I am Jeremy and I run several sites, make art books, sell t-shirts and I am sure a few more things that I just cannot think of. I started most of my sites six years ago with the intention of offering my world to you the reader, sharing my crazy obscure thoughts, and well, hope to spring a few coins.
From a cocoon to a butterfly, from design after redesign I feel ...
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I don't think I've murdered myself quite yet ... :)
ReplyDeleteI started my blog in December 2010, and for the most part I think it's stayed what it was. I've never had a set plan for it, other than to share my writing experience. So I guess in a way I have deviated from that a bit, by posting for blogfests, book reviews, etc. But I've always come back to my writing generally within a few posts of any of those "other" things. Or I may post for a blog fest but also mention my writing status somewhere in the post, as a P.S.
So generally I don't feel that things have changed much. Except that I have learned that it's often better to write shorter posts, at least if you want more than one or two comments. ;)
Trisha,
Deletethank you... I started out with the zombie thing and not that got old in the media, it did for me. I then revamped and repeated, so I hope that people can see the weird transitions.
Jeremy
Next month will be five years for me. Why did I begin blogging? I was told to get my butt online by my publisher. With a blog, I could cover website and social media at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIt has changed. It's changed many times though. I think it's just the effect of having been around as long as we have that we see it differently. There are new blogs starting all the time. We just have to find them. And hope we don't lose our other blogger buddies as they start to drift away.
Alex,
DeleteYou are one of the heavy blog players, people really do come to you for advice, fun, new book releases and of course the humor. I have watched you evolve, I still love your header... wink!
Jeremy
I began in Feb 2009 and am still going strong, over 800 posts later.
ReplyDeleteIt has changed a bit but not in essence. I've only had to update my about me page once so far.
But I do get fewer hits than last year and fewer comments directly on the blog itself, though FB and Twitter do provide more.
It does make me sad how many of my early chums have deleted or abandoned their blogs, though.
I remember in the start, looking and being concerned about how many people came, then those who don't. My panic was followed by the comments and you might know I have not any time keeping up on the comments on my or any sites. Life throws me curves and I have to tend to those, I have thought to ride the high with the blog hits and finally shut off the comments. So many sites, so little time. thank you.
DeleteJeremy
After seven years of blogging, I committed blog suicide last year. No one came to the funeral.
ReplyDeleteStephen,
DeleteI am lighting a candle for you right now, I am sorry the turnout quiet... though like a ninja you can into and went into the night. thank you.
Jeremy
I started my blog 9 & 1/2 years ago. It has changed so much in the last decade. It became more social than it was in the beginning, although even that is starting to wane. People leave because their needs change. Blogging takes a lot of time. Someone just looking for hits would do better with a website. Someone wanting a million followers would do better on Twitter. So many alternatives have arisen, like Pinterest and Google+. Blogging will always exist but I think the landscape has really changed now.
ReplyDeleteDiane,
DeleteThat is many years under your belt, you to are a staple in the blog community and I am happy I can read some of your posts. Evolution of social media sites has put a damper on some of us, but you hold your own in information... thank you.
Jeremy
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI started blogging in May of 2010 and it has definitely evolved. I naively started it as a place to discuss worldly issues, but then I thought maybe I was sounding preachy or worse. So I kind of stopped, then I found the writer's community and took a new direction which has been much better and I've met lots of wonderful people. But regular blogging takes up so much time to do it well and for a while I felt like I was blogging but not doing any other writing. Not to mention that I wonder whether I'm just adding more noise to the universe. Did I really have anything to say that was worthwhile? So I took some more time off. But honestly, I've missed it. I think I'm about to change directions again but I'm not sure which road I'll be taking.
Kathryn,
DeleteI know... for me it has become a "what's the point", I have a few too many sites and feel I am running around in my own circles. I have made some great friends and lost a few great ones, sometimes better than the friends that I see. I had hoped to have a bigger impact from the posts I had made, some good days and well some bad.
Jeremy
I started my blog in May 2009. It was just one of those things. Serious writers blogged, so I blogged too. The blog has changed through the years. I've blogged up to five days a week at one point, but now I'm down to one a week (typically). Like everything, blogging has evolved and changed and it's still one of my favorite forms of social media because I feel like I know what to say on my blog as opposed to Twitter, Facebook, etc.
ReplyDeleteCherie,
DeleteI remember wanting to share some of my writings, make a few e-books over the time and I think I feel I am not really a writer. I want to say it's more of a journal to characters I know as if I was writing their lives with constant grammar and word errors. Posting chucks of story plots, see if any one was ever interested... it may happen, maybe. thank you.
