (M/M), do blog hops, do character interviews, talk about head hopping, do a weekly flash with a grp I'm in, talk about my WIP's... and so on lol.

No, it's not for everyone, but it's something I enjoy. *laugh* I've even had publishers I'd queried check out my blog, then comment later about whatever content I happened to have up when they dropped by. (then I'm scrambling to see just what the hell I had up lol)

 

[_Lynn_]

I have one but it has nothing to do with writing. I'm guessing I add to it about every couple of days. If I miss posting for a bit, I'm fine with that.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I kinda blog about veggies and woodshop projects. Ima master gardener, and post lotsa pix of the stuff I grow.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I kinda blog about veggies and woodshop projects. Ima master gardener, and post lotsa pix of the stuff I grow.

Shut up! you bad boy, stop being silly. You do not blog about vegetables (other than the GOP) and if you do, you should put one of your veg pix up as your avatar, not a picture of white men holding guns and their crotches in hopes that all the limousine liberals (as Trysail calls them) will get excited and afford you an afternoon's amusement.

When are you going to start a thread on what you learned about the frog's perspective so I can chat to you about it?

Amelia - Your blog is pretty and you write well, although I'm also not sure who your audience is going to be.

I have three blogs. Ordinarily I dislike blogs which just promote the authors' books, although I understand why people might want to have one for their fans. I have a blog which reviews erotica and is aimed at introducing newbie readers gently and safely to the weird world of internet saucy stuff, I have one where I blog about writing erotica and I have one where I write about being a mum and what I think about right wing politics (my avatar for that one is an elephant wearing a pink sheet).

This is a blogpost from my blog about writing, in which I talk about why I like the blog of an author which does talk about her books.

Keep writing! and good luck with your blog

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Shut up! you bad boy, stop being silly. You do not blog about vegetables (other than the GOP) and if you do, you should put one of your veg pix up as your avatar, not a picture of white men holding guns and their crotches in hopes that all the limousine liberals (as Trysail calls them) will get excited and afford you an afternoon's amusement.

When are you going to start a thread on what you learned about the frog's perspective so I can chat to you about it?

Amelia - Your blog is pretty and you write well, although I'm also not sure who your audience is going to be.

I have three blogs. Ordinarily I dislike blogs which just promote the authors' books, although I understand why people might want to have one for their fans. I have a blog which reviews erotica and is aimed at introducing newbie readers gently and safely to the weird world of internet saucy stuff, I have one where I blog about writing erotica and I have one where I write about being a mum and what I think about right wing politics (my avatar for that one is an elephant wearing a pink sheet).

This is a blogpost from my blog about writing, in which I talk about why I like the blog of an author which does talk about her books.

Keep writing! and good luck with your blog

I'll finish reading the frog essay today, think about it, and start a thread maybe early tomorrow morning.

The mental hospital was filled with sick liberals whom I made crazier disputing their delusions; a penis eliminates you as a Miss America contestant.

I glanced at your blog, you write well. I really blog about veggies. In fact I just harvested my first head of iceberg lettuce. A new merit badge for me.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I'll finish reading the frog essay today, think about it, and start a thread maybe early tomorrow morning.

The mental hospital was filled with sick liberals whom I made crazier disputing their delusions; a penis eliminates you as a Miss America contestant.

I glanced at your blog, you write well. I really blog about veggies. In fact I just harvested my first head of iceberg lettuce. A new merit badge for me.

LOL, thanks for that! I sometimes blog about the flowers in my garden. I love to grow hollyhocks but they are hard to bring on from seed.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

LOL, thanks for that! I sometimes blog about the flowers in my garden. I love to grow hollyhocks but they are hard to bring on from seed.

I feel your pain. Reminds me of facilitating a vaginal drenching; I spent a lifetime practicing and did it by accident. Well, I thought she had tossed a pail of water in my face to wake me up but it was the real deal, and then she ran me off. Get outta here you bum.

 

[ameliajax]

OMG, you guys are making me laugh. And shake my head in bewilderment.

Thanks, Naoko, for you words, and for checking out my blog. I'm not sure who my audience is/will be, either.

These first few entries are just background on how I first met and dated my Master when I was 18, and then reconnected with him a few years ago, and that's when our relationship developed into a Dom/sub one.

I think the tone will probably change once I get into our Dom/sub relationship. More hot sex, at least! But I will also explore why I think I have these urges, my inner conflict in carrying on this relationship in secret, etc.

I'm really trying to figure out if I want to write this story as a book someday (it would have a different tone than the blog) by sussing it out and seeing how it reads as a story.

So, hopefully the posts will get more interesting, sexy, erotic and ... fun! So then I guess the audience would be similar to people here ... people who like to read an erotic story, with this one being (mostly) true.

I guess I'll just have to hope people will keep reading through this slower, background stuff.

Or, at the very least, I'll give everyone a heads up when I get to the really good stuff!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OMG, you guys are making me laugh. And shake my head in bewilderment.

Thanks, Naoko, for you words, and for checking out my blog. I'm not sure who my audience is/will be, either.

These first few entries are just background on how I first met and dated my Master when I was 18, and then reconnected with him a few years ago, and that's when our relationship developed into a Dom/sub one.

I think the tone will probably change once I get into our Dom/sub relationship. More hot sex, at least! But I will also explore why I think I have these urges, my inner conflict in carrying on this relationship in secret, etc.

I'm really trying to figure out if I want to write this story as a book someday (it would have a different tone than the blog) by sussing it out and seeing how it reads as a story.

So, hopefully the posts will get more interesting, sexy, erotic and ... fun! So then I guess the audience would be similar to people here ... people who like to read an erotic story, with this one being (mostly) true.

I guess I'll just have to hope people will keep reading through this slower, background stuff.

Or, at the very least, I'll give everyone a heads up when I get to the really good stuff!

I'm reminded of my 3rd great grandmothers memoirs. in it she talks candidly about courting her husband. She was Quaker and he was a Methodist circuit rider boarding in her home (1812). He made no passes at her so one day she asked him if he was a queer rooster (her term), and he said 'no.' He simply thought it was rude to try and screw the 16 year old daughter of a good friend when he was living in the friends home. He was 29 years old at the time.

 

[ameliajax]

I'm going to take you comparing me to your great grandmother as a compliment! Ha!

I bet that was a very interesting memoir! And, I'm totally working queer rooster into my vocabulary. That's awesome.