photo: J AlleyWARNING: WHINING BELOW
What, you may ask, prompted such fear and loathing in me today?
As is our weekend custom, Cat and I spend at least and hour or two each morning reading the NY Times. I can't honestly say that I read the entire paper, but I do give it a pretty good going over. This normally includes some time with the Magazine. This morning was no exception. After reading a wonderful profile on NJ Governor Chris Christie by Matt Bai, I found Lisa Belkin's feature, Mommy_Bloggest, detailing the success of women bloggers, particularly Heather Armstrong and her blog, Dooce.com.
By talking about poop and spit up. And stomach viruses and washing machine repairs. And home design, and high-strung dogs, and reality television, and sewer-line disasters, and chiropractor visits. And countless other banalities of one mother's eclectic life that, for some reason, hundreds of thousands of strangers tune in, . . .
That's right; there are 1000,000 daily visitors to her site. The site brings in $30,000 to $50,000 monthly. She is in the category of $1 million/year bloggers. Really? WTF?! For puke and poop?!
All right, some might say MY blog is about puke and poop, too, but that's not what it's direct purpose is. I know that most of this sounds like jealousy. But that's because it is! Everyone who starts one of these things wants to find a certain level of acceptance and, with it, financial success. I'm sure that most people who start these things understand, like I do, that the chances of a blog reaching that level are slim at best. And, it's not what motivated me in the first place. It starts with having a voice; of being able to express oneself in a way that brings you personal satisfaction. My motivation was, and IS, pure: to create a forum for creative endeavors and people, and to stimulate discourse. Writing, for me, is also an obsession and a passion, a blessing and a curse. It's something that I'm compelled to do. So, it will always be a part of my life. But a certain level of exposure (like Dooce.com!) not only feeds a sensitive artist's fragile ego, it feeds the bull dog too! Financial success insures survival and, perhaps, increased effort towards blog improvements.
Well, I'm just about done whining, at least for now. In closing I would leave my few, brave, followers to consider passing this on to other potential readers/contributors: with TalkFrank you get poop and puke of a different kind. The choice is yours.
I feel your pain, Frank. I've been very disappointed when I've posted some brilliant stuff on my Sex~Food~Rock&Roll page (shameless plug), and get no reaction. Then, when I see multiple comments regarding someones morning coffee, well I just don't get it. I believe that when you challenge people to really think and have an opinion, (which you certainly do, to your credit), it's intimidating and they're half brain dead from FB anyway.
ReplyDelete"Keep on truckin"
Hey! I'm a fanatic TALK FRANK fan! And, Jennifer, I lovelovelove your videos.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what you have to do to promote it since its already on FB. I think the fact that it is not easily accessible may be a problem. I offer that opinion because having to have a Google account, then officially 'subscribe' and then once a subscriber, you have to go thru a security step every time you post a comment, may be too much for some people. I have a FB friend who writes poetry and she does it thru FB notes. I think you'd have more people reading it that way than this.
Just my two cents,
-N
Bread and Circus. But where's the steak? And where are the clowns?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support and feedback guys! I suppose it's human nature. I think that people are more like sheep than any other animal. They love to follow in very blind ways. if you ask them to think too much, well, then you are simply asking for too much. Period!
ReplyDeleteCat has been bugging me to promote the site more and I'm exploring ways to do that. And I do get a lot of complaints about the "Google thing". Perhaps I should explore other options. I'd just hate to lose everything that I've already done here.
I agree with Gio and I have said it before. People do not like to think, mostly because they can't. I would like to think that there are some who check in, have thoughts and opinions but do not care to share. Do not despair. I share alot of what you post on FB and I know a few who come and check you out. Persevere my friend. It will take off, it is too good not to.
ReplyDeletegee, thanks, gang! :)
ReplyDelete