Sunday, June 1, 2014

WHERE'S THE BEEF? ( I'm Ranting Again)

There's a few people out there who are slightly fed-up, or have fallen out of "love" with blogging. Or, some of us just don't have time. You're into writing your book, not writing--or trying to come up with something to blog about. Case in point here's  Norma Beishir's blog , and she has a few suggested posts on the subject. I happen to agree with her. Blogging is becoming a time eating monster.


I've had the feeling I'm working my fingers to the bone for a while, for no reason but to ramble. I reach very few of you (there are a couple who respond here and come over to visit on facebook too), who are actually "followers", and some who are "fans" of my books. The rest of them, I have no idea why they come to my blog. Some are "anonymous" making comments hoping that their blog will be visited too (usually these blogs are ads).

Once upon a time,when I had a publisher (for a very short two and 1/2 years), I was supposed to post something on his blog every week--which I got him down to once a month (I simply didn't have the time for that blog and mine, and other things!). He said that quite a number of people stopped by his blog (it was in the five-figures), and I did get hits on my various posts. But this didn't translate to many actual SALES. That frustrated me. The same holds true here at this blog. I've had days where I've reached over 100 people. Sometimes it's in the hundreds. Are they even looking at my books over on the sideboard? No. No hits there, and no sales. So, what gives? Why am/are we doing this?

The question remains: WHERE'S THE READERS??? Well, they sure as hell aren't here in Blogsphere.

Sort of like the "Where's the beef" commercials. Let's face it, readers don't come to our blogs. Back around 2005/06, you may have read in Writer's Digest - and publishers believed this too - they suggested that blogging was the way to reach readers.

WRONG!
I believe that it was about the end of last year-maybe earlier--when we writers began to question this. Really question it.

Of course other writers come to our blogs. We go to theirs. That's about it. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the support, and especially those of you who have bought my books, left comments, allowed me to come and be on your blogs, and made revues on Amazon or Goodreads, whatever. I do. But the long and short of it is it's not where the money will come from in the long run to keep me doing what I'm doing and having to pay for the Internet, or any other expenses. It's actually a drain on our monthly income. I'm questioning if it's worth keeping it. Yeah. I am. My husband still supports me, and tells me it's totally up to me. We'll see when winter is upon us again, with the electric company upping their service 35%, starting this month.

Just a few weeks ago I was having trouble with connecting. I was told that my modem might be bad. I thought I was going to have to actually call the phone company and my Internet providers and tell them I wanted to cancel the service. Eventually I figured out the problem and fixed it (the stupid guy who I had to talk to for an hour trying resolve this told me this, but didn't make any suggestions except that I may have to buy a new modem). Thankfully, I didn't. I figured out what I needed to do and got it fixed all by myself--and somehow that worked.

But, I don't know how much longer I'm going to pay for this Internet and not get something in return. Until I can get a laptop computer (and find a way to reduce my monthly payments), I've gotta use this dial up (I won't go into a long explanation here why, but it's virtually impossible for me to get wireless for this desktop computer.)

I still have a lot of stories inside me. That's not the problem. Or, maybe it is, as far as trying to keep up with blogging. I find myself asking myself,  "Is it all worth it?" This past winter I re-found my interest in crocheting, and thoughts of doing crafts again--that's where I made money on a monthly bases, usually, when I was in a booth/store. It's all changed of course, since the '90's. Everything has changed! And I'm not sure I can keep up with the technology any more.

Back to blogging. I'm not keen on the idea of doing blog hops, you're not really gaining anything by doing them. Really. Unless all you want is a lot of followers who stop by and leave comments on your blog, which means you have to go and do the same with them. Great, if that's the case, and you've got a lot of free time on your hands that's fine. I don't. I don't know about you, maybe it's because you've got fast Internet, but I don't. I just don't have time to sit and wait for one blog to come up--might take ten minutes for it to come in fully and then to make a comment. I follow a few of you on a regular basis, and if I've time, I leave a comment, but I do read them via my email.

