Blogging For You
I don’t know if I’m the only one, perhaps. But ever since I’ve started book blogging I have kind of been searching for that perfect balance of posts. Trying to discover what works for me and what works for my visitors, and how I can combine the two in order to make (mostly) everyone happy.
Then, last Thursday I believe it was, I saw a Book Blogging 101 on Parajunkee where someone was kind of asking about the same thing, and they mentioned that they “blog for themselves mostly”. Then, Parajunkee mentioned that although blogging for yourself is fine, you ARE blogging for others, otherwise you would have a private journal, not a blog.
Now, while I agree to a certain extent, I have to disagree a bit too. I think if we get so caught up in what everyone else wants and making everyone else happy, we will at some point become exhausted and blogging will become a chore rather than an escape. I think we should keep our visitors in mind and consider what they would like to see. But, for the most part, I think we should post the things we want, read and review the books we want, and write our reviews the way we want, etc. This will enable us to find our own voice, and keep blogging something that is fun and enjoyable, rather than stressful.
A blog is almost a living, breathing thing. It’s constantly changing not only because new posts go up, but because what we enjoy writing about changes and evolves. But how does this affect our readers? It’s sort of inevitable for a blog to change because we as people are constantly changing. We might start off doing a lot of memes and then realize that we don’t like this meme, but we like this one now, or we may decide we don’t want to do them anymore altogether. We might not like doing author interviews and guest posts, but then start to see the appeal later on. Things change, people change, blogs change.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this of course, but I think that two things should stay consistent: that we are posting something regularly, and we are doing all of this for ourselves for the most part. Although a blog is read my others, it’s still a personal outlet and therefore we should stop worrying to much about what others want and do this for ourselves. Eventually you’ll find a good groove that works for you and your readers will notice that you love doing this because you’re not stressing about everything, but enjoying the journey.
So what do you guys think? Do you think we should blog for ourselves, for our visitors, or do you think blogging is a constant search for a good balance between the two? Who do you blog for?
Photo Credits (in order of appearance): We Heart It, and We Heart It.
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11 Responses to Blogging For You
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I think it is both. We blog for ourselves because we love books and here’s a great community for a book lovers. But I agree that if we only cared about that we wouldn’t put the follower widget up or we would use a private journal like Parajunkee says. It is impossible to please everyone so it could make you crazy thinking and over-thinking things. But I do think we blog for people “like” us. If you a blog isn’t your cup of tea, then it is easy to find a better fit. I don’t know if that made any sense.
My recent post Teaser Tuesday: Mockingjay
True, true. I know what you mean. You’re right, it is a combination. I just think it’s about finding a good balance between doing what you love with your blog while still taking your readers into consideration. Thanks for the comment!
My recent post Review: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
About 90% of my blogging is for me. I do think my readers are important, so I do keep them in mind. But, if I’m not happy blogging, I won’t do it. So, in this case, I think it’s OK to be a bit selfish!
My recent post Top Ten Tuesday: Am I the Only One?
I do blog for myself mainly, but I love it when people leave comments on the books I have reviewed or the other stuff. But I also think, there are so many blogs out here, that everyone just follows the ones they like. Personally, I don’t like memes. The same thing on every blog. I love reading reviews, so I search for blogs with a likewise taste in genres. Of course I love winning books as well, but that is not my main reason for following a blog.
I really don’t know …I know I have a craft blog that I really just do for myself. I have a small handful of followers and I definitely don’t post regularly. But I recently started helping out a book blogger and I’m still at the point that I’m reading book that I buy myself so I’d consider that still blogging for myself. But I do like to think that you do it for yourself and for others. Because as a follower of alot of book blogs – I know that I actually read A LOT of posts. And so I think about the whole “do I really want to read this and would someone else want to read this” question alot. So it’s something I’ve been considering lately as I’m getting more into the blogging scene.
My recent post GIVEAWAY! Zombie Plush Bunny made by Rinni
I agree that blogging should be an amalgamation of both. On the one hand, I want my readers to enjoy the things that I blog about but on the other I want to blog about the things that appeal to me. I am also still trying to find a balance.
I also recently realized that I have been overdoing the memes and don’t enjoy posting them as much as before. So I am slowly narrowing them down to 2 or 3. So this is something that I am doing for myself.
Thanks for the great post.
My recent post Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian
Yeah, that’s how I’ve been feeling about memes lately too. I’m not sure what to do about it because on the one hand it’s a nice way to meet new people, but on the other hand you don’t want your blog over-run by them, ya know?
But yeah, I think you put it nicely that you want your readers to enjoy what you blog about, but you want to blog about the things that you enjoy. So it’s definitely gotta be a mixture. I think it’s tough finding the middle ground, but like I said above, it’s a process.
My recent post Review: The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegen
Excellent post, Sarah. You’ve made some great points. And I appreciate the feedback comments, too.
The main thing I struggle with is that I want to read and blog about a variety of books, from the hot and steamy to the tame and innocent, but now, I don’t think I have that much flexibility because I don’t want to turn my blog readers off. Find that balance between what you want to blog about and what your readers want to read is very challenging.
My recent post Waterfall Wednesdays: Chapters 18-23
I’m with you. It has to be first and foremost for me. Otherwise, it stops being fun. Over the two years I’ve been blogging, I’ve known too many gals that quit because it stopped being fun. I think the gals that stand the test of time keep it fun, flexible, and fluid.
Great question.
Missie: It makes me sad sweetie that you want to read stuff you don’t because you don’t want to turn people off. *hug* I say read what you want, when you want. Your passion will shine through.
Bookaholic: Love your point. We tend to gravitate to people like us so keep it real and the followers will come.
My recent post Megapixel Monday & Morsel: Stone Fence & Practical Magic
I agree that blogging is (primarily) for yourself. I like getting comments, but really, when I’ve done something solely because I thought readers would like it, rather than what I wanted to post, it hasn’t worked out anyway. If I knew the secret to what others wanted, I’d be a successful entrepreneur. But all I’m really sure of is what I like and I just hope to attract the followers who like what I do.
My recent post Review: Alanna – The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Mine is full of stuff from inside my head. But I do talk about politics (very occasionally) and social issues (mostly as they affect me). I know I give too much information on what goes on in my personal life most of the time, and I have spent a lot of time lately talking about my recently published and more soon to be published books. But my hits are growing like crazy. I think promo-ing a book creates more blog hits and vice versa. I also comment on some very different blogs, like Mises.org and they, for some reason, lead to lots of hits. Lonely guys I think, but I don’t want to insult anyone. Recent posts: Left-Handed Compliments, The Spectrum of Bitterness part !V, Stolen Words and an outrageous utube video of a Violent Femmes song that I love.