Jeremy
I started my current blog a few months after Cherie, July 2009 (before that I had a personal "mommy blog" from 2001-07). I began it with the intention of talking shop and connecting with other writerly types. I began by posting sporadically and was posting 3 days a week in my peak period (2010). I now post weekly and see the blog as a platform for long-form instructional posts, guest author contributions and occasionally my soapbox. It's simply part of an overall social media presence. It's easier to get lots of hits when I link things on Twitter and G+, but it takes far, far more work to elicit comments. For genuine interaction, you now have to visit lots and lots of other blogs first. It wasn't so labor intensive to get comments in 2009-2012. Everyone else posts less frequently too.
ReplyDeleteLaurel,
DeleteThat really is awesome for your place and your place in the blog community it sounds as you have it under control. I envy those who can get their message out there, while still enjoying it... hopefully that you can maintain the positive. thank you
Jeremy
My initial purpose was to interact with other writers, but I prefer reading something that tweaks my imagination on a blog whether it's the blog owner's writing, their travel or interesting things they do or observe. I like blogs that read like a magazine. That's also basically what my blog has evolved into over the years (since 2009). You find a few friends that interact back and see how many other countries look at your posts. I'm not in it for the popularity contests.
ReplyDeleteI don't hang around blogs much that only promote or only talk about writing instructions, or whine about having nothing to blog about. I have no interest in other media right now, too much of a time suck, and will hire techy person to do that when needed. It depends on what a blogger's purpose is as to whether blogging is dying. I don't think so, but mags, newspapers and other media are since we can get interesting reading easier and cheaper via blogs.
And yes, keywords like MURDER does catch a reader's eye, Jeremy!
MURDER, ;).
DeleteI too enjoy seeing the stats on how far my crazy can go, I have made such wonderful friends in many countries I never thought I could reach. I kind of love blogs with a quick note or nod in their posts. When working with the A to Z Challenge in the last few years, I find a post of a letter that says "A is for Apple" and then two pages of a book of an author's page... promote I get, but scale it back... thank you.
Jeremy
Jeremy, even though I'm a writer, I started my blog to get through my substitute teaching experience. Over time, my blog became more about writing. Eventually I stopped subbing. Too much of my creativity was going into my posts, and I realized that it was interfering with my writing. I scaled back to once a week. I made some good friends through blogging, but I find it easier to keep up with them through Facebook. After all, I can spend only so much time reading blogs!
ReplyDeleteTheresa,
DeleteI agree I can share my thoughts to Facebook very quick and sometimes I will guide them back to my site to see some whacky thing I want to promote. I should cut back on some, I have a what seems to just be a ad page for films, books and music... it's lost it's heart... though it's still a fun place. I just need to re-invent it's purpose, life is not just a big sale... so why should it be. I think that makes sense. thank you.
Jeremy
Blogging is personal. It's like a diary or a journal. It lives on for as long as the blogger still maintains an interest in doing it. If the Dog Farm stops posting tomorrow, blogging will not die. That would only mean that one person's interest in blogging has died, but blogging as a whole lives on. If I stop tomorrow, someone else will start tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is a time consuming and often thankless pursuit. It's easy to start, but hard to maintain. I think once most people realize all the effort isn't going to make them rich or famous, they lose interest. Those that stick with it do so because they truly feel they have something they need to say. They stick with it because they get some kind of personal gratification from doing it, regardless of whether or not anyone sees it. Someone seeing it is just a bonus to these folks.
I want my posts to be seen, but realistically, I know I probably have maybe a half a dozen readers who regularly read what I write. Most of the rest of the Dog Farm's traffic is accidental. It's borne of Google searches made by folks who were actually looking for something else and happened to come to my blog because of a keyword or image hit. When they get there and it's not what they were looking for, they leave. I've made my peace with that. I continue to do it because I personally enjoy preparing posts for my site, and because those half a dozen loyal readers are genuinely supportive, encouraging, and engaged. That's enough for me - for now, at least - but I don't have much difficulty imagining a day that it won't be. When that day comes, my blog dies though blogging will live on.
One last thought: I kind of think that even though a blog may stop producing content, it never truly dies. One of the things that initially appealed to me about blogging - and still does - is that once it's on the internet, it never really goes away. When a baby named Gunnar entered my life a little shy of two years ago I began to think about how I could help engender in him the love I have of horror movies. In my mind, one of the primary reasons I blog is because I feel like I'm making something for Gunnar. If he does, in fact, grow into a horror movie fan, I like to think that years worth of my collected posts might amuse him. If I drop dead tomorrow, he can get a sense of me and what I loved - and why I loved it - long after I'm gone. He can just visit the Dog Farm, and there I'll be, going on again about some obscure horror movie as though I really believe it matters. That's cool to me.
Very thought provoking post, Jeremy. It really made me think about why I keep doing it.
