Tossing It Out

Showing posts with label blogging to build platform. Show all posts

Monday, October 21, 2013

Do You Respect Yourself?

Respect (Photo credits: www.mysecuritysign.com)

My posts of the past week (here and here) generated some excellent debate on the topics of respect for bloggers and the importance of page views, comments, and community. In order to further clarify my position I will continue with these topics this week. Short posts work best for the attention span of the typical blog reader so I think breaking the topic down is less apt to lead to confusion. Even my attempt at simplification in my posts last week seemed to lead to complications in the feedback and debate that appeared in my comment section as well as in the comments Alex J. Cavanaugh received in his posts (here and here).

Part of the problem is that there were several points of view clashing in an arena of debate. I don't think we are all talking about the same things. My points were in reference to marketplace potential for one's product (in the case of most of you that is probably books) and building platform. I'm envisioning platform to be like an oil rig platform that is full of activity with many workers contributing to the final production as opposed to the platform upon which stands a statue where pigeons come to roost and strollers through the park stop to admire the artwork. I hope this metaphor does not offend anyone. To put what I'm saying in less metaphorical terms I'm thinking in terms of big versus smaller.

If a writing or product platform is to be most effective then it must service a wide field while serving multiple functions. Community is an essential and possibly the most important part of the platform, but should not be the sole element in ones platform. Community is wonderful and reassuring and I would never want to let go of the security I have in being a part of a community. But I know there is a bigger world out there and I should try to tap into that world as well.

Andrew Leon put it bluntly: "Many people who say they want to be "big time" do not actually act like it." This is a small part of one of the excellent comments he left on the post "Defining Respect". If you missed his comments on that post or any of the insightful comments left by others on that post, by all means read through them. There are some excellent observations made in many of these comments.

If we as writers are composing a blog post and we are thinking in terms of using blogging as part of a platform, then we should firstly direct our posts to our community whom we hope is listening, but always keep in mind that there is a broader base who could potentially be listening (including agents, publishers, future readers, and media representatives). Even if that audience is not there I think it is important to respect yourself and your product enough to believe that you are important enough to address that audience just in case any of them do happen upon your blog.

Your blog is a reflection of you and the work you do. If you are expecting to sell your books then the blog writer should appear to be professional and worthy enough to be read. If you aren't respecting yourself and your platform enough to believe that you can extend beyond your community and reach thousands or even millions of people then you have placed limitations on your own potential. You can think big even when you are small. If you are not doing that then you are apt to stay within the confined area that you have set for yourself.

I do understand that this post may not apply to all of you reading it. If this does not apply to you then go ahead and take yourself out of the equation, but please feel free to add your thoughts. You have important things to tell the rest of us. Some of you may be intentionally blogging for a small niche or even for yourself. That's just fine. Most of you doing that do it very well and I'm glad you are there. You are good blogging friends and I respect you. However, still give the concepts I've laid out here some deeper consideration in order to evaluate yourself honestly. You may be limiting yourself with your own doubt, fear, or insecurity.

There is a lot of talent in the realm of our blogging community and I think the world needs to know about it!

Do you respect yourself as a writer (or insert other vocation)? Do you limit yourself? Would you be resigned to sell 10,000 books if you could sell a million? Do you let yourself dream big while understanding the parameters of reality? What kind of book makes it to the big best seller lists?

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Battle of the Bands Results
for October 15, 2013

My Battle of the Bands entry for last week consisted of two versions of the song "Respect".

I'm a big fan of Otis Redding, but I'm a bigger fan of Rotary Connection. Psychedelic music is one of my favorite genres and I enjoy intricate arrangements that have big production values. As is so often the case I'm going against the grain and casting my vote for Rotary Connection. But even with my vote cast, Otis Redding gets the most respect and most votes from you who joined in the fun for this round of BOTB.

Otis Redding --21 votes!

Rotary Connection-- 5 votes...

Another round of Battle of the Bands will come up Friday November 1st. Be here to see the amazingly strange match-up I have in store.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Hear Me Roar! --Nancy S. Thompson Guest Post

Some of the most visited posts on my blog and some of your blogs have been those dealing with blogging. Can you imagine that! We love blogging so much that we even love to read about it. Today we get some more thoughts about blogging from Nancy S. Thompson. Nancy recently released her book The Mistaken which has been getting very favorable reviews. You can visit Nancy at her own blog.

Hear Me Roar!

Thanks for having me back, Arlee. While trying to come up with a topic we’re all interested in, I was made to consider what we all have in common. Many of us are writers. And we blog. We do this for many reasons, but we all probably started for the same one, because, as writers seeking publication, we were told we needed to build a platform.

But what’s the point of that platform? Is it simply a means to have your voice heard and hopefully get noticed? Well, sure, that’s part of it, of course—a large part, no doubt. But more than that, blogging is about sharing information. Yeah, we can all Google just about anything imaginable and come up with some article or website, but blogging is more about sharing our personal experiences. It’s really just an online diary, but one meant for public consumption.

We all use various forms of social networking—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, whatever—and they’re each good for their own brand of information. But blogs are better suited to our purpose of making our voices heard in that it puts more than just a face to who we are as writers and, more importantly, as human beings. It gives us heart, creates a fabric woven with threads of our accomplishments and failures, our dreams and expectations, our needs and losses, and, more than anything, our desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something that needs us just as much as we need it. A community.

Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest, they just give our audience a tiny glimpse of who we are, single frames in a two-hour movie. Our blogs are more of a bridge that leads to the very essence of who we are and what we value most. It’s a place to employ creativity, exhibit perseverance, and build trust through consistent, honest content that both educates and entertains.

While relevance is always important, I think, as far as our blogs are concerned, it’s less about cosmic relevance and more about how we’re relevant to each other, one on one. I read other blogs to learn what worked for that writer, where he got hung up on his journey, how she found the best way to write a query, if traditional publishing is the only legitimate path, and all sorts of other things. Yet for each person, the answer is completely unique, and I am made to consider how their choice might, or might not, work for me.

Through it all, blogging has led me to—and made me a part of—a community like no other. Though wholly virtual, the relationships are authentic and absolute, and that is the very heart of blogging, to be able to touch and affect those you cannot see, yet still hold in the highest regard.

How has community been valuable to you from a blogging standpoint? Why do you blog? What unexpected rewards have you received from blogging? Do you feel that you have built that all important "platform" that is recommended for writers or those in a specialized field?

Praise for The Mistaken:

“A deliciously slow burn that builds to a ferocious crescendo, Nancy S. Thompson's THE MISTAKEN kept me riveted until the very last page. Tyler Karras is a complex and flawed protagonist, and his redemptive journey makes him the perfect anti-hero. This psychological suspense is a standout, and I can't wait for Thompson's next book.”

~ Jennifer Hillier, author of CREEP and FREAK

“Nancy S. Thompson's debut novel, The Mistaken, is a first-rate thriller full of hair-raising twists and turns. Pursued by the police and the Russian mafia in San Francisco, brothers Tyler and Nick Karras are fascinating, fully-drawn, desperate characters. The action is non-stop. Thompson's taut, intriguing tale of revenge, mistaken identity, kidnapping and murder will keep you enthralled and entertained.”

~Kevin O’Brien, New York Times Bestselling Author of DISTURBED and TERRIFIED

“Fast-paced and emotionally gripping - once the ride begins, you won't stop reading until it ends." ~Alex J. Cavanaugh, author of CASSAFIRE and CASSASTAR