{"id":2537,"date":"2011-12-15T07:52:07","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T12:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2012-01-19T08:32:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T13:32:26","slug":"if-you-build-it-they-will-come-on-blogs-service-and-platform-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=2537","title":{"rendered":"If You Build It, They Will Come: On Blogging, Service and Platform-Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shoeless<\/a><\/p>\n

I started my blog almost two years ago after attending a writers’ workshop on publishing in the digital age. There wasn’t much talk\u00a0of e-books or self-publishing\u00a0from the presenters. Instead, they hammered a single message into us all day: you, as writers, need an electronic presence . . . preferably a blog. It’s how you control the message of who you are and what you do. Your site is Google’s gateway to you and your work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like many writers, I long resisted self-promotion, finding the very idea distasteful and embarrassing. But I’d learned from the experience of publishing my first (mostly overlooked) book, Silence is Death<\/a> <\/em>(oh! the irony of that title in this context…), that if you don’t advocate for your own work, no one will. I knew that this time around, I had to swallow pride and do things differently. So, in preparation for the publication of my second book,\u00a0Epistolophilia<\/a><\/em>, I decided to take the workshop’s advice. I bought a domain name (my own name as well as my books’ titles), and started a blog.<\/p>\n

Despite my initial reticence, blogging quickly brought unexpected rewards. From the very beginning, I enjoyed the discipline regular posting required, and the way the site grew slowly, like a garden or a manuscript. I’m obsessed with archives, so I love the way blogs are keepers of their own histories. Finally, I have been delighted by the community-building opportunities that a blog creates.<\/p>\n

A long time ago, I sat on an academic board that organized a biannual conference whose participants’ median age was going up and up. Board members worried constantly about the organization’s impending death and wondered how to attract younger attendees. “Offer them something,” I suggested. “An opportunity to win a book prize or a shot at a fellowship. Offer them something, and they will come.” So, that’s what we did. Once the association started a modest fellowship program and book prize, youthful scholars began returning to the association (and the financial investment quickly paid for itself).<\/p>\n

The same principle works for a blog: offer something, and readers will come.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blogs need not be navel-gazing, self-aggrandizing, or mean-spirited. When setting up the parameters of my blog, I asked myself how I could serve fellow writers. I decided on a ratio of 1:2. For every post about myself or my work, I featured at least 2 items about someone or something else: a review of a book or essay; a funding announcement or call for submissions; an author interview with a fellow writer of creative nonfiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By shining the spotlight (small as mine may be) on another writer, or by giving her a platform to talk about her work, I not only gain traffic on the blog (for every other writer brings friends and fans with her), I also gain insight, contacts, friends, knowledge and the occasional free book.<\/p>\n

The more I extend myself to other writers, the more they reach back.<\/p>\n

Writers are also readers. We are each other’s colleagues, but also each other’s audiences. Serving writers means reaching readers.<\/p>\n

Be brave, be bold, and build. Then open yourself up to others and share.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Photo: Shoeless Joe Jackson<\/a>, by\u00a0John McNab<\/a>]<\/p>\n

This post is part of a weekly series called “Countdown to Publication” on\u00a0SheWrites.com<\/a>, <\/em>the premier social network for women writers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>