Brandon,
DeleteYou and I have become better friends in the background of our sites and you have a very wise and smart site to pay homage to the horror fans. You have been a staple in my week to week when you share your thoughts, it's funny you mentioned life after the blog has stopped. It does say we are here and we meant something to someone, those sites that have stopped and were gracious to leave up their posts I thank them... I thank you for being real to your words and real to your posts. I do hope you can remain a part of the blog community, you have talent... thank you.
Jeremy
My husband built me my blog because he thought I would have fun with it. I'm four years in and he was right, I'm having a blast.
ReplyDeletePS: I don't FB and I have no idea what Twitter is.
PPS: Happy Halloween Season and boogie boogie.
Spooky,
DeleteYou are crazy and your post are fun, simple and always have some type of snacks involved... you make me laugh, I need that... everyone needs that. thank you.
Jeremy
FB and Twitter are scary to me. Post your personal data on FB? Ah, I'm a private person. Twitter is so full of BUY ME! that no one ever buys. Ironic, right? And my greatest fear is not dying but never having lived. Great post. Thanks, Jessica, for having Jeremy over. :-)
ReplyDeleteRoland,
DeleteYou writings are always one of my favorites... you spin words well and thank you. I know I always wanted to leave a legacy for some kid I would have and sadly that doesn't look to be in the cards. I collected stuff for years to hand down, I am now parting with some just to make room for more stuff. I hope that when I am drooling in some one bedroom hotel in the middle of nowhere and I am clutching my books and links to all my sites. I have someone take that time to know I was here and I did matter, right now I find my purpose lost in the shuffle. I think like always I got off track, but you are one guy I will remember. thank you.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy and Jess - my blog started as a way of connecting and learning about the internet - I still get both of those ... I really should spread my wings a little and get publishing .. it's on the cards - six years on and I need to upgrade the blog site ...
ReplyDeleteCheers Hilary
Hilary,
DeleteYou know I can help you in that upgrade, I love design... smiling faces and sharing my thoughts to the little world that might see me and my posts. It's a reflection of who we are or who we want to be... someday. thank you.
Jeremy
I think each person has their own reason for blogging in the first place. Things change over time, needs and interests change. Time available changes. I was feeling burned out, but have new ideas coming in, which will be posted after some guest posts/book tours complete. I've met a lot of friends via blogging, and would hate to abandon it. Sometimes low times will come, but if you can ride through them, you can get back to blogging and your bloggy friends.
ReplyDeleteShannon,
DeleteTrue friends never ask why haven't you called, they call you... blog friends come every day and say hello, comment on your current post. Reminding us we do have people in our lives and find our home in the internet. We get a little burned out, a little sad only to our next inspiration. May your inspirations never stop, thank you for being there.
Jeremy
I’ve been blogging for seven years without a break but unlike most people I veer away from the personal on my blog. I started off writing essays that just got longer and longer and a 3500-word post was me was nothing unusual. Eventually I had to cut back and found that book reviews were a great way of filling the gaps while I researched my next article and now I publish three book reviews for every one article. From the start I decided what my topics would be and mostly I’ve stuck to them.
ReplyDeleteThere’ve been so many blogs I’ve started to follow because they posted something that piqued my interest and they’ve never said another worthwhile thing since then. Instead they’ve upload photos of their pets and blogged about their holidays and moaned about their ill health feeling they have to say something because otherwise all their readers’ll vanish. I used to follow a couple of hundred but I did a cull a while back and now I keep it under a hundred but most of those’re ones that’ve been on the go for years and their owners have pretty much run out of stuff to say and so post nominally once a week or less. And that’s fine by me.
When I first started out blogging I read everything I could find online about what best practice was and one of the things they—the mysterious they—said was to post frequently. That’s a burden not only on you but also on your readers. Which is another reason I cut back. The main reason I started the blog was to promote my writing. I’ve been careful not to overdo it (some blogs all their authors go on about is their damn book and why you should buy it and where you can buy and how come you haven’t bought it yet?) but I don’t think it would’ve made much difference either way. Over the last seven years publishing’s changed so much and it’s hard to get read or even to get reviewed (especially if you don’t write genre fiction) because online reviewers have so much to choose from and to-read piles so big that if they toppled over they’d crush you. Thank God for the e-book, eh? Well that certainly proved to be a two-edged sword, didn’t it?
I have a Facebook account—because they said I needed one—and it’s not the worst thing in the world but I can’t imagine living there like some seem to. On a blog you can say something meaningful and considered. Even in a comment like this one has that opportunity. That said one thing I have noted in recent times are the lack of comments. I have to say I do find that a bit disheartening especially when I’ve worked on something for the best part of a week and then nothing.