Clean Up on Aisle Seven

I spent part of the weekend deleting blogs from my reader. Being a bit on the anal-retentive side, it was not unlike surgery. As each new blog post popped up, I examined its history for content.

• Did the blogger brag too much? I don't know about you, but I get a little tired of authors who carry on about all the beautiful things they've bought with their book money. It's like meeting someone at a party and she keeps pushing the Hope diamond under your nose. I just don't care. Good for you if you can afford these things, but if you brag too often it comes off as conceit, and it boots you off my guest list.

• What's the promo to actual content ratio? I expect authors to promote their work. This ain't grandpa's publishing anymore. Everyone has to toot their own horn. But when every other post is "buy my book" it turns into spam.

• How many excerpts (published or unpublished) do they post? I'm not a big fan of excerpts. Aside from the obvious pitfall of someone stealing from you (like I reported in this post), it's generally not too interesting out of context. Now that could be me. I like a little background to center me in the scene before someone tosses out an excerpt.

The other thing that turns me off about excerpts is that it makes me feel obligated to compliment it. A blogger should never make the reader feel put upon or uncomfortable. You don't invite people over and expect them to gush over your kids, do you? (This could be why people with children never invite me to their homes anymore.)

Note: Despite my dislike of excerpts, I adore reading first paragraphs/hooks from a book. I just do. Often times it's enough to get me to buy.

• Blogs that tweet. I have had a few blogs on my feed that post tweet feeds. Talk about being out of context. On what world do you think people are going to care about a one-sided twitter conversation?

• Is the blog a one-trick-pony? You know the ones. They talk about the same thing over and over again. Most of the time this is a new author. S/he is so excited about his new book, that's all they can talk about. I usually cut them some slack, but if they can't find something new to say after three months, I say adios.

• Depressing blogs. All of us go through rough patches. But we have to remember that the internet is not our diary. Who knows who reads our posts? Worse yet, they can't be deleted. Not even if you physically remove them. I know this because a friend of mine went on an ugly rage about something. She deleted the post but it's still on Google Reader. The same with RSS feeds. It NEVER goes away.

Whether you're published or not, you become a public figure when you post anything online.

When I go through particularly hard times, I stay offline. No one should have to put up with my bad mood--except Greg. It's in his contract.

Have you ever deleted a blog off your feeds? What makes you stop reading them?