Who's Reading Your Blog?

While this blog was on hiatus, I didn't read many posts, but I started up again this past week and was struck by a couple of things.

The first was how much peddling there was for fiction. There were posts about the process, character interviews, author interviews, reviews, and endless sales pitches.

The second most obvious trend was that these writers were primarily peddling to other writers.

The first part isn't the problem. The second is. Not that writers don't read. Most of us are insatiable readers, but let's look at this in wide angle. We are a tiny drop in the readership ocean. It might seem like we're reaching a lot of people, but since the majority of posts I read were placed on author blogs, guess what demographic we're targeting?

And then there are blog hops that jump from blog to blog with less-than-stimulating content. If you have that sort of time, go for it, but remember it's strictly a social call. I don't participate in them and I rarely visit those who do. I just don't have the time.

Well-choreographed blog book tours can work, but it's a lot more labor-intensive than most people realize (and is a post in itself). You have to be very selective on where you appear and what you post.

Last year, I made a concerted effort to reach more than other writers. Much like starting a new blog, it takes time to attract new readers.

• Word of mouth is good if your readers are mentioning you to non-writers.
• Participating in non-writer forums helps to get your name out.
• Using good keywords in blog posts are an easy way to gain visibility without a lot of extra work. I get a lot of drop-in traffic from people Googling for information. 

But here's what they didn't Google. They didn't Google publishers, writing journeys, or authors. Yes, my name and books get Googled, but the referring links seem to originate from Goodreads or the only reader-centric web site where I have an ad. This means the chances are good I'm reaching readers who aren't necessarily writers.

The people who ended up at my blog searched for how to do stuff, or the why of stuff, or where to find stuff. They found my blog through the pictures I posted. (Dog pictures and the flying saucer house are still the #1 image searches.) 

I get traffic for my remodeling posts, the chicken stories, and gardening updates. Admittedly, I do get a lot of hits for the writing and promotion how-to posts I've done. But this comes only from other writers and I want to reach more than my kissing cousins--much as I love you guys.

When you're distracted (in my case, grieving) your attention tends to filter out the chatter, but as I was deleting posts on my Reader recently, I scrolled back and noticed every deleted post was someone raving about their book. It's not that it didn't have value. It's that I was not the target audience. I'd already read their spiel in some form on a half-dozen other writer blogs.

As an experiment, I clicked on a few of the more popular blogs to read comments and Every Single One was from another writer congratulating them. Not pure readers. Not people off the street who wanted to know more about this author or book. But other writers showing their support.

I'm not advocating we not support each other. We need our friends around us. But unless you're selling a writing/publishing book, you're not reaching your target audience. If you're in the writing business, you have to stop insulating yourself from the outside world.

I understand why we do this. Associating only with friends is like a big, warm blankie. They protect us from a jaded and sometimes cruel world.

Unpublished writers have a different problem. Since they don't yet have a book to plug, what can they discuss to grow their audience? I think it's shortsighted to ignore future fans even when you don't have a book yet. We're all folks here. Let's not put up barriers unless you really want to exclude those not of ink-blood.

You can:
• Talk about the books you've read, opening up the discussion with both writers and non-writers via our common denominator, reading.

• Blog about your area of expertise, which I always find fascinating, even when it's linked back to writing.

• Write an objective review.

There are lots of ways to be interesting to both writers and non-writers without alienating either.

I'm going to continue with the way I'm doing this blog and talk only occasionally about writing/publishing. After all, I owe a lot to my peers and I want to pay forward where I can. But the main thrust of this blog will share useful information and the occasional animal story.

I'm also going to spend more time on my Facebook page for The Frugal Way to reach my other target audience, people looking to save money.

No matter what you talk about, a blog should be a reflection of the author. Content is critical for me. But voice counts for a lot too. I often find myself reading blogs because I like the way that person talks. I want to be just as interesting. Who knows? It might even make me a sale.

Do you get a lot of traffic from people who are not writers? Is it something you'd be interested in developing or is your blog strictly for those of ink-blood? If it is for writers only, how do you reach out to fans?

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PS  Thank you for allowing me my privacy while I was mourning poor Murray. I needed that time alone.