As you all know (who follow my blog), I've been trying to get a third read-through on this next book, Vampire Caprice done, so that I can publish it. I've just finished with that and sent it to my formatter. It's a long, freaking book--it's over 130,000 words! I don't think any publisher would want a book this long. But eff it. It's my book, and I'm going to do it. I've got the next one (#5) in the series waiting for me to work on that one, and the 8th one is trying to come to the forefront, and I've still to finish Dampire Legacy. Plus I've got a new work in the back of my head, making my notes for it!!! It's like I'm giving birth to a litter here! Possibly, if I ever get to retire (at this rate it might be at age 89!!!), I'll have time to work on all my little projects--if I live that long.

Okay, that's it for my rant. If you haven't changed the dial, you're free to do so. Have a good rest of your Sunday!

17 comments:

  1. You are absolutely right. I was trapped in dial-up hell forever and it's not worth the time it takes for everything to load. I have WiFi via DSL now and it's a little better but not much.

    I also understand what you're saying about hits not equaling sales. I have many friends who are writers, and it seems that no matter how much they blog and share and tweet things just aren't working out the way they believe they should. I've been told it's important to keep your name out there in front of the masses, but if the masses are seeing your name and still not clicking the mouse what's the point?

    I hope you figure out how to translate blog hits into sales. Then you can write a book and make million :-)

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    Replies
    1. All true, Crystal. And hey! That would be a million dollar seller for sure! LOL
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I have found in general that blog hops just aren't worth the bother. It takes up too much time.

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    Replies
    1. Yep, William. I did a couple--or tried to this year... I realized this was all a waste of time. I've got better things to do--and so do you!!!

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  3. Lorelei, you already know how I feel about it (thanks for the mention, by the way). I started blogging just for myself. If we do it with no other expectations, we can enjoy it...but for followers or sales, it just doesn't work.

    The same goes for following blogs. If we only follow blogs we really enjoy, fine--but to have to follow a large number of blogs just to get followers, that's just going to lead to frustration. And writing that isn't getting done.

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    Replies
    1. Exactly, Norma. And I can't feel guilty about it. No writer should fill their time up using this as an excuse for not writing, too!

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  4. I totally agree. That's why I don't do many Blogs. It is the same for all the Writer Groups online. It is for support. I rarely have a sale from that. It is everyone pushing their books to other authors that want to sell their books. I do hope it gets better for all of us.

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    Replies
    1. That's exactly it, Mari. I'm wondering if we've missed real opportunities somehow by buying into this mentality. I'd rather find the reader market. What do we do? Put up ads in the newspapers?

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  5. Not too far from what I've been thinking for awhile. I believe there was a time when blogs could bring in more readers -- but there were a lot fewer blogs then, and less competition for attention. These days we need to face the fact that most of the attention we draw is from other beginning writers -- and all writers on the internet can't support themselves that way. As for the answer of how to attract more readers ... no idea.

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  6. Well, this conversation's not depressing at all!

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  7. Thanks for sounding out, Mark. I think the answer is in advertising our books somehow. I've done it with my business card, but I'm not reaching enough people that way. We may have to start putting up serious money in order to get the attention of readers. That's how Patterson began.

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    Replies
    1. If only I had serious money! Must work on that.

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    2. I'd take un-serious money at this point!!! LOL!

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  8. You're right, more and more authors are blogging less and less, myself included. For me though, it's been due in large part to me being crazy busy writing. But, you're right. It really isn't a way to connect to readers so much. I use Twitter and FB for that mostly.

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  9. That's what most of us are doing. I've only just begun finding it quicker/easier to reach people.
    Thanks, Heather!

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  10. Yup to everyone. I, myself, haven't been blogging as much. And when I do it's because something is bugging me or I really need to say something. I don't even bother to shove my works down anyone's throat either.

    I've got stories to write. If I could get CP's to cooperate with me. I did a rant myself yesterday on this subject.

    Hugs and chocolate!
    Lorelei

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  11. Hey, Shelly. Reading your rant now. Bummer.
    Thanks for stopping by. I'll leave a comment etc.
    Chocolate hugs!

    ReplyDelete

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