Behind the curtain . . .
This blog is just over two years old. It's two years and three weeks old, to be precise.
When I published my first post, I had no idea what I was doing. But, I was putting myself out there because I wanted to write, and find readers, and blogging was an another avenue to explore in trying to reach that goal.
But, like I said, I had no idea what I was doing . . .
I didn't know how to promote the blog, or play the game that you're supposed to play for the algorithms and whatnot. I just wanted to write. And, preferably, to be a writer good enough that people would want to read what I wrote.
The readership has grown, but I am not playing with the "big boys". My readership is minuscule compared to what some bloggers see in their analysis figures. Part of that is to do with my still, two years later, not knowing what I am doing. But only partly, because it's also because I still don't want to play the game with the algorithms, and all that nonsense.
You know what I want to do?
I want to write about a subject, a subject about which I feel passionate, and I want it to generate conversation. However large or small that conversation might be. I want a reader to nod their head in recognition of a thought, a feeling, a situation. I don't want to generate sales. I don't want to spend my time poring over the analysis figures, trying to see what performed well, and how many people followed what link. That's nothing to do with writing, and it has nothing to do with books.
"So, why are you blogging? And, why are you telling us about this?"
Good questions. You should come here more often!
Well, as I said, I blog because it provides me with a space to write. I can research a subject, write about it, proofread, and edit the piece, and have it in front of readers' eyes the same day. I don't have to go through a magazine editor, I don't have to navigate a publisher's budget, and all those things. I can present my piece to readers and get feedback from those readers almost immediately.
It's a joy. It really is.
The problem is that it's not very lucrative . . . It pays nothing. Especially if you're a small fry in a pond of big fish. The one's for whom it's all about generating income, feeding the algorithms, and playing the game.
But, I'm not going anywhere.
Even if only twenty people read this post, and none of those people generate any remuneration, I will still be back at my keyboard, tapping away about books I've read and loved. If two people like this post when I have shared it across the social media platforms I allow into my world - why the hell would I sign up to all of them? Who has time for that? - I will share my words with those people again.
I want connections. So, if you read this, or any other post here, and there's somebody that you think will get it, share that post with them. If you think this is all nonsense - and, this is a bit of a ramble - then don't bother. It's all good. But, whatever you do, do it because it feels right, because you care. Or whatever.
There's so much bland shit out here, the crap that we just scroll past, and sometimes the good stuff just gets caught up in that, and we lose it too. I'm not saying this space here is like that, part of the good stuff that's being unfairly lost in the stream of banality, but I am saying I'm striving to be a better writer and produce good work on a subject about which I feel passionate. Chasing the algorithms will always come second to that. So, maybe I will lose out. I dunno.
If you made it down here - jeez, have you nothing better to do!? - thank you. I guess it's for you that I am writing. Maybe that means something. Maybe it doesn't. I don't know. But, you take care. And maybe come back soon.
Seriously, thank you. If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting this blog with a coffee from ko-fi.com - the caffeine keeps me writing, and maybe it'll wake me up one day to chasing the algorithms, and embracing the fact we're all just lost in the Zuckerverse anyways . . .
Thank you, every reader and supporter